A Silver Spring lawyer's debut novel has landed on summer 2026 must-read lists from NPR, People and Oprah Daily. It started in a Bethesda fiction workshop.
Shannon Sanders, 41, and Del. Lily Qi, 62, both released books through major publishers in July, giving Montgomery County readers two homegrown stories to pick up.
Sanders: From Bethesda workshops to a starred Kirkus review
Sanders began attending fiction workshops at The Writer's Center on Walsh Street in Bethesda in 2014, about eight years into her legal career. She wrote her 416-page novel mostly at night after her three sons, an 8-year-old and 5-year-old twins, went to bed.
"Writing a novel was really fun and invigorating even though it was quite a challenge," Sanders told Bethesda Magazine. "It felt a little bit like training for a marathon."
The Great Wherever (Henry Holt and Co.) came out on Tuesday. The novel follows Aubrey Lamb, a 32-year-old D.C. gig worker who inherits her father's stake in a Tennessee farm rich in family secrets and occupied by four ancestor ghosts. Sanders drew inspiration from her own 93-year-old grandmother, who co-owns a farm in Tennessee where Sanders spent childhood summers.
Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review, calling it "a bighearted triumph." It is also a July 2026 Book of the Month Club pick. Sanders previously won the 2024 Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction for her short story collection, Company.
Qi: From Shanghai to Annapolis, in 36 chapters
Qi represents Montgomery County's 15th legislative district and has served in the Maryland House of Delegates since 2019. In 2018, she became the first person born in China to be elected to a state legislature in the United States, according to Maryland Matters.
Her memoir, Elected American: From Red China to Blue Maryland (Temple University Press; $35; 312 pages), was published on Friday. The book unfolds in 36 alternating chapters that toggle between chronological autobiography and the mechanics of her civic engagement and political campaigns, Maryland Matters reported.
Qi arrived in the U.S. on George Washington's birthday in 1989 with $300 in her pocket to attend Manchester College in Indiana. She became a citizen 10 years later and eventually held several Montgomery County government positions, including assistant chief administrative officer for economic and workforce development, before winning her delegate seat.
The memoir has been longlisted for the 2026 New American Voices Award from the Fall for the Book Festival.
Upcoming events
Qi will discuss Elected American with Maryland Matters editor Josh Kurtz on Sunday, July 12, at 5 p.m. at Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.
Sanders' remaining area tour dates: Greedy Reads, Baltimore, Tuesday, July 14, 7 p.m.; Queen Takes Book, Columbia, Friday, July 17, 6:30 p.m.
