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May 13 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
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In-Person: An Evening with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Books & Books and Exchange for Change presents
AN EVENING WITH NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH
in conversation with
Kathie Klarreich & Darren Tinker
discussing his new book
Chain Gang All Stars: A Novel
(Pantheon, $27)
Saturday, May 13, 7PM
In-Person @ Books & Books, Coral Gables
RSVP HERE TO ATTEND
We are so excited to present #1 New York Times Bestselling author, Nana Kwame Adjej-Brenyah at Books & Books, Coral Gables to celebrate the release of one of this years most anticipated books, Chain Gang All Stars: A Novel (Pantheon, $27), a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system’s unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a “new and necessary American voice” (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).
Please Note: This event is FREE and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase the night of the event and Nana will sign copies after the talk. Seats are limited so, we encourage you to RSVP early and only if you intend to join us.
About the Book:
About the Book:Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own in this explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black, “one of the most exciting young writers in America” (George Saunders, best-selling author of Liberation Day and Lincoln in the Bardo).
She felt their eyes, all those executioners…
Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.
In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE’s corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar’s path have devastating consequences.
Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system’s unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a “new and necessary American voice” (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).
BUY THE BOOK HERE
About the Author:
NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH is the New York Times-bestselling author of Friday Black. His work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Esquire, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. He was a National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” honoree, the winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the Saroyan Prize, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Award for Best First Book, along with many other honors. Raised in Spring Valley, New York, he now lives in the Bronx.
About the Moderators:
Kathie Klarreich is the author of Madame Dread: A Tale of Love, Vodou, and Civil Strife in Haiti and a contributor to two anthologies: So Spoke the Earth and Women, Writing, and Prison. In 2010 she received a Knight International Journalism Fellowship to train journalists in investigative reporting in Haiti, where she spent half of her decades-long career reporting for print, radio and television, including Time, The New York Times, ABC, and NPR. Kathie started facilitating writing workshops in Florida prisons in 2009 and founded Exchange for Change in 2014. She graduated from the University of Michigan and received her MFA from Lesley University.
Darren Tinker ( DT) is a public speaker and writer who found his passions behind bars. After being both falsely accused and wrongfully incarcerated for over three years Darren has made it his goal to become an activist for prison education and change. By speaking at universities and events such as Florida International University (FIU), University of Miami (UM), and The Miami Book Fair he hopes to help people see the importance and significant impact of programs like Exchange for Change.
