Talks & Entertainment

All books will be pre-signed by the author. A book signing line will follow the event for those who would like their book personalized.

Recipient of the National Book Award and a National Humanities Medal, James McBride brings his signature hope, humor, and humanity to his new novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. The story starts in 1972 when workers in Pottstown, PA, find a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there are just two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, a neighborhood where for decades immigrant Jews and African Americans have lived side by side. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride offers deep insight into what makes us human and shows how even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.

McBride is the bestselling author of Deacon King Kong, The Color of Water, and The Good Lord Bird, among other works. He will be in conversation with Jason Reynolds, the New York Times bestselling author of Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks; All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely); and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (with Ibram X. Kendi), among others.