“Our holiday food splurge was a small crate of tangerines, which we found ridiculously thrilling after an eight-month abstinence from citrus.... Lily hugged each one to her chest before undressing it as gently as a doll. Watching her do that as she sat cross-legged on the floor one morning in pink pajamas, with bliss lighting her cheeks, I thought: Lucky is the world, to receive this grateful child. Value is not made of money, but a tender balance of expectation and longing.”

American novelist, essayist, and poet

Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist, and poet. She is known for fiction and nonfiction that examine how people live within their communities and environments, with attention to social justice and biodiversity. Her best-known books include The Poisonwood Bible, about a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a nonfiction account of her family’s effort to eat locally. In 2023, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Demon Copperhead.