A MIDWEST ADRESS Author Literary Lunchbreak Virtual Event, co-sponsored with Bookends & Beginnings. Gabriel Bump in conversation with Crissy Van Meter.
About the Book
In this alternately witty and heartbreaking debut novel, Gabriel Bump gives us an unforgettable protagonist, Claude McKay Love. Claude isn’t dangerous or brilliant—he’s an average kid coping with abandonment, violence, riots, failed love, and societal pressures as he steers his way past the signposts of youth: childhood friendships, basketball tryouts, first love, first heartbreak, picking a college, moving away from home.
Claude just wants a place where he can fit. As a young black man born on the South Side of Chicago, he is raised by his civil rights–era grandmother, who tries to shape him into a principled actor for change; yet when riots consume his neighborhood, he hesitates to take sides, unwilling to let race define his life. He decides to escape Chicago for another place, to go to college, to find a new identity, to leave the pressure cooker of his hometown behind. But as he discovers, he cannot; there is no safe haven for a young black man in this time and place called America.
Percolating with fierceness and originality, attuned to the ironies inherent in our twenty-first-century landscape, "Everywhere You Don’t Belong" marks the arrival of a brilliant young talent.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED, CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. You will be emailed the event's Zoom URL before the event.
Gabriel Bump grew up in South Shore, Chicago. His nonfiction and fiction have appeared in Slam magazine, the Huffington Post, Springhouse Journal, and other publications. He received his MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. "Everywhere You Don't Belong" is his first novel and was selected as one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2020. He is also featured in USA Today's "100 Black novelists and fiction writers you should read, from Abi Daré to Zora Neale Hurston."
Crissy Van Meter grew up in Southern California. Her writing has appeared in Vice, Bustle, Guernica, and Catapult. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the New School. She lives in Los Angeles. Her debut novel "Creatures" was an NPR Best Book of 2020 and described as "A beautiful look at how we navigate the pain and heartbreak that comes with being human."
The Main library is an epicenter of information and the various forms of literacy. Its assets expand beyond books, audiobooks and DVDs to include public Internet stations and building-wide Wi-Fi, arts performances and displays, author presentations, financial and immigration programs, and much more. The Main Library is the primary focus of our absolute and continuous commitment to meeting the diverse expectations and needs of Evanston residents.
La Biblioteca Principal es un epicentro de información y diversas formas de alfabetización. Sus colecciones se expanden más allá de los libros, audiolibros y DVD para incluir estaciones públicas de Internet y Wi-Fi en todo el edificio, presentaciones y exhibiciones artísticas, presentaciones de autores, programas financieros y de inmigración, y mucho más. La Biblioteca Principal es el enfoque nuestro compromiso absoluto y continuo para cumplir con las diversas expectativas y necesidades de los residentes de Evanston.
© 2018. Evanston Public Library.
Privacy Policy | Site by Glantz
Evanston Public Library aims to be the heart of our diverse community by promoting the development of independent, self-confident, and literate citizens, and providing equitable access to cultural, intellectual, technological, and information resources.
