poisonwood

Kingsolver has long woven social issues into her novels, which include “The Bean Trees” and “The Poisonwood Bible,” and helped establish the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.

The “Poisonwood Bible” author on her career and her new novel, “Demon Copperhead,” which reboots “David Copperfield” in opioid-ravaged Appalachia.

Her 1998 novel “The Poisonwood Bible” was an Oprah Book Club pick and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Her past novels include “The Bean Trees,” “Flight Behavior” and “The Poisonwood Bible,” a Winfrey selection in 2000.

The advance for “The Poisonwood Bible,” out in 1998, was reported to be a million dollars; with it, Kingsolver established a biannual $25,000 literary prize for first-time novelists whose work tackled social change.