DINAW MENGESTU
Saturday, May 10 at 4 p.m. at Columbia Branch, Seattle Public Library, 4721 Rainier Avenue S

Presented by the WASHINGTON CENTER FOR THE BOOK AT THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY. A year ago, we at Elliott Bay had the good fortune of being able to meet and hear Ethiopia-born novelist Dinaw Mengestu with his extraordinary debut novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (Riverhead). From reading the book we knew it had a special place, and then hearing the author with a surprisingly large audience (word had started getting out), there was a feeling that this would be a perfect author and book for Seattle Reads. We weren't the only ones with that opinion. Most important, there is the book, which has won for itself and its author a spate of honors and distinctions from around the world, including the Guardian First Book Prize and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Writers and reviewers have been lavish in praise. "Dinaw Mengestu belongs to that special group of American voices produced by global upheavals and intentional, if sometimes forced, migrations ... The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears is the wrenching and important book he has made from this struggle. With The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, Mengestu has made, and made well, a novel that is a retelling of the immigrant experience, one in which immigrants must come to terms with the past and find a way loyal to two ideas of home: the one they left behind and the one they've made in America ... With this book, Mengestu moves the conversation forward." – Chris Abani, Los Angeles Times. The branch library programs require advance tickets, to be picked up at the hosting branch library (limit of two per person). The Columbia Library is located at 4721 Rainier Avenue S. For more information on everything, please see www.spl.org, call (206) 386-4636, or visit any branch of The Seattle Public Library. In addition, there are numerous other programs related, information at the previously-named sources.

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