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

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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

Tue Apr 15
MALAPROPS BOOKSTORE, INC
55 HAYWOOD ST
ASHEVILLE, NC 28801-2834
Google Map

Wed Apr 16
M JUDSON LLC DBA M JUDSON BOOKSELLERS
130 S MAIN ST
GREENVILLE, SC 29601-4870
Google Map

Thu Apr 17
BOOKMARKS
634 W 4TH ST 110
WINSTON SALEM, NC 27101-2730
Google Map

Register for the 2025 Penguin Random House First-Year Experience® Conference Author Events!

Penguin Random House Author Events at the 44th Annual First-Year Experience® Conference February 16-19, 2025 New Orleans, Louisiana Hyatt Regency New Orleans Click Here to RSVP A complimentary meal and a limited number of books will be available to attendees. Each event will also be followed by an author signing. Interested in hosting one of these

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What Students Will Be Reading: Campus Common Reading Roundup, 2024-25

With the fall semester in full swing, colleges and universities around the country have announced their Common Reading books for the upcoming 2024-25 academic year. We’ve compiled a list of over 336 programs and their title selections, which you can download here: First-Year Reading 2024-25. We will continue to update this listing to provide the

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2025 Catalog for First-Year & Common Reading

We are delighted to present our new First-Year & Common Reading Catalog for 2025! From award-winning fiction, poetry, memoir, and biography to new books about science, technology, history, student success, the environment, public health, and current events, the titles presented in our common reading catalog will have students not only eagerly flipping through the pages,

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Dolen Perkins-Valdez on her new novel, Take My Hand

“I believe that in order to heal, we must remember. Once we remember, we acknowledge. Once we acknowledge, we can take more significant action.”   Watch Dolen Perkins-Valdez discuss her inspiration for writing Take My Hand:   Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African

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