Wed February 8, 2023
SMCL Author Talks: Meet Kai Harris, Author of What the Fireflies Knew
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Join San Mateo County Libraries on Wednesday, February 8 from 6:30-7:30 pm to welcome Kai Harris, author What the Fireflies Knew, the first fiction title from Tiny Reparations Books.
In the vein of Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, What the Fireflies Knew follows almost-eleven-year-old Kenyatta Bernice (KB), as she and her sister try to make sense of their new life in the wake of their father's death and their mother's disappearance.
"What the Fireflies Knew is sharp and graceful, poignant in its depiction of a family learning to acknowledge what's been broken in order to piece itself back together. Kai Harris beautifully captures what it feels like to be out of place--in a city, in a body, in a family, in the turmoil of adolescence--and then just as gracefully reminds us what it can feel like to find your way back to yourself in spite of everything. This book introduces a bold and necessary new writer, generous in her capacity for holding onto hope without erasing trauma."
--Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
A writer and educator from Detroit, Michigan, Harris uses her voice to uplift the Black community through realistic fiction centered on the Black experience. Her work has appeared in Guernica, Lit Hub, Kweli Journal, Longform, and the Killens Review, amongst others. In addition to fiction, Kai has published poetry, personal essays, and peer-reviewed academic articles on topics related to Black girlhood and womanhood, the slave narrative genre, motherhood, and Black identity. A graduate of Western Michigan University's PhD program, Kai now lives in the Bay Area where she is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Santa Clara University.
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In the vein of Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, What the Fireflies Knew follows almost-eleven-year-old Kenyatta Bernice (KB), as she and her sister try to make sense of their new life in the wake of their father's death and their mother's disappearance.
"What the Fireflies Knew is sharp and graceful, poignant in its depiction of a family learning to acknowledge what's been broken in order to piece itself back together. Kai Harris beautifully captures what it feels like to be out of place--in a city, in a body, in a family, in the turmoil of adolescence--and then just as gracefully reminds us what it can feel like to find your way back to yourself in spite of everything. This book introduces a bold and necessary new writer, generous in her capacity for holding onto hope without erasing trauma."
--Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
A writer and educator from Detroit, Michigan, Harris uses her voice to uplift the Black community through realistic fiction centered on the Black experience. Her work has appeared in Guernica, Lit Hub, Kweli Journal, Longform, and the Killens Review, amongst others. In addition to fiction, Kai has published poetry, personal essays, and peer-reviewed academic articles on topics related to Black girlhood and womanhood, the slave narrative genre, motherhood, and Black identity. A graduate of Western Michigan University's PhD program, Kai now lives in the Bay Area where she is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Santa Clara University.
Join San Mateo County Libraries on Wednesday, February 8 from 6:30-7:30 pm to welcome Kai Harris, author What the Fireflies Knew, the first fiction title from Tiny Reparations Books.
In the vein of Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, What the Fireflies Knew follows almost-eleven-year-old Kenyatta Bernice (KB), as she and her sister try to make sense of their new life in the wake of their father's death and their mother's disappearance.
"What the Fireflies Knew is sharp and graceful, poignant in its depiction of a family learning to acknowledge what's been broken in order to piece itself back together. Kai Harris beautifully captures what it feels like to be out of place--in a city, in a body, in a family, in the turmoil of adolescence--and then just as gracefully reminds us what it can feel like to find your way back to yourself in spite of everything. This book introduces a bold and necessary new writer, generous in her capacity for holding onto hope without erasing trauma."
--Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
A writer and educator from Detroit, Michigan, Harris uses her voice to uplift the Black community through realistic fiction centered on the Black experience. Her work has appeared in Guernica, Lit Hub, Kweli Journal, Longform, and the Killens Review, amongst others. In addition to fiction, Kai has published poetry, personal essays, and peer-reviewed academic articles on topics related to Black girlhood and womanhood, the slave narrative genre, motherhood, and Black identity. A graduate of Western Michigan University's PhD program, Kai now lives in the Bay Area where she is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Santa Clara University.
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In the vein of Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, What the Fireflies Knew follows almost-eleven-year-old Kenyatta Bernice (KB), as she and her sister try to make sense of their new life in the wake of their father's death and their mother's disappearance.
"What the Fireflies Knew is sharp and graceful, poignant in its depiction of a family learning to acknowledge what's been broken in order to piece itself back together. Kai Harris beautifully captures what it feels like to be out of place--in a city, in a body, in a family, in the turmoil of adolescence--and then just as gracefully reminds us what it can feel like to find your way back to yourself in spite of everything. This book introduces a bold and necessary new writer, generous in her capacity for holding onto hope without erasing trauma."
--Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
A writer and educator from Detroit, Michigan, Harris uses her voice to uplift the Black community through realistic fiction centered on the Black experience. Her work has appeared in Guernica, Lit Hub, Kweli Journal, Longform, and the Killens Review, amongst others. In addition to fiction, Kai has published poetry, personal essays, and peer-reviewed academic articles on topics related to Black girlhood and womanhood, the slave narrative genre, motherhood, and Black identity. A graduate of Western Michigan University's PhD program, Kai now lives in the Bay Area where she is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Santa Clara University.
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