‘There There’ author Tommy Orange will visit Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — California novelist Tommy Orange will discuss his novel “There There” with readers at the Moses Lake Civic Center auditorium at 7 p.m. April 18. Orange’s novel is the book selected for the 2020 “NCRL Reads” program, sponsored by the North Central Regional Library.

The NCRL Reads program “invites people across north central Washington to read the same book, a book that sparks conversations, curiosity and learning,” according to the NCRL website. The library has been sponsoring NCRL Reads since about 2015.

“There There” was published in 2018 and was Orange’s first novel. It tells the stories of 12 Native Americans who are planning to attend a party in Oakland, California, later that day. Orange looks at their lives as Native Americans living in urban areas, and details what happens to them when the “Big Oakland Powwow” begins. The name is based on a quote from writer Gertrude Stein, who was a native of Oakland.

“There There” was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and received a 2019 American Book Award.

Orange will talk about his novel in an appearance at Eastmont High School April 17, which will be livestreamed to other libraries in the system. He will be speaking at the Lucy F. Covington Government Center auditorium in Nespelem April 18.

Wenatchee Valley College and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are working with the regional library system to sponsor Orange’s visit.

Orange, 37, is a native of Oakland and is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].