We hope you’re as excited as we are for Thursday’s event with Walter Mosley. We’re writing to announce that special guest Edwidge Danticat will briefly join the discussion of Devil in a Blue Dress with Mosley, host John Freeman, and you!
Danticat is the internationally acclaimed author of many distinguished novels, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, Krik? Krak!, The Farming of Bones, and Brother, I’m Dying, as well as multiple young adult and children’s books. She recently presented Mosley with the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Noting that Mosley is the first Black man to receive the honor, Danticat said that “Walter has been looking closely and intimately at our world for the past 30 years starting with the publication of his groundbreaking first novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, to his most recent powerful short story collection, The Awkward Black Man.” (See below for our review of The Awkward Black Man.) She added that “Walter’s work digs deeply into not only the world we inhabit but the imminent world we might hope for, all that we are and all that we are becoming.”
We’re eager to hear more from Danticat on Mosley’s first Easy Rawlins book this Thursday, and perhaps some fun recollections about the filming of Devil in a Blue Dress, in 1994. (We’re told Danticat worked on the movie’s set.)
Here are the details of the event:
- When: Thursday, December 17, at 5 p.m. Pacific time.
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Where: To join the event on Zoom:
CLICK HERE - What: Your host, John Freeman, will be in conversation with Walter Mosley, author of more than 50 titles, including Devil in a Blue Dress, which kicked off the groundbreaking Easy Rawlins noir series. They will be joined by special guest Edwidge Danticat.
- Author questions: Please send questions for Walter Mosley to info@californiabookclub.com. You can also submit them using Zoom’s chat feature after the event begins.
- Attend to win: We’ll be giving away an author-signed copy of Devil in a Blue Dress to five attendees, selected at random, following Thursday’s program.
- Mark your calendars: Upcoming CBC discussions with Elaine Castillo, author of America Is Not the Heart, on January 21; Paul Beatty, author of The Sellout, on February 18; and Nina Revoyr, author of Southland, on March 18.
To sign up for Alta’s California Book Club for free, click here.
Thank you very much, and see you Thursday!
MORE MOSLEY
Paula L. Woods reviews Walter Mosley’s new collection of short stories, The Awkward Black Man. Of this book, Woods writes that “salvation, redemption, and fresh starts abound for Mosley’s characters in ways that American society has denied many Blacks.” Alta
Alta contributor and CBC selection panel member Lynell George will discuss her extraordinary new book, A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, with Alta’s books editor, David L. Ulin. They’ll explore the work, legacy, and world of this pioneering author. Alta
Join them tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. Pacific for the final Alta Asks Live of the year.
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SHOP SOCAL INDIES
The staff at neighborhood bookstores offer the best gift recommendations. Check out these picks from Southland booksellers, including California Book Club partners Vroman’s, Book Soup, and Diesel. Los Angeles Daily News
TATTERED WITH LOVE
Denver’s beloved Tattered Cover Bookstore was bought last week by Kwame Spearman and David Back, making it the largest Black-owned bookshop in the United States. The new owners are backed by an array of investors and an advisory board of industry veterans to help them navigate through the pandemic. Publishers Weekly
COLOGNE AND THOMAS PYNCHON
Los Angeles–based Rachel Kushner has a new book of fiction coming out in February. This time the author of The Mars Room travels the art worlds of Cologne and New York to write of clever grifters and posh collectors for The Mayor of Leipzig. Lit Hub has an excerpt—and a Pynchon reference. Literary Hub
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