Catch Megan Kruse at Auntie’s tonight

One of the literary treasures of Spokane — besides Auntie's Bookstore, of course — is the annual Get Lit! literary festival that Eastern Washington University sponsors. In its glory years, that festival helped bring such international stars as Salman Rushdie and Kurt Vonnegut to Spokane.

These days Get Lit! adheres to a more modest, if equally important, role. While many of the names of the 2017 festival aren't as readily known to many in the mainstream audience, those who will be coming (April 17-23) are established and/or rising talents.

One such author who hails from the Northwest will be reading at Auntie's tonight. Megan Kruse, who lives in Olympia, will read from her first novel, "Call Me Home," at 7:30.

In prose that Seattle Times reviewer Wingate Packard calls "vivid, precise and promising," Kruse has written a novel about an abused woman who flees with her children from an abusive man.

"The violence in the subtly efficient language with which Kruse captures the effects of physical abuse is well-tempered by the humor and humanity in minor characters outside this family circle, whose dialogue is pitch-perfect," Packard wrote.

Kruse will be available to sign copies of her book after the reading.