Searching for a new book for your community reading program? These authors are all Community Reads favorites who entertain audiences while igniting conversations about identity, creativity, and the human experience. Unite your community with bestselling books, open dialogue, and compelling events with these beloved and experienced speakers.
Brit Bennett
Brit Bennett appeared on the literary scene with her stunning New York Times-bestselling novel, The Mothers. Her novel, The Vanishing Half, was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller and was chosen as a Good Morning America Book Club Pick. Her lectures are as compassionate and memorable as her writing and give audiences a window into her craft while exploring broader themes of race, familial legacy, and injustice in connection with her work.
Past Community Reads Pick: Belleville Reads (IL), One Author, One Kirkwood (MO), Seattle Reads (WA), One Book, One Parish (LO), Tacoma Reads (WA)
Percival Everett
Percival Everett is one of the most innovative and prolific writers of our time. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for Fiction for his novel James, a brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, his work and talks explore the power of literature to change the way we see the world and the unique influences that inspire us to create art.
Past Community Reads Pick: Greenwich Reads Together (CT)
Yaa Gyasi
Recipient of the National Book Foundation’s 2016 “5 Under 35” Award, Yaa Gyasi is the author of Transcendent Kingdom and Homegoing. An illuminating speaker, Gyasi captivates audiences with her sincerity and compassion as she explores contemporary craft, cultural identity, and the complex racial landscape of America’s past and present.
Past Community Reads Pick: One Book, One Wallingford (CT), NEA Big Read (WI)
J. Ryan Stradal
J. Ryan Stradal is a writer of incredible range whose New York Times-bestselling debut, Kitchens of the Great Midwest, is a big-hearted coming-of-age story that delves deep into the American heartland. Stradal’s talks are as generous as his written stories, retracing his unconventional route to writing and filled with anecdotes from his native Minnesota.
Past Community Reads Pick: Joplin Reads Together (MI)
Emily St. John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Station Eleven—a post-apocalyptic novel that Mandel herself calls “a love letter to this extraordinary world in which we live.” In her talks, she captivates audiences with stories about her early writing career and her thoughtful reflections on writing literary fiction with the strongest possible narrative drive.
Past Community Reads Pick: NEA Big Read Door County (WI), If All Arkansas Read the Same Book (AR), NEA Big Read Pocumtuck Valley (MA)
Tommy Orange
Tommy Orange is the author of There There, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. This multi-generational, relentlessly paced story introduces readers to a side of America few of us have ever seen: the lives of urban Native Americans. His book, Wandering Stars, conjures the ancestors of the family readers first fell in love with in There There. In dynamic and frank in-conversation programs, Orange talks about his craft, the writing process, and Native American history and culture.
Past Community Reads Pick: One Book, One Philadelphia (PA), Seattle Reads (WA), NEA Big Read (OH)
Hernan Diaz
Hernan Diaz is the award-winning author of In the Distance, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, and Trust, which was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and one of the winners for the 2022 Pulitzer Prizes for fiction. Diaz captivates audiences with witty conversations about foreignness, his theory of genre, literary history, and what it means to do research for a novel.
Past Community Reads Pick: WestportREADS (CT)
Charles Yu
Charles Yu is the author of the critically-acclaimed novel, and National Book Award winner Interior Chinatown. In his entertaining and thought-provoking lectures, Yu speaks to audiences of all kinds about the Asian American experience, representation and stereotypes in film and television, and the unique power of science fiction to address the human condition.
Past Community Reads Pick: One Book, One Philadelphia (PA), Nevada County Reads (NV), Whidbey Reads (WA)
Javier Zamora
Memoirist, poet, speaker, and author of an award-winning memoir, Solito, Javier Zamora explores his harrowing journey to the US as an unaccompanied nine-year-old that gives a unique and unforgettable glimpse into the realities of child migration. In his talks, he shares the story of his trek to reunite with his family, and how therapy and writing were able to help him heal from the trauma that has haunted him ever since.
Past Community Reads Pick: Greenwich Reads Together (CT), Reading Together (MI), Carpinteria Reads (CA)
Gabrielle Zevin
Gabrielle Zevin is the internationally bestselling author of several novels, including Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, a New York Times bestseller. Her thoughtful, funny events bring audiences into her writing process as she shares her techniques for writing unforgettable characters, how games are integrally linked to story, and the irreplaceable relationships forged in local literary communities.
Past Community Reads Pick: One Book, One Chicago (IL), One Book, One Glendale (CA)