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Summer, thank god, is window down. We know that because school is in session, the heat is (slowly) tapering off, and the chimney swifts are on their way to North Carolina. The Durham and The Willard have already sent out invites for their popular yearly “swift night out” events, and to catch up with the phenomenon, read this incredible piece from last year about a UNC icon and the birds who chose it. 

In the upcoming weeks, we will have (besides the local elections coverage that my colleagues are working hard to get you) a Hopscotch preview and a special Fall Arts Issue. Even if you don’t normally pick up a print copy, I’d encourage you to grab one and keep it on hand as a reference throughout the season. There’s a lot to look forward to. Thanks for reading!

Young love, as shown in The Summer I Turned Pretty on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus. Photo courtesy of Andrew Lam for UNC-CH.

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This summer, I, an adult woman, have been eagerly tuning into The Summer I Turned Pretty, Amazon’s adaptation of the wildly popular Jenny Han YA series of the same name. The soapy show is now in its last season (with the teens now early-twenty-somethings entangled in multiple stressful love triangles), part of which was filmed at a familiar locale: UNC-Chapel Hill. 

Erin Gretzinger at The Assembly got the down-low from Gabriella Neyman, a media relations manager at UNC-Chapel Hill. Turns out, Jenny Han is an alumna of UNC and was eager to incorporate it into filming: 

“The process of Jenny being on campus was just very endearing, seeing her take her production team through all the locations and talking about how much campus has changed, yet how it has also stayed the same,” Neyman said. “There’s just such a strong connection between her experiences here and the books.”

Read that story here. As it happens, UNC is a fertile creative ground for YA literature. Sarah Dessen, author of Someone Like You and The Truth About Forever, is also a UNC alum and a Chapel Hill local. (Last summer, I pitched a story where I read every Dessen book and then wrote up what I learned about love from them, but gave up when I learned she’s authored more than a dozen. Sarah Dessen, if you’re reading this, you’re prolific!) Here is a feature on the recent adaptation of one of her novels.

 Here is this week’s Character Study on local botanist Derek Haynes. And here are some suggestions for things to do this week.

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Raleigh music tradition The Great Cover Up is getting the PBS NC treatment. Superchunk’s new album is out today, and a couple of local bands announced albums: Weirs and Joe Westerlund. 

Redbud Writing Project is hosting a fundraiser soon. (Read more about the organization here!). Vivian Howard has a new PBS show coming out this fall. 

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Sarah Edwards is culture editor of the INDY, covering cultural institutions and the arts in the Triangle. She joined the staff in 2019 and assumed her current role in 2020.