Our next public event is a reading by David Sanders at Narberth Bookshop, 221 Haverford Avenue, Narberth, PA 19071, at 7 p.m. on May 30.

This is an excellent, carefully curated bookshop run by long-time literary professional Ellen Trachtenberg. Busara is a Swahili word for wisdom and common sense, so it's fitting that Busara Road runs through Ellen's shop.

David Sanders reading from Busara Road at the Fairmount Arts Crawl in Philly, at a space set up by Toho Publishing and Green Street Poetry. Quite a few people stopped to hear the readers, and a great time was had by all.

The few folks who zoomed by on bikes or motorcycles must not have understood the "Crawl" concept.

The official launch for Busara Road is upon us!

​Sunday, April 7, 5:30 p.m.
Head House Books
619 South 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 923-9525

Facebook event page here.
Details about the book here.

You may realize that April 7 is also National Beer Day. This conjunction is partly an accident, but not totally. We will have some brewskis.

Here's a fine article about the genesis of our forthcoming novel, Busara Road by David Hallock Sanders.

An American Quaker boy transported to Kenya just after the Mau Mau rebellion? Yep, that much is from personal experience:

"For a year and a half, Sanders spent his youth swinging on vines, wandering rainforests and munching on roasted maize, seeking his own preadolescent introspection while the country of Kenya itself was, too, searching for an identity in the shadow of gaining independence from British rule."

Read the rest of the article here.

The Kindle-format ebook of Busara Road is now available for preorder. Click on the image to visit the Amazon page.

The publication date (when the ebook will be released for download) is April 7. Paperback copies will also be available then.

Why should you read this book? Here's what one advance reviewer has said:

"In his authentic and haunting first novel, Busara Road, David Sanders captures the turbulent early days of newly-independent Kenya through the eyes of eleven-year-old Mark Morgan, the sensitive and inquisitive son of a widowed Quaker missionary. Set in the aftermath of the brutal conflict between colonial British forces and the Mau Mau rebels, the novel navigates the jungle of grief and hope that is a community emerging from years of violence, as well as the suffering of those set upon avenging past atrocities. Sanders creates characters who are memorable, distinctive, multi-dimensional and indelibly true. In the spirit of the best of Norman Rush and Barbara Kingsolver, Busara Road is a Bildungsroman of insight and compassion from an author who has mastered both the substance and the emotion of his subject matter. A riveting tour de force, the novel will appeal to anyone who has ever been eleven years old and at sea in the world. Busara Road leads readers both into the African past and into the depths of the human spirit—it is a road not to be missed."
      Jacob M. Appel, author of Millard Salter’s Last Day

As we said in an earlier post, we have trouble keeping up with our author Nathaniel Popkin because he's involved in so many projects. Some relate to the novel he published with us, Everything Is Borrowed, and some range to other important literary and social topics.

Luckily, he has sent us an email, copied below, detailing his appearances for the next several weeks. All are in Philadelphia, giving you ample reason to visit the city if you suffer the ill fortune of not living here.

February 16, 3PM
"Hidden City, Changing City"
Free Library of Philadelphia Parkway Branch, 4th floor
19th and Vine Streets, Philadelphia
FREE
Register HERE: https://www.facebook.com/events/708064866257581/

As part of the library's Community Day, I'll discuss how literary and film interpretations of the city converge in my own work and others'. Let's dig into the urban layers together!
 
February 19, 1PM
National Book Foundation Presents "Everyday People and Everyday Truths"
With authors Nafissa Thompson-Spires and Adam Haslett, Nathaniel Popkin moderating
Community College of Philadelphia Winnet Student Life Building, Great Hall Room S2-19
502 N. 17th Street, Philadelphia
FREE
Event Info HERE: https://www.ccp.edu/calendars/events/everyday-people-and-everyday-truths

Stories about everyday Americans might seem mundane on the surface—banal compared to heroic epics or sweeping romances. But with humor and sharp insight, these two National Book Awards–honored authors illustrate the everyday lives of their characters with great depth and significance. Join 2018 National Book Awards author Nafissa Thompson-Spires (Heads of the Colored People) and two-time National Book Awards nominee Adam Haslett (You Are Not a Stranger Here and Imagine Me Gone) as they discuss the vitality of stories that reflect the lives of everyday people, the struggles they face, and how humor can work to reveal deeper truths.
 
February 27, 6:30PM
"Sisters in Freedom" Screening and Panel Discussion
With Professors Emma Lapsansky and Kate Oxx, Nathaniel Popkin moderating
Free Library of Philadelphia Parkway Branch, Skyline Room
19th and Vine Streets, Philadelphia
FREE
Register HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sisters-in-freedom-screening-and-panel-discussion-tickets-55283533537

"Sisters in Freedom" tells the story for the first time of pioneering black and white women in the 1830s who defy social, economic, and cultural norms to come together to agitate against slavery, white supremacy, and inequality of race and gender. The film reveals how the resistance work of these pioneering women leads directly to the meeting at Seneca Falls and the launch of American feminism.
 
March 4, 6:30-8PM
"Tomorrow is Now: How Will We Survive a Changing Climate"
Panel discussion with Professors Scott Knowles, Howard Kunreuther, and Mira Olsen, Saleem Chapman and Nathaniel Popkin
Academy of Natural Sciences
19th and Race Streets, Philadelphia
FREE
Register HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/academy-town-square-tomorrow-is-now-how-will-we-survive-a-changing-climate-tickets-55768037702

Extreme storms, increased flooding, deadly heat waves, sea level rise. Climate change is happening now, and it is affecting our own neighborhoods. Join us for an Academy Town Square about what Philadelphia and the region are doing—or should be doing—to address this critical issue. Drexel University Professor Scott Knowles, an expert on urban disasters, will lead the discussion among city and regional officials and scientists. They will provide insight into how we can prepare for climate changes ahead.
 
March 28, 6PM
"To Reach the Spring: The Banality of Evil and the Climate Crisis"
Reading and discussion with Professor Bethany Wiggin, Director, Penn Program in Environmental Humanities
Rosenbach Museum and Library
2008 Delancey Place, Philadelphia
MUSEUM ADMISSION
Register HERE: https://rosenbach.org/events/in-conversation-with-nathaniel-popkin/

Nathaniel Popkin will read and discuss a new work, To Reach the Spring, which asks, what do we owe our children and grandchildren if the greenhouse gases we contributed to global warming cause extreme suffering or death? Should we someday be held morally accountable? Popkin’s work draws on his own experience as an environmental organizer as well as the work of Hannah Arendt and Primo Levi, and contemporary ecologists and scientists. To Reach the Spring is a literary essay in the spirit of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, meant to place a new lens on a paralyzing problem in human society.