Fall for the Book 2019

Acclaimed writers Susan Richards Shreve, Helon Habila, and Rion Amilcar Scott navigate truth, memory, and identity. Called “A compelling, atmospheric family drama” by People, Shreve's latest book, More News Tomorrow, follows Georgie and her parents on parallel trips up the dangerous Bone River in 2008 and 1914, as Georgie tries to uncover the mystery of her mother’s murder and her father’s confession. In Habila’s Travelers, a Nigerian graduate student moves to a community in Berlin made of African immigrants and refugees whose lives previously seemed distant from his own privileged life, but to which he is increasingly drawn. Library Journal says, “Habila evokes the visceral, heartbreaking anguish of the outsider's dilemma…Guaranteed to promote empathy and understanding for refugees worldwide.” Scott discusses the themes of religion, violence, and love in The World Doesn't Require You: Stories, a collection that explores the country’s only successful slave revolt in the mid-nineteenth century. Booklist says, “Scott’s imagery and unique voice blend horror, satire, and magical realism into an intoxicating brew.”