“Publication” Class Notes
Stacy Hackney (Law ’01)
Stacy Landis Hackney (Law ’01) will publish her debut adult mystery, The Primrose Murder Society, with HarperCollins on March 3, 2026. Set in Richmond, Virginia, the novel follows Lila Shaw, a newly single mom who moves into a luxurious retirement building with her crime-obsessed daughter and reluctantly agrees to investigate a decades-old murder in the building. When another resident is killed and Lila becomes the prime suspect, she must team up with her elderly neighbors to catch a killer.
Nancy Hudgins (Law ’78 CM)
Nancy Hudgins (Law ’78 CM) will release a biography, Books Good Enough for You, the Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom, Editor of Extraordinary Children’s Books, with Abrams Books on March 24, 2026. Nordstrom, the 20th century editor at Harper & Brothers, edited Goodnight Moon, Charlotte’s Web, Where the Wild Things Are and Harold and the Purple Crayon, among many other children’s classics. Books Good Enough for You, recommended for children ages 10-14, tells the story of Nordstrom’s life and her advocacy for children’s right to read.
Mills Kelly (Col ’82 CM)
Mills Kelly (Col ’81 CM) published his second book on the history of the Appalachian Trail, A Hiker’s History of the Appalachian Trail. A Hiker’s History of Appalachian Trail tells the trail’s history from the ground up — or more accurately, from the boots up. Based on extensive research in archives up and down the trail, this new book hikes America’s most iconic trail from the late 1920s through the 2020s. Mills was also recently named professor emeritus at George Mason University, where he taught for 24 years before retiring in 2025.
Charles Garrettson (Col ’75, Grad ’86)
Charles Garrettson (Col ’75, Grad ’86) wrote A Stroke of Luck: an Exercise in Meaning, about his experience with a stroke. Garrettson wrote it on his iPhone, using the index finger on his non-dominant hand. A Stroke of Luck draws from the philosophy of Viktor Frankl, whose book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Garrettson credits with transforming his life from one of crisis to opportunity.
Mary-Collier Wilks (Col ’21)
Mary-Collier Wilks (Grad ’17, ’21) published her UVA dissertation research as her first academic book, Reimagining Aid: Foreign Donors, Women’s Health, and New Paths for Development in Cambodia, with Stanford University Press. Through a vivid, multi-sited ethnography, the book investigates the intricate interplay between aid donors from Japan and the United States, their competing priorities, and their impact on women’s health initiatives in Cambodia. A must-read for anyone invested in Southeast Asia’s role in global affairs and evolving definitions of gender in development, Reimagining Aid is a powerful reminder that the next chapter of global advancement is being written in unexpected places.
Ben Jacklet (Col ’87)
Ben Jacklet (Col ’87) has published a new book, Follow the Sun: Around the World in Search of Solar Solutions. The book chronicles the rise of solar energy as a reliable and affordable source of clean electricity and a leading solution to the climate crisis. Jacklet traveled to 15 countries for his research and conducted 50 interviews with a wide range of solar experts, from highly decorated professors and researchers to innovators and entrepreneurs from Baja California to Mumbai.
Tina Robinson (Col ’94 CM)
Allison LaMothe (Col ’12)
Allison Geller (LaMothe) (Col ’12) published her debut crime novel, Dirty Metal, with Flatiron Books in February. Dirty Metal, set in New York City in 1992, features crime reporter Parker Snow as she investigates the Russian mafia and a string of women’s murders. Kirkus Reviews called it “a bold debut befitting its bold heroine” in a starred review, while CrimeReads named her “a startling and original talent” in its 2026 “Most Anticipated” list.
Anna Kovatcheva (Col ’12)
Anna Kovatcheva (Col ’12) will publish her debut novel, She Made Herself a Monster, with HarperCollins Mariner on February 10, 2026. The novel, set in nineteenth-century Bulgaria, follows a self-proclaimed vampire slayer—in truth, a traveling con artist—who joins forces with a teenage girl to create a monster deadly enough to vanquish their own demons. The novel is a story of female community, fortitude, and rage set against a backdrop of Slavic vampire folklore, inspired in part by the course on Dracula and other representations of the vampire that Kovatcheva took in the Slavic studies department at UVA with Dr. Jan Perkowski in 2009.
Kovatcheva will appear in conversation with Professor John Casteen (Col ’93) at New Dominion Bookshop in Charlottesville on February 13, 2026, to discuss the book.
Mark Linder (Arch ’82 CM)
Mark Linder (Arch ’82 CM) published That’s Brutal, What’s Modern: The Smithsons, Banham, and the Mies-Image with Park Books. Linder is a professor of architecture at Syracuse University.
