City of Des Moines, Iowa / Authors Visiting in Des Moines (AViD)

Journalist C.J. Chivers is one of this generation’s most revered war correspondents and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for The New York Times. His magazine story, “The Fighter,” won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing, and he was part of a team of journalists awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. Chivers served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps in the Persian Gulf War. In 2018, he released his book, The Fighters, a vivid account of modern warfare told through the stories of a half-dozen American combatants serving in the Middle East conflicts.

https://dmpl.org/cj-chivers

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Madeline Miller’s 2018 novel, Circe, was a New York Times #1 best-seller and appeared on dozens of “best books of 2018” lists, including NPR, People, The Washington Post, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Book Riot, and more. Circe was also named 2018 Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and BookPage. The novel, a retelling of the life story of the goddess and witch Circe, recasts the infamous figure who turned men into pigs in The Odyssey into a feminist hero. Miller's debut novel, 2011's best-selling The Song of Achilles, won the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction (now called the Women's Prize for Fiction).

https://dmpl.org/madeline-miller

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Journalist, educator and author Sarah Smarsh’s debut book, Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, was an instant best-seller upon release in 2018, and was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and National Book Award. Heartland was named one of the best books of 2018 by NPR, Amazon, Audible, Publisher’s Weekly, and more.

Sarah Jessica Parker, the honorary chairwoman for the American Library Association's Book Club Central, chose Heartland for her most recent "SJP Pick" for libraries. The book examines America’s historic economic inequality and tells the story of her upbringing among the working poor of rural Kansas.

https://dmpl.org/sarah-smarsh

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After publishing his debut novel, The Fishermen, in 2015, Obioma won a NAACP Image Award and was a finalist for the prestigious Man Booker Prize. His new novel, the critically acclaimed An Orchestra of Minorities, is being hailed as one of the most anticipated books of 2019.

https://dmpl.org/chigozie-obioma

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Laurie Frankel is the author of the best-selling 2017 novel, This is How It Always Is, which gracefully tells the story of a family struggling with the challenges and questions that arise after their youngest son declares that he wants to be a girl when he grows up. The story is a work of fiction, but the author is the mother of a transgender child herself. The book was chosen as a Reese Witherspoon Hello Sunshine Book Club pick in fall 2018.

https://dmpl.org/laurie-frankel

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