Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing Selected as the 2017 Community Read

"Homegoing," the first novel from author Yaa Gyasi, has been announced as the selected book for The Deschutes Public Library "2017 A Novel Idea" program.

Now in its 13th year, "A Novel Idea...Read Together" is the largest community read program in Oregon. The program gives residents of Central Oregon a common forum to discover culture, discuss ideas and explore differences as well as similarities with other readers through four-weeks of programs based around ideas in the book.

"A Novel Idea" talks, presentations and events begin Saturday, April 8, 2017 but "Homecoming" is already available to readers now at Central Oregon libraries. The programming culminates with a presentation by author Yaa Gyasi on Sunday, May 7 at 4 pm at Bend High School for free.

"Homegoing" tells the story of two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, born into different villages in Ghana in the eighteenth-century. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in a Cape Coast Castle in comfort. Unknown to Effia, her sister, Esi, is sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her following generations will be raised in slavery.

One storyline of "Homegoing" follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. "'Homegoing' makes history visceral and explores how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation," says the press release from DPL. A New York Times 2016 Notable Book, "Homegoing" takes readers to new places and times.

To learn more about the program and past novel selections take a look at the Source article published before the selection announcement party: "A Novel Idea."