Moon and the Mars by Kia Corthron
An exploration of NYC and America in the burgeoning moments before the start of the Civil War through the eyes of a young, biracial girl--the highly anticipated new novel from the winner of the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize."Corthron, a true heir to James Baldwin, presents a startlingly original exposure of the complex roots of American racism." --Naomi Wallace, MacArthur "Genius" Playwriting Fellow and author of One Flea Spare
In Moon and the Mars, set in the impoverished Five Points district of New York City in the years 1857-1863, we experience neighborhood life through the eyes of Theo from childhood to adolescence, an orphan living between the homes of her Black and Irish grandmothers. Throughout her formative years, Theo witnesses everything from the creation of tap dance to P.T. Barnum's sensationalist museum to the draft riots that tear NYC asunder, amidst the daily maelstrom of Five Points work, hardship, and camaraderie. Meanwhile, white America's attitudes towards people of color and slavery are shifting--painfully, transformationally--as the nation divides and marches to war.
As with her first novel, The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter, which was praised by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Robin D.G. Kelley, and Angela Y. Davis, among many others, Corthron's use of dialogue brings her characters to life in a way that only an award-winning playwright and scriptwriter can do. As Theo grows and attends school, her language and grammar change, as does her own vocabulary when she's with her Black or Irish families. It's an extraordinary feat and a revelation for the reader.
"Moon and the Mars, [Corthron's] latest masterpiece, is an absorbing story of family and community, of Africans and Irish, of settler and native, of slavery and abolition, of a city and a nation wracked by Civil War and racist violence, of love won and lost." --Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original
The author of more than fifteen plays produced nationally and internationally, KIA CORTHRON came to national attention in the early nineties with her play Come Down Burning. Portraying characters who live in extreme poverty or crisis and whose lives are otherwise invisible, her plays paint a disturbing picture of American history and its repercussions on our most intimate relationships. Corthron's most recent awards include a Windham Campbell Prize for Drama, the Simon Great Plains Playwright (Honored Playwright) Award, the USA Jane Addams Fellowship Award, and the Lee Reynolds Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women, and she has developed work through various international residencies. She has also written for television, receiving a Writers Guild Outstanding Drama Series Award and an Edgar Award for The Wire. The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter is her first novel. She grew up in Cumberland, Maryland, and now lives in Harlem, New York.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781644211038 |
| ISBN 10 | 1644211033 |
| Title | Moon and the Mars |
| Author | Kia Corthron |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Seven Stories Press,U.S. |
| Year published | 2021-08-31 |
| Number of pages | 592 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |