Author Visit: A Conversation with Tommy Orange

A Conversation with Tommy Orange

Author Visit

In a highly engaging “fireside chat,” “There There” author Tommy Orange delves into his writing process, including the themes of Native American culture and history that inform his works.

A thoughtful, measured speaker, Tommy Orange shares his thoughts on craft and his experience as a debut novelist with frankness and humor. Join us at the Orange Branch Library for this free, after-hours event for the community. The evening’s conversation will be moderated by Amy Butcher and Karen Poremski.

Seating is limited, but registration is free. Please claim your seat today by clicking the “Register” button on this page.

Doors Open: 6:30 p.m.

Presentation: 7:00 p.m.

Q&A: 7:45 p.m.

Book Signing: 8:00 p.m.

Tommy Orange is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel There There, a multi-generational, relentlessly paced story about a side of America few of us have ever seen: the lives of urban Native Americans. There There was one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year, and won the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and the Pen/Hemingway Award. There There was also longlisted for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Orange graduated from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and was a 2014 MacDowell Fellow and a 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Oakland, California.

Books will be sold on-site by Beanbag Books. Email Beanbag Books for advanced sales of the book.

For more information on this Speaker please visit www.prhspeakers.com.

Amy Butcher is an essayist and author of Mothertrucker, a book that interrogates the realities of female fear, abusive relationships, and America’s quiet epidemic of intimate partner violence set against the geography of remote, northern Alaska. The book earned critical praise from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, The Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, CBS News, The Chicago Review of Books, The Oxford Review of Books, Booklist, and others. The Wall Street Journal called Mothertrucker “a rattling good story” that is “shot through with poignant insights.” Publisher’s Weekly called the book “tender and gripping,” writing, “[Mothertrucker] explores myriad issues with nuance and grace, including Indigenous rights, violence against women, religious hypocrisy, and environmental concerns.” And Kirkus Reviews called the book “a searching and deeply empathetic memoir,” writing, “[Mothertrucker] is a sobering reflection on verbal and psychological abuse [that] honors the healing power of female friendship and questions the nature of divinity beyond its constricting patriarchal manifestations.” Excerpts of Mothertrucker also won a 2020 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, with judges calling the book “well researched,” “very well-written,” and “a positive antidote to the trauma of violence against women.” She serves as the Director of Creative Writing and an Associate Professor of English at Ohio Wesleyan University and teaches annually with the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Sitka, Alaska. Learn more about Amy at www.amyebutcher.com.

Karen Poremski recently retired from Ohio Wesleyan University as an Associate Professor of English. Her research from the last part of her career there examined how Native literature portrays the complex relationships between Native people, museums, and the objects in museums; those articles appeared in Studies in American Indian Literature and Transmotion: a journal of Native literary and artistic survivance. In her teaching and service work, she enjoyed sharing what she learned about Native literatures and cultures with students, colleagues, and friends.