Kimberly Garza’s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Copper Nickel, Diagram, Creative Nonfiction, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. A native Texan – born in Galveston, and raised in Uvalde – she is an assistant professor of creative writing and literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her first novel, The Last Karankawas (Henry Holt and Co.), is set in Galveston, population 50,241. It’s a popular tourist destination, but few stray from the boulevards to Fish Village, home to the people who have powered the island for generations. Carly Castillo’s grandmother claims they descend from the Karankawas, an extinct indigenous Texan tribe, tethering them to Galveston. But as Carly ages, she begins to imagine a life elsewhere. Jess, her boyfriend, is an all-star shortstop-turned-seaman who treasures the salty, familiar air. He’s had chances to leave Galveston, but he didn’t take them then and he sure won’t take any now. But as a storm gathers strength offshore, building into Hurricane Ike, each Galveston resident must decide to either board up the windows and hunker down or flee and abandon their homes. The Last Karankawas is a lyrical, emotionally charged portrait of everyday survival.