Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author portrait
© Norman E. Jones

Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench (2010), Balm (2015), and most recently Take My Hand (2022) which was named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Newsweek, San Francisco Chronicle, Essence, NBC News, and elsewhere. Amazon named Take My Hand one of the Top 20 Books of 2022. The novel was awarded a 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, and Fiction Award from Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It has been longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award.  A three-time nominee for a United States Artists Fellowship, Dolen is widely considered a pre-eminent chronicler of American historical life. Her forthcoming novel Happy Land will be published in April 2025. She is Associate Professor in the MFA Program at American University in Washington, DC.
Happy Land
Take My Hand

Sat Apr 05
MAHOGANY BOOKS
121 AMERICAN WAY
OXON HILL, MD 20745-1572
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Wed Apr 09
Exploration Commons
30 E Main St
Westminster, MD 21157
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Thu Apr 10
First Baptist Decatur Church
308 Clairemont Ave
Decatur, GA 30030
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Fri Apr 11 | 06:00 PM
NOVEL LLC NOVEL
387 PERKINS EXT
MEMPHIS, TN 38117-3801
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Books

Happy Land
Take My Hand

Events

Sat Apr 05
MAHOGANY BOOKS
121 AMERICAN WAY
OXON HILL, MD 20745-1572
Google Map

Wed Apr 09
Exploration Commons
30 E Main St
Westminster, MD 21157
Google Map

Thu Apr 10
First Baptist Decatur Church
308 Clairemont Ave
Decatur, GA 30030
Google Map

Fri Apr 11 | 06:00 PM
NOVEL LLC NOVEL
387 PERKINS EXT
MEMPHIS, TN 38117-3801
Google Map

Banned Books Week Is 9/26 – 10/2

It’s time for another celebration of the right to read! Join the ongoing and imperative mission by working with booksellers to feature titles whose value has been contested at local and national levels. 

This year’s honorary (and inaugural) chair of Banned Books Week, Jason Reynolds: “To censor a book is to damage the framework in which we live,” adds Reynolds. “Any time we eliminate or wall off certain narratives, we are not getting a whole picture of the world in which we live. And navigating the world in a way that is closed-off, closed-minded, is poisonous. It means that we limit our vocabulary, which complicates how we communicate with one another. We have to celebrate stories and ensure that all books have a space on the shelves and the opportunity to live in the psyches of our children, as they grow into the human beings who will inherit this wonderful place.” 

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