PEN/Jean Stein Award
Carnegie Medal
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The acclaimed debut collection from the author of Chain Gang All Stars; a piercingly raw and, at times, heartbreakingly satirical look at what it's like to be young and Black in America.
From the start of this extraordinary debut, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's writing will grab you, haunt you, enrage and invigorate you. By placing ordinary characters in extraordinary situations, Adjei-Brenyah reveals the violence, injustice, and painful absurdities that Black men and women contend with every day in this country.
These stories tackle urgent instances of racism and cultural unrest, and explore the many ways we fight for humanity in an unforgiving world.
- In "The Finkelstein Five," Adjei-Brenyah gives us an unforgettable reckoning of the brutal prejudice of our justice system.
- In "Zimmer Land," we see a far-too-easy-to-believe imagining of racism as sport.
- "Friday Black" and "How to Sell a Jacket as Told by Ice King" show the horrors of consumerism and the toll it takes on us all.
Entirely fresh in its style and perspective, and sure to appeal to fans of Colson Whitehead, Marlon James, and George Saunders, Friday Black confronts readers with a complicated, insistent, wrenching chorus of emotions, the final note of which, remarkably, is hope.
"An unbelievable debut, one that announces a new and necessary American voice."--New York Times Book Review
About the Author :
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is the bestselling author of Friday Black and the acclaimed novel Chain Gang All Stars. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Esquire, 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.
Corey Allen, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, has been labeled by artistic collaborators as a "journeyman" and "chameleon-like" actor, relentless in his pursuit of truth and transformation in his work. As a voiceover artist, his talents have been heard in sound plays, commercial copy, industrial and documentary films, and many audiobooks. He is based in New York City and is a founding member of Coyote REP. He holds a BA from the University of California-Irvine and an MFA from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.
Carra Patterson is an actor known for her roles in Why Did I Get Married Too?, Out There, and Gun Hill Road.
Review :
"A powerful and important and strange and beautiful collection of stories...a dystopian book as full of violence as it is of heart."
-- "New York Times Book Review"
"A searing, exacting look at injustice in America...delivered in a way that makes it impossible to look away."
-- "Huffington Post"
"Aching and powerful dispatches on race, violence, and the modern world."
-- "Southern Living"
"Darkly absurdist tales that take the horrors of racism to surreal new levels."
-- "O, The Oprah Magazine"
"Narrators Corey Allen and Carra Patterson perform this collection of powerful stories...Allen narrates the bulk of the pieces, giving the prose a free-verse style and letting the author's words and the characters' emotions rise to the surface. Patterson delivers the final two stories in a voice that is world-weary yet tinted with a drop of optimism...Allen's performance is near perfect, and Patterson's work is equally impressive. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."
-- "AudioFile"
"This collection is nothing short of astounding."
-- "Boston Globe"
