Redlands Community Read of "In the Country of Women" by Riverside author Susan Straight

The A.K. Smiley Library invites you to read "In the Country of Women" by Susan Straight, and attend a free author talk and book signing event on Thursday, March 24 at 6:30 pm. The event will take place at the Contemporary Club at the A.K. Smiley Public Library, 173 S. Eureka Street (behind the Lincoln Memorial Shrine and the library).

Award-winning Riverside author Susan Straight’s memoir spans multiple continents and generations, and honors "the sacrifices, love, pain, and hardships of the women in her family—by blood and by choice—who found their way to the Inland Empire and forged a path for her three daughters."

Crystal Hana Kim of The Washington Post said of the memoir,"Straight’s skillful ability to take us from the intimacy of family history to the wider considerations of America’s legacy is a wonder. This is not only a story of women, but of immigration, police brutality and the history of slavery . . . Straight captures an American story in all its ugly complexity."

A.K. Smiley has purchased extra copies of the book to keep waitlist times low. It is also available as an eBook through the A.K. Smiley Public Library site. The Frugal Frigate bookstore will have copies available for purchase at the event to be signed by the author.

Susan Straight was born in Riverside, CA., and still lives there with her family. She’s passionate about home, California, the Santa Ana River, the foothills, and the deserts, and has been writing about Southern California and the inland area for 40 years.In addition to "In the Country of Women," Ms. Straight has published eight novels and two books for children. Her short stories and essays have been published widely in publications from The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian to Alta, The Believer, McSweeney's, Zoetrope, Reader’s Digest, Real Simple, and Family Circle. She’s been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lannan Prize for Fiction, a California Gold Medal for Fiction, and the Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes.