Read to Me from… The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon

"Asali Solomon is a wickedly astute observer of the human condition, alert to all our weaknesses and absurdities, as well as our occasional moments of transcendence. The clarity of her vision is sometimes unsettling, but it’s always revelatory.” - Tom Perrotta

On Read to Me, we practice the essential, joyous skill inside great writing — listening. We listen for what we love in the work, and then put words to why it's so, so good

Today, we read from The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon. We get to see how the author isolates two college-student characters — a senior from herself, a freshman from the world — with body detail, relationships to books, and physical space. But we also get to see how the writing turns that double isolation into an inevitable, luscious meet-cute.

Plus, a behind-the-scenes peek at the monthly Writers Club gift boxes.

Buy the book.
Read the episode transcript.

Photo by Ron Nichols

Asali Solomon’s first novel, Disgruntled, was named a best book of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle and The Denver Post. Her debut story collection, Get Down, earned her a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award and the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” honor, and was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Her work has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, Vibe, Essence, The Paris Review Daily, McSweeney’s, and several anthologies, and on NPR. Solomon teaches fiction writing and literature of the African diaspora at Haverford College. She was born and raised in Philadelphia, where she lives with her husband and two sons.

Instagram @daysofafrekete

Website http://www.asalisolomon.com