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Saturday, May 21, 2022

Friends of the Riverside Public Library Annual Meeting Featuring Susan Straight

Free and open to the public • Saturday May 21, 2022 • 1 PM doors open

2 PM reading & conversation

Riverside Public Library
3900 Mission Inn Ave • Riverside, CA 92501

“to us it felt truly magical.” — Susan Straight on growing up with the Riverside Public Library

On May 21, join the Friends of the Riverside Public Library for an afternoon of camaraderie and conversation with acclaimed Riverside author, Susan Straight, who will be reading from her new novel, Mecca. In addition, participate in a silent auction, enjoy refreshments, and learn more about the Friends of the Library. Susan Straight is the author of eight novels, including the national bestseller Highwire Moon, a finalist for the National Book Award, and A Million Nightingales, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, as well as the memoir In the Country of Women, named a best book of 2019 by NPR. She is the recipient of the Edgar Award for Best Short Story, the O. Henry Prize, the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and her stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian, Granta, Harper’s Magazine, and elsewhere. She was born and continues to live with her family in Riverside, California, where she is Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.

The Friends donate time and resources to help fund materials and programs by operating the BOOKSTORE located on the first floor of the new main library in downtown Riverside. They encourage reading and a love of books by supporting programs like Inlandia at Arts Walk and work in tandem with the library board of trustees Riverside Public Library Foundation to promote excellence in the library system. Their annual meeting is an opportunity to engage with a distinguished local author.

In Mecca, the celebrated novelist Susan Straight crafts an unforgettable American epic, examining race, history, family, and destiny through the interlocking stories of a group of native Californians all gasping for air. With sensitivity, furor, and a cinematic scope that captures California in all its injustice, history, and glory, she tells a story of the American West through the eyes of the people who built it―and continue to sustain it. As the stakes get higher and the intertwined characters in Mecca slam against barrier after barrier, they find that when push comes to shove, it’s always better to push back.