Join us when AWBA-winning author Tommy Orange returns to Cleveland for a riveting discussion with debut novelist Kaveh Akbar, whose 2024 Martyr! was named a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. As the evening concludes, Orange will announce the winners of the 90th Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards.
Tommy Orange is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. After graduating from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Orange released his debut novel, There There, to rave reviews. Published in 2018, There There weaves together the inner lives of twelve different characters, each of whom are traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow. What ensues is a riveting multigenerational story that grapples with a nation’s history and its complex inheritances for the lives of urban Native Americans. There There was awarded an Ansifield-Wolf Book Award in 2019 for Fiction. Orange followed up his debut with a staggering second novel, Wandering Stars (2024).
We are thrilled to welcome Tommy Orange back to Cleveland.
This event is a part of the The William N. Skirball Writers Center Stage Series presented by the Cuyahoga County Public Library Foundation and Case Western Reserve University and will be held at the Maltz Performing Arts Center at Case Western Reserve University. Live stream (and limited in-person) tickets are available at writerscenterstage.org.