District Book Read 2020

Tommy Orange’s wondrous and shattering novel 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. Among them is Jacquie Red Feather, newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, pulling his life together after his uncle’s death and working at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen-year-old Orvil, coming to perform traditional dance for the very first time. Together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism. Hailed as an instant classic, There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.

Additional Resources​

• New York Times Review of There, There
• Publisher Reading Guide and Discussion Questions

Seattle Reads is an annual program by the Seattle Public Library where the entire city is encouraged to read the same book. It’s "designed to deepen engagement in literature through reading and discussion," according to the library website. 

• About Seattle Reads
• Seattle Reads 2020: There There

Seattle Reads 2020 is postponed until October due to Covid-19. There There author Tommy Orange is now scheduled to visit Seattle October 17-18, 2020.

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.

(description and image from Seattle Public Library)

For more about the author:

• NPR Interview with Tommy Orange
• Spokane Public Radio Interview with Tommy Orange
• Tommy Orange On There, There, at the 2018 Miami Book Fair