Photo courtesy of the American Library Association
Among all the incredible happenings at this year's ALA Annual in Chicago, perhaps the biggest news was that No One Is Coming to Save Us, the debut novel by Stephanie Powell Watts, was chosen by Sarah Jessica Parker as the inaugural pick for her new book club, Book Club Central, formed in partnership with ALA, Booklist, and United for Libraries. You can read the New York Times coverage of the announcement here and also see Sarah Jessica unveil the pick on Good Morning America here.
An intimate and deeply human look at an extended African American family living in contemporary North Carolina as they wrestle with their conflicted visions of the American Dream, No One Is Coming to Save Us released in April to widespread critical acclaim. Janet Maslin with the New York Times raved, "Watts’s book envisions a backwoods African-American version of The Great Gatsby. The circumstances of her characters are vastly unlike Fitzgerald’s, and those differences are what make this novel so moving." The Washington Post praised Watts as "unusually deft with dialogue…. [The novel is] conveyed in a prose style that renders the common language of casual speech into natural poetry, blending intimate conversation with the rhythms of gossip, town legend, even song lyrics…. An indelible story."
To celebrate the occasion, we will send a copy of the book to the first 25 people to email us at librarylovefest@harpercollins.com. Congratulations Stephanie!
-Chris