The Center for Fiction welcomes Rachel Eliza Griffiths in celebration of her debut novel, Promise. Set in 1957 at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, Griffiths’s luminous work speaks to the often-overlooked experiences of Black people in integrated communities of New England, richly illustrating one family’s powerful story of resistance. As rising tensions reach their idyllic, isolated Maine village and violence, prejudice, and fear continue to escalate among their previously friendly white neighbors, the Kindred family commits great acts of heroism and grace on their path to survival. Cornell University professor Nafissa Thompson-Spires, the author of Heads of the Colored People (winner of the PEN Open Book Award), joins Griffiths for a powerful discussion about “a secret history of an America we think we know, but never really knew” (Marlon James).
Registration Link: https://centerforfiction.org/event/the-center-for-fiction-presents-rachel-eliza-griffiths-on-promise-with-nafissa-thompson-spires/