Charlie Quimby reads from his new novel "Inhabited." He will be joined in conversation by Crystal Johnson, a housing support specialist at Vail Place.

“Charlie Quimby is a writer with a big talent, big heart, and big social conscience. I was staggered by the authenticity of these people and their dilemmas.”--Faith Sullivan, author of Goodnight, Mr. Wodehouse and The Cape Ann

“A thoroughly enjoyable novel that masterfully takes the reader on an emotionally rewarding exploration of ‘home’ and the power the concept has on the human psyche.”--Jonathan Odell, author of The View from Delphi and Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League

Meg Mogrin sells pricey houses, belongs to the mayor’s inner circle, and knows more than she’s letting on about her sister's death. Isaac Samson lives in a tent and believes Thomas Edison invented the Reagan presidency. When their town attracts a game-changing development, Isaac is displaced by the town’s crackdown on vagrancy. As Isaac struggles to regain stability, Meg contends with conflicting roles of assisting the developer while serving on the homeless coalition. Isaac’s quest to return a lost artifact soon intrudes into Meg’s tidy world, digging up a part of her past she’d rather remained buried. Inhabited, a sister novel to Charlie Quimby’s acclaimed Monument Road, returns to the Grand Valley of western Colorado to explore the dimensions of loss, the boundaries of compassion, and the endurance of love.

Charlie Quimby will be joined in conversation by Crystal Johnson, a housing support specialist at Vail Place. Vail Place is a Minnesota nonprofit that helps people with serious mental illnesses get back on their feet by providing connections to essential services, supports and resources, including transitional housing.

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Charlie Quimby is the author of Monument Road, an Indie Next List pick and Booklist Editors' Choice in 2013. He began his writing career as playwright and arts journalist, veered into corporate communications and then founded a marketing agency that now purrs along without him. Along the way, he collected awards and developed the notion he had a few good novels in him. A native Coloradan and adopted Minnesotan, he is at home in both places.

Crystal Johnson has over 20 years’ experience working within the supportive housing field with homeless adults living with mental illness. Her knowledge of the shelter system, subsidies and Hennepin County trends in housing has helped to assist numerous people become stably housed and focused on recovery. Crystal served on the Continuum of Care (COC) for Hennepin County and Chaired the City of Crystal Human Rights Commission. She is an active member of the Adult Mental Health Initiative through Hennepin County. She has worked with HUD funded programs, supportive housing, mental health, chemical health, women, families, single adults within both a community support program and the Clubhouse model employed by Vail Place. Crystal strongly believes in the Clubhouse model for mental health recovery.