The Santa Fe Public Library invites all community members to an evening with author Tommy Orange to discuss Orange’s bestselling book, There There, as well as his life. The conversation will be facilitated National Native News’ Antonia Gonzales. The free event will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 5, at the Santa Fe Indian School’s Pueblo Pavilion, and includes a 30-minute conversation, a 15-minute Q&A session, and a book signing.
Register to attend An Evening with Tommy Orange
There There tells the story of twelve different characters who each have private reasons for travelling to the Big Oakland Powwow and come together after a brutal act of violence. Mr. Orange’s book was selected as a 2022 NEA Big Read title and is the showcased title for the 2022 Santa Fe Reads Program, an NEA Big Read funding recipient. Donors for this City of Santa Fe Public Library event include the National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest NEA Big Read grant, Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library, Santa Fe Indian School, and the Santa Fe New Mexican.
About the author and event facilitator:
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 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.
Antonia Gonzales is a member of the Navajo Nation and grew up in Arizona and New Mexico. She is the anchor and producer of the award-winning, nationally syndicated radio program National Native News, which airs on tribal and public radio stations across the United States and Canada. It covers social, economic, and cultural issues that impact Indigenous people worldwide.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. El proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperación con Arts Midwest. 