Café Deux Mondes (Kindle Single) (Ploughshares Solos Volume 3)

When the Khourys and McKissicks meet to share a neighborly meal, an adventure begins. Living in the changing ethnic landscape of Kansas City, one is a family of Syrian immigrants; the other, African Americans with roots in Louisiana. What brings them together is a love of food. Along with friendship, a dream takes root between the two mothers, Miriam and Tamara—starting a new restaurant that will feature the specialties from both of their traditions, the Café Deux Mondes, or Two Worlds Cafe. Little do they know just what they are up against when they begin their little venture. From the skepticism of their churches to neighborhood crime, disaster always seems to be just around the corner. Award-winning writer Catherine Browder takes a warm look at the troubles and joys of the American melting pot, and how we can grow even from our failures.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Catherine Browder's most recent collection, Now We Can All Go Home: Three Novellas in Homage to Chekhov, has just been released from BkMk Press (November 2014). She is the author of two previous collections and a feuillet, and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Missouri Arts Council. Her stories have appeared in a variety of magazines and won awards from American Fiction, Kansas Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, Big Muddy and the Missouri Writers Guild. She has taught creative writing at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and is an advisory editor for New Letters literary magazine, where her book reviews frequently appear. A member of the Dramatist Guild of America, her plays have been produced regionally and in New York City. Prior to teaching creative writing, she taught English as a foreign language in Japan and Taiwan, and ESL at refugee resettlement centers and colleges in the USA. She lives with her husband in Kansas City, Missouri.