Tommy Orange
I write because I truly believe in the impact of what art can do in lives, and to help a very troubled world.
Award-Winning Author of There, There
Presented in collaboration with local bookstore Birchbark Books, Talk of the Stacks is proud to welcome award-winning author Tommy Orange. In 2019, the author published his debut novel, There, There, to widespread critical acclaim. A winner of the PEN Award and the American Book Award, as well as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the breakout bestseller follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.
In his new work, Wandering Stars, Orange traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family in a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous. He once again delivers a story that is piercing in its poetry, sorrow, and rage, serving as a devastating indictment of America’s war on its own people. Of the new book, Louise Erdrich raves: “No one knows how to express tenderness and yearning like Tommy Orange. With an all-seeing heart, he traces historical and contemporary cruelties, vagaries, salvations, and solutions visited upon young Cheyenne people, who cope with the impossible. In them, Tommy finds the unnerving strength that results when a broken spirit mends itself, when a wandering star finds its place, when, in spite of everything, Native people manage to survive.”
Orange is a 2014 MacDowell Fellow and a 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow, as well as a 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 lives in Angels Camp, California.
This event is FREE and open to the public, but registration is required. Use the links at the top of the page to register for either the in-person event or virtual option.
This event takes place at the Minneapolis Central Library in Pohlad Hall on the 2nd Floor. Pohlad Hall doors open at 6 p.m. for general admission seating. Registrants must check-in for seating by 6:20 p.m. After this time, any open seats will be released to our wait list queue.
Order the author's latest book from event partner Birchbark Books. The author's latest title will also be on sale in the event lobby, and a book signing will take place following the talk.
Using your Hennepin County Library card, download the author's past titles through the Libby App or search the catalog for pick up locations.
In-Person Event: Accessible and companion seating are available at all Talk of the Stacks events. Check with a staff member or volunteer upon arrival to request this seating. For all other requests, including ASL interpretation services, please email FriendsEvents@hclib.org at least two weeks prior to your event.
Virtual Option: Closed captioning is provided for all virtual Talk of the Stacks events. To use closed captioning during a virtual program, click the "CC" icon and select "Show Subtitles."
