Although the Memorial Easter Egg hunt had to be canceled due to “protocols,” 'John Waters played gracious host at the Madonna Inn, an annual event which included an Easter Bunny photo studio for guests to “relive your awkward childhood mall portrait fantasies,” and this year, a 30th anniversary screening of Cry Baby with commentary by the courtly gentleman himself. But to know Waters is to appreciate that fluffy bunnies have sharp teeth, and sometime, somewhere, Marsha Sprinkle just might hop into your life, and she is not not dispensing colorful candy sprinkles.

JohnWaters Liarmouth
As publishers Farrar, Strauss and Giroux describe the debatable heroine of Waters’ first book of fiction, Marsha is a “Suitcase Thief, Scammer, Master of Disguise … disturbed on the run with a big chip on her shoulder. They call her ‘Liarmouth’ - until one insane man makes her tell the truth.” Isn’t that what we love about Waters? If art is truth, he might be the consummate artist. As a writer, filmmaker, visual artist, comedian and actor, Waters constantly surprises, shocks and, simultaneously, endears with both jarring and gentle jabs at our human intransigence, including the inability to laugh at ourselves. Satirical, filthy and graphic, Liarmouth serves up social dysfunction with fun, and as Waters reminds us, “You have to remember that it’s impossible to commit a crime while reading a book.” 

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, us.Macmillan.com