Literature buffs, take note. On Tuesday, April 9, Oakland University’s Department of English will host a reading and discussion in collaboration with the National Book Foundation.
Poet Justin Phillip Reed and novelist Angela Flournoy will give readings from their work at 5:00 p.m. in Banquet Room B of the Oakland Center. A question-and-answer session and book signing will follow. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.
Justin Phillip Reed
Reed is the author of a chapbook, A History of Flamboyance (YesYes Books, 2016), and a full-length collection, Indecency (Coffee House Press, 2018), winner of the National Book Award for Poetry. He is also the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem, the Conversation Literary Festival and the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis. Reed earned his B.A. from Tusculum College and an M.F.A. from Washington University, where he was also Junior Writer-in-Residence.
Angela Flournoy
Angela Flournoy’s debut novel The Turner House (2015) won the First Novelist Award. The novel, which is set in Detroit, was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction, and shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. It was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award and named a New York Times Notable Book of 2015. In addition, Flournoy was named one of the National Book Foundation’s ‘5 Under 35’ honorees, selected for the distinction by fiction writer ZZ Packer.
Established in 1950, The National Book Award, is one of the nation’s most prestigious literary prizes and has a stellar record of identifying quality writing. Many previous winners of the National Book Award are now firmly established in the canon of American literature, including Ralph Ellison, Louise Erdrich, Flannery O’Connor, Adrienne Rich and Maurice Sendak. The Award is presented in five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature and Young People’s Literature.
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