Connie Hampton Connally
I am a writer who loves good music and good stories.
It’s been my privilege to combine these loves by writing fiction that honors the creation of beauty, even in the bleakest of circumstances, through the creation of music.
About
Connie
Connie Hampton Connally has loved music and the written word all her life, and many of her adult years she’s spent working in those fields as well. She holds a BA in English from the University of Washington and an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University. She’s published magazine stories and newspaper articles, worked as an editor, taught high school English and elementary music, and is currently a respected presenter at writing conferences. Through teaching music Connie discovered the work of Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály, who uplifted his nation through decades of war, political oppression and social upheaval. Connie couldn’t resist this theme of creating beauty amidst hardship. She wrote her novels Fire Music and The Songs We Hide as a result. Connie is currently writing a third novel, set in Peru.
Connie and her husband live in Tacoma, Washington. They travel frequently, since they have family members living abroad. Because of her family and her characters, Connie has set her heart—and often her feet—in faraway places.
Books
Fire Music
To be published by Coffeetown Press, April 2024
Antal Varga, a Budapest violinist, is 78 years old when a young American stranger places a yellowed music sheet into his hands. With shock he recognizes his own teenage handwriting, for he himself wrote this piece in 1945, when his city was under siege. Desperate to talk with this American woman, Varga enlists his grandson Kristóf to translate; and he finds that the woman, Lisa, shares his family’s painful heritage.
Now his grandson and this young American press him for the story behind the music, and especially behind its shattered ending. For decades he’s hidden this story of war, love, jealousy, and loss. Can he bear to tell it now? Can they bear to hear it?
Cautiously Varga, Kristóf and Lisa open the music and its hard secrets, hoping that although pain has extended over generations, perhaps love will extend further still.
The Songs We Hide
Published by Coffeetown Press
In 1951, a grim hush has settled over Hungary. After a lost war and a brutal transition to communism, the people live under constant threat of blacklisting, property confiscation, arrest, imprisonment and worse. In this milieu of dread, the best land of Peter Benedek’s peasant family is seized and his life upended. Moving to Budapest for a manual labor job, Peter meets Katalin Varga, an unwed mother whose baby’s father has vanished, most likely at the hands of the secret police. Both Péter and Katalin keep their heads down and their mouths clamped shut, because silence is the only safety they know.
But the two have something in common besides fear: they are singers. When Katalin starts giving Péter voice lessons, they take an intrepid step out of hiding by making music together. Little by little they tell each other what they cannot tell others. In their bond of trust, they find relief and unexpected happiness.
Yet the hurts and threats in their lives remain, waiting. As harsh reality assaults them again, is hope even possible? Facing their hardest trials yet, Peter and Katalin learn to carve dignity and beauty out of pain.
To order the book:
Events
Whatcom Writers and Publishers, October 14, 2020
On the evening of October 14, 2020, I'll be speaking to Whatcom Writers and Publishers in Bellingham, WA. The topic will be "Writing With Emotion." If you'd like to visit that night, please check their website to see if the meeting will be in person or digital.
Write in the Harbor Writers Conference, November 7, 2020
Write in the Harbor is an intimate and high-quality conference for writers. This year it's digital. I'll give two presentations, one on historical fiction and the other on writing the opening pages of a novel. For more information about the conference, see their...
May 20, 2020 — 7 pm — Podcast Interview
Podcast interview on A Novel Talk with co-hosts Wendy Kendall and Carl Lee. Discussion of The Songs We Hide. I'll share what compelled me to write the novel, and how the characters developed as I wrote. We'll also explore the novel's bleak setting (Stalinist...
Recent Blog Posts
An American Reflects on Life in Peru . . . and in America
After living in Peru for a while, I’ve asked myself some questions about American life . . . and about myself.
Dentistry and Caring at 13,000 Feet
My son and daughter-in-law, Brendan and Erin Connally, recently did a mobile dental clinic in a remote Quechua village, at 13,000 feet altitude in the Andes. It was an unforgettable trip.
A Do-It-Yourself Writing Retreat
It’s marvelous what a good literary friendship can do. A few years back, when I was fiction editor for a small literary magazine, I accepted an excellent short story submission titled “The Man Who Wore Violets.” The piece was closely based on the extradition of Nazi...
Contact
Whether you’d like to schedule an event, share thoughts, or ask questions, I’d love to hear from you. Please contact me using this form.
