Sarah Vowell on Kansas state history, election-year politics and her latest, Unfamiliar Fishes; reading Wednesday in Lawrence

A hero to literature-history-public-radio nerds, Sarah Vowell is the author of six New York Times best-selling books about American history and culture; a contributor to This American Life, the New York Times, and Salon; a McSweeney’s editor; Pixar voice actor (Violet in The Incredibles); and a really freaking funny person. Her most recent work, Unfamiliar Fishes, follows the bawdy sailors and missionaries-made-sugar-barons whose influence led Hawaii to become the 50th U.S. state.

Vowell will be at the Kansas Union in Woodruff Auditorium (1301 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence) this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. to discuss her new book. The Pitch recently caught up with Vowell by phone ahead of her visit to talk election-year politics and Kansas and Missouri history.