Laila Lalami's Blog, page 17
October 9, 2014
October 9, 2014
7:00 PM
Reading and Discussion
Harvard Bookstore
1256 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, Massachusetts
October 8, 2014
October 7, 2014
October 7, 2014
7:00 PM
Reading and Discussion
Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC
October 5, 2014
East Coast Tour
I just finished packing for my trip to the East Coast. I’ll be reading from and discussing The Moor’s Account in four cities: New York, Washington, DC, Williamstown, and Boston. The details are posted below:
October 6, 2014
8:00 PM
92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue
New York, New YorkOctober 7, 2014
7:00 PM
Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DCOctober 8, 2014
6:30 PM
Williams College
Williamstown, MassachusettsOctober 9, 2014
7:00 PM
Harvard Bookstore
1256 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, Massachusetts
For those who may be interested, here’s an interview I did with The Berkshire Eagle ahead of my reading at Williams. Reviews have continued to appear through last week. I particularly liked hearing Alan Cheuse’s review for NPR’s All Things Considered. Meanwhile, The Moor’s Account was published in Canada last week, so reviews have begun to appear there as well. Here, for instance, is a piece from the The Winnipeg Free Press. Details about my Canada appearances are on my Events page.
September 23, 2014
September 23, 2014
6:00 PM
Reading and Discussion
Collected Works Bookstore
202 Galisteo St.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
September 22, 2014
September 21, 2014
New Mexico Readings
Thank you to all who came to my readings in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. I had a wonderful time talking about The Moor’s Account and enjoyed sharing anecdotes and stories. Now I’m getting ready to read in New Mexico, a state I’ve loved ever since my first visit, in the summer of 2010. First up is Albuquerque:
September 22, 2014
7:00 PM
Reading and Discussion
Bookworks
4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW
Albuquerque, New Mexico
After that, I will be reading in Santa Fe:
September 23, 2014
6:00 PM
Reading and Discussion
Collected Works Bookstore
202 Galisteo St.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
You can read an interview I did with The Santa Fe New Mexican, ahead of my events in the state. The Moor’s Account was the subject of a wonderful essay by Rubén Martínez in The Los Angeles Review of Books. It also made Ebony‘s list of recommended reads. Do come and say hi.
Photo credit: Powell’s Books.
September 15, 2014
West Coast Tour
I’m packing today for the West Coast portion of my book tour. If you happen to be in Seattle, Portland, or San Francisco, I would love to see you! In Seattle, I’ll be reading at the public library, a place I love both for its architecture and for the people who work in it. The event is co-sponsored by Elliott Bay Book Co., where the booksellers always have the best recommendations for what to read next. I had a wonderful time in Seattle when my previous novel, Secret Son, was a citywide read there, so I’m really looking forward to being back.
September 16, 2014
7:00 PM
Reading and Discussion
Seattle Public Library in conjunction with Elliott Bay Book Co.
1000 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, Washington
After that, I’ll be reading at the legendary City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco. I’m excited about the prospect of seeing family and friends from the area. Details are below:
September 17, 2014
7:00 PM
Reading and Discussion
City Lights Booksellers and Publishers
261 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, California
My last stop of the week will be at Powell’s Books. All I can say about this bookstore is that I want to set up a tent and live there. It’s that great.
September 18, 2014
7:30 PM
Reading and Discussion
Powell’s Books
1005 W. Burnside Street
Portland, Oregon
If you want to know a little more about the genesis of The Moor’s Account, you can read this piece I wrote for Biographile. I also created a musical playlist for Largehearted Boy’s Booknotes. Several new reviews of the book appeared over the last few days: The Wall Street Journal called the novel “sensitive” and “elegant;” the literary magazine The Millions said it was “magnificent;” and the Seattle Times found it “meticulously researched and inventive.” The New York Times made it an Editors’ Choice this week.
September 9, 2014
Coming To A BookStore Near You
My new novel, The Moor’s Account, comes out today. The journey from conception to publication has been long, but it has been wonderful in every way. I’m very proud of this book and I hope you enjoy reading it. I’m also thrilled to see that it has already received some notice. For instance, in its review, The New York Times called it “a fictional memoir told in a controlled voice that feels at once historical and contemporary.” The Los Angeles Times said it was a “rich novel (…) that muses on the ambiguous power of words to either tell the truth or reshape it according to our desires.” Other reviews and mentions appeared in BookPage, The Huffington Post, and The Village Voice. And you can hear me discuss the novel with Arun Rath on NPR’s All Things Considered.
I will be launching The Moor’s Account in Los Angeles this week, at two separate events. Tomorrow, I’ll read from and discuss it at Skylight:
September 10, 2014
7:30 PM
Reading and Discussion
Skylight Books
1818 N Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles, California
And then this Sunday, I’ll be speaking at Diesel in Brentwood. Details are below:
September 14, 2014
3:00 PM
Reading and Discussion
Diesel, A Bookstore
Brentwood Country Mart
225 26th Street, Ste. 33.
Brentwood, California
After that, I will be going on a huge tour to promote the book. All my scheduled readings are posted on my Events page. Do come.
August 20, 2014
The Fight in the Heart
In trying to make sense of the injustice and the violence that has been unfolding in Ferguson for the last couple of weeks, I returned to James Baldwin’s essay “Notes of a Native Son,” and recommended it for NPR’s All Things Considered.
It is early August. A black man is shot by a white policeman. And the effect on the community is of “a lit match in a tin of gasoline.” No, this is not Ferguson, Mo. This was Harlem in August 1943, a period that James Baldwin writes about in the essay that gives its title to his seminal collection, Notes of a Native Son.
You can listen to the piece on NPR’s website.
Photo: Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP. A demonstrator throws back a tear gas container after tactical officers worked to break up a group of bystanders on Chambers Road and West Florissant, Aug. 13, 2014, in St. Louis.
