We’re back at CLARA on Friday, August 24, and oh, what a way to celebrate the end of summer – amazing stories from two groundbreaking debut novelists.
Tommy Orange
and
Vanessa Hua
with readings by Angel Rodriguez and Madison Cho
About Tommy Orange
Oakland native and Angels Camp resident Tommy Orange burst onto the literary scene in June with his novel There There, a brilliant polyphonic telling of the fateful day when the book’s twelve main characters, all urban Indians, converge at a pow-wow in Oakland, California. Praise for the book has been lavish and wide-ranging, starting with Margaret Atwood, who called the book “a gripping deep dive into urban indigenous community in California: an astonishing literary debut,” and continuing with The New York Times, “groundbreaking, extraordinary – a new kind of American epic,” the Washington Post “masterful, white-hot – a devastating debut novel,” Entertainment Weekly, “the year’s most galvanizing debut novel.” There There is already in its sixth printing: it’s number one on the SF Chronicle best seller list and number eight on the New York Times Best-Seller list.
Tommy Orange is a recent graduate from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is a 2014 MacDowell Fellow, and a 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.
About Vanessa Hua
Vanessa Hua’s powerful debut novel, A River of Stars, will be published August 14, but it’s already gathering honors: the online literary site The Millions named it one of their most anticipated books of 2018, and it was selected by August LibraryReads as a “Top 10 New Release.” A modern story of motherhood, immigration, and identity, A River of Stars follows a pregnant Chinese woman as she makes her way to California and a stake in the American dream. Hua has been a practicing journalist for two decades: she’s currently a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and the author of a much-praised short story collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities, which was featured at Stories on Stage Sacramento in 2017. She’s the mother of twin boys and lives with her family in San Francisco
About our Readers
Madison Cho
Making her debut at Stories on Stage Sacramento is Madison Cho. She has recently appeared in productions of Macbeth and Titus Andronicus. Madison will be reading an excerpt from Vanessa Hua’s debut novel, A River of Stars.
Angel Rodriguez
Angel Rodriguez is an actor and director from the Sacramento region. He holds a BA in Theatre from Sacramento State and has been in many CSUS’s productions including “James and the Giant Peach” as James, “Darskide” as The Boy and “Gypsy” as Tulsa. He has also been in many Latinx projects through Teatro Espejo and Latino Center of Arts and Culture including the roles of Rene in “Lydia” and Juan in “La Pastorela de Sacramento.”
About Stories on Stage Sacramento
Now in its ninth season, Stories on Stage Sacramento is proud of its record, as an all-volunteer organization, of bringing the best in literary fiction, read by actors, to a growing Sacramento audience. Our six 2017 events featured work by Steve Almond, Deborah Willis, Josh Barkan, Vanessa Hua, Joshua Mohr, the Los Rios Writers, and Josh Weil, as well as several of Sacramento’s notable emerging writers.
Our 2018 season has featured, or will feature, the writers Anne Raeff, Mira T. Lee, Elizabeth Tallent, Bob Sylva, Kirstin Chen, Tommy Orange, Vanessa Hua, Melissa Yancy and Dana Johnson. The dates for our 2018 season are: February 23, April 27, June 29, August 24, and October 26. In addition, our annual showcase featuring the Los Rios Writers will take place on Friday, September 28.