We are thrilled to announce the selection of the 2022 Fox Cities Reads: “There There” by Tommy Orange! Fox Cities Reads organizers announced the selection at a live event at the Menasha Public Library this past week. Fox Cities Reads 2022, which invites community members to read and discuss books together, also will offer a companion novel suitable for a younger audience: “Apple in the Middle” by Dawn Quigley.
Orange will present at an in-person event in the Appleton North High School auditorium on Thursday, May 12 at 6:30 p.m. The event will include time for Q&A and will be available virtually on Facebook as well.
Quigley will offer a virtual presentation on Zoom and Facebook on Tuesday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m.
The Penguin Random House Speaker’s Bureau shares the following on Orange:
“Tommy Orange is the author of ‘There There,’ a multigenerational, relentlessly paced story about a side of America few of us have ever seen: the lives of urban Native Americans. One of The New York Times’ top books of 2018 and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, ‘There There’ shows us violence and recovery, hope and loss, identity and power, dislocation and communion, and the beauty and despair woven into the history of a nation and its people. Orange talks about his craft, the writing process, and Native American history and culture, often in dynamic and frank in-conversation programs.”
Orange is a 2014 MacDowell Fellow and a 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow, as well as a recent graduate from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, and was born and raised in Oakland, California. He now lives in Angels Camp, California, with his wife and son.
Here’s more on Quigley’s “Apple in the Middle,” from her website, dawnquigley.com/books/apple-in-the-middle:
“Apple Starkington turned her back on her Native American heritage the moment she was called a racial slur for someone of white and Indian descent, not that she really even knew how to be an Indian in the first place. Too bad the white world doesn’t accept her either. And so begins her quirky habits to gain acceptance.”
Quigley lives in Minnesota and is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. Her first memories of her childhood are of sitting on her mom’s lap while she read to her. Books have been important to her throughout her life, which is why she’s so excited to be an author now.
Fox Cities Reads 2022 will include several companion events leading up to the authors’ presentations. Visit us on our website and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for all the latest updates.
Libraries throughout the Fox Cities will have extra copies of the books on hand for borrowing. You also can purchase copies at The Book Store in Appleton or visit us at the Community Public Market at the Fox Cities Exhibition Center on Saturday, March 19 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bookshop.org, which supports local bookstores, also has copies of “There There” available: click here to purchase.
Please remember that Fox Cities Reads and the Fox Cities Book Festival run on donations. We thank you kindly for your support! Give by visiting foxcitiesbookfestival.org and clicking “Donate” in the top right corner.
Happy reading! We can’t wait to get the community conversation started!
