Join us for a reading with two of this spring’s most exciting literary fiction debuts that explore the metaphysics of identity, mental health, and migration. Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater (Grove, 2018), named a Most Anticipated Book of 2018 in Esquire, the Huffington Post, and more, follows the story of a young Nigerian woman named Ada born “with one foot on the other side” who develops separate selves. Mira T. Lee’s Everything Here is Beautiful (Pamela Dorman Books, 2018) alternates the between the perspectives of two Asian American sisters grappling with the the loss of a parent, illness, and the strains of intimacy. In conversation with TANAÏS, the author of Bright Lines.
RESERVE A SEAT!
$5 SUGGESTED DONATION | OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Akwaeke Emezi is an Igbo and Tamil writer and artist based in liminal spaces. Born and raised in Nigeria, they received an MPA from New York University. They were awarded a 2015 Miles Morland Writing Scholarship and won the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa. Their work has been selected and edited by Chimamanda Adichie, and published in various literary magazines, including Granta. Freshwater is their debut.
Mira T. Lee’s work has been published in numerous quarterlies and reviews, including The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, Harvard Review, and Triquarterly. She was awarded an Artist’s Fellowship by the Massachusetts Cultural Council in 2012, and has twice received special mention for the Pushcart Prize. She is a graduate of Stanford University, and currently lives with her husband and two young sons in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Everything Here Is Beautiful is her debut novel.
TANAÏS is a portmanteau of Tanwi Nandini Islam; a renaming of self, free of patriarchy. She is the author of Bright Lines (Penguin 2015), a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. She is the founder of Hi Wildflower Botanica, a small-batch niche perfume, candle and skincare line. Her writing has appeared in Elle.com, Fashionista.com, Open City, Women 2.0, Billboard.com and Gawker. A graduate of Brooklyn College MFA and Vassar College, she lives in Brooklyn, NY.
This event is co-sponsored by The Center for Fiction and will be livestreamed on the Asian American Writers’ Facebook page.
NOTE ON ACCESSIBILITY
*The space is wheelchair accessible. No stairs. Direct elevator from ground floor to 6th floor.
*We strongly encourage all participants of the space/event to be scent-free.
If you all have any other specific questions about accessibility, please email Tiffany Le at tle@aaww.org with any questions on reserving priority seating.
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