Celebrating Greensboro’s rich literary heritage, the Greensboro Public Library, along with the Greensboro Public Library Foundation and a host of community partners, sponsors the One City, One Book community read every other year. This year an executive committee narrowed the options to three choices, Greensboro readers voted, and the 2021 selection is There There by Native American author Tommy Orange.

There There is a stunning debut novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities as they all travel to the Big Oakland Powwow. With a common history these voices share the plight of the urban Native American with unflinching focus.

Tommy Orange is a graduate of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts who was born and raised in Oakland, California. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, the son of a white mother and Native father. Like many of the characters in his book, the author considers himself an “urban Indian.”

There There serves to dispel the historical image of Native Americans as headdress wearing, reservation dwellers by including modern technologies and contemporary behavior. Readers will see that there are many ways to be authentic, displaying a dynamic range of ways to be that are still acceptable as “Native.”

Praised by media and fellow authors alike, There There is one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Winner of the Pen/Hemingway Award. For most readers the depiction of modern day Native Americans will be a stark departure from traditional stereotypes.

One City, One Book programming begins this fall with lively programs, discussions, films, theatrical productions, readings, and more offer opportunities for the entire community to engage around the themes of the chosen work. “When the community joins together in the shared experience of reading a book like There There we not only learn more about issues in the book, but we also learn more about each other. We like to say that the Greensboro Public Library is a Conduit to Destiny® and our One City, One Book community read opens new avenues of discovery for everyone who participates,” notes Library Director Brigitte Blanton. “I hope we can all come together to learn more about the modern Native American experience.”