Jianyi Lee (Col ’07, Grad ’13 CM)
Jianyi Lee (Col ’08, Grad ’13 CM) and Kevin Mo (Engr ’09 CM),along with their two young sons, published Portugal: A Kid’s Travel Adventure through Kindle Direct Publishing in September. Inspired by exploring the world together as a family since the COVID-19 pandemic, the book is told from the perspective of their children and blends real-life travel experiences with history, geography, food and cultural discoveries. They are excited to share this first project with the alumni community and hope it inspires families and children to nurture curiosity and a strong sense of adventure. The family lives in Summit, New Jersey.
Jennifer Shoop (Col ’06 CM)
Jen Shoop (Col ’06 CM) will publish Small Wonders: A Field Guide to Life’s Small Joys, a collection of essays, musings and list poetry on the art of paying attention, on April 14. The book is an extension of the writing she has become known for on her daily blog, Magpie by Jen Shoop, and is organized around themes that include the dance of motherhood, inheritances and intimacies, the natural world and the wide world of language.
Elliot Felix (Arch ’99 CM)
Elliot Felix (Arch ’99 CM) published his second book, The Connected College: Leadership Strategies for Student Success, drawing on his experience working with more than 100 colleges and universities to improve the experience of more than 1,000,000 students. Named one of the ten best higher education books of 2025 by Forbes, The Connected College is an encouraging, evidence-based playbook for leaders in higher education to build community, provide support, connect courses to careers, forge industry partnerships and work together so that students succeed.
Mark Christhilf (Col ’70)
Mark Christhilf (Col ’70) has a forthcoming book that answers one of the most pressing questions of science and philosophy: what is human consciousness? The Tenant in the Mind: Consciousness and Its Imperatives, will be published by Iff Books (UK) on February 3, 2026. An emeritus professor at Eastern Illinois University, Christhilf has also published a book of literary criticism and a book of poetry, as well as articles, reviews and poems in numerous journals, including The Yale Literary Magazine. He lives in New Jersey.
Jeff Konin (Educ ’89 CM)
Jeff G. Konin (Educ ’89 CM) recently published a humorous ode to flying titled What Passenger are You? A Flyer’s Guide to Airplane Etiquette. The book is available on Amazon and is promised to make you laugh if you have ever flown on a plane!
Justin Humphreys (Col ’01)
Justin Humphreys (Col ’01) contributed to Sophia by Eisenstaedt, the collector’s edition book of photographs of actress Sophia Loren by the great photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Christopher Jamison (Col ’07)
Christopher Jamison (Col ’07) released his ninth studio album, Altered Ego, continuing a career marked by thoughtful songwriting and national recognition—including praise from The Austin Chronicle, which once dubbed him “the Paul Simon of Texas.” Now balancing life as a musician, educator and father of two with his wife, Meg Williams (Arch ’06 CM), Jamison credits his formative Wednesday nights playing at The Virginian as a core UVA experience that shaped both his musical voice and sense of community. Altered Ego will be available on Bandcamp beginning December 21.
Kimberly Kenna (Col ’79)
Kimberly Behre Kenna (Col ’79) will publish her latest novel, Lola Gillette and the Summer of Second Chances, on March 3. The middle-grade adventure, the third installment in her Brave Girls Collection, follows a 13-year-old grieving the loss of her twin sister while spending the summer in her quirky agoraphobic uncle’s unique castle home. Part of the proceeds from book sales will benefit Friends of Gillette Castle State Park and The Cove Center for Grieving Children in Connecticut.
Grace Elizabeth Hale
Grace Elizabeth Hale, Commonwealth Professor of American Studies, received a Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress for her upcoming book, They Don’t Own Us: Harlan County, Kentucky and the Past and Future of American Works. The grant gives contemporary nonfiction authors $40,000 to aid their projects, as well as publicity guidance. They Don’t Own Us examines labor struggles in the changing political social and economic climate of the 60s and 70s, and reflects on how this period impacts our labor climate today.
Clifton W. Potter Jr. (Grad ’64, Grad ’70 CM)
Clifton W. Potter Jr. (Grad ’64,’70 CM) published Yankees in the Hill City, The Union Prisoner of War Camp in Lynchburg, Virginia, 1862-1865 with McFarland and Company, Publishers, Inc. It is the first comprehensive study of the rarely-mentioned transit camp that existed in Lynchburg from June 1862 until April 1865. Using the diaries of soldiers who were held there, as well as extant manuscripts and burial records, Potter fashions the story of a POW camp unlike any other in the Confederacy. He is professor of history emeritus at the University of Lynchburg.
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