AWARD WINNING AUTHOR CHRISTOPHER PAUL CURTIS IN DETROIT AREA APPEAREANCE   


The Book Beat is proud to present Christopher Paul Curtis reading and signing his latest book Elijah of Buxton on Thursday, November 8, 2007  from 7:00-8:30 PM at the Berkley High School Auditorium located at 2325 Catalpa  (at 11 ½ mile just west of Coolidge)  in Berkley, Michigan. This signing is presented by Book Beat and Berkley High School.  Please call 248-968-1190 to reserve books or for more information.

Christopher Paul Curtis made an outstanding debut in children’s literature with The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. His second novel, Bud, Not Buddy, is the first book ever to receive both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.

His latest book, Elijah of Buxton, is about a young boy born into freedom in Buxton, Canada , a settlement of runaway slaves about one hour from the border of Detroit. Part of the books action occurs in historical Detroit.  It is perhaps the best Curtis novel yet, a master storyteller who is at the peak of his game.  Evocative, heart- wrenching, and hilarious, Elijah of Buxton is an unforgettable testament to the power of hope.

In a recent interview in The Detroit Free Press:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/YAK03/709250416/1073/FEATURES
Christopher said,
“I have always wanted to write about slavery because I think it's such an important part of American history overall and African-American history in particular," Christopher says. "But I think it would be so hard to do -- to write from the point of view of a slave -- because I can't imagine what that person went through. Even as an author, I can't imagine what it would feel like not to have freedom of thought or movement, to have your children be owned by someone else. ... I really could not imagine how the enslaved person would have to crush their own spirit in order to live."

About the Author:

Born in Flint, Michigan, Christopher Paul Curtis spent his first 13 years after high school on the assembly line of Flint’s historic Fisher Body Plant # 1. His job entailed hanging car doors, and it left him with an aversion to getting into and out of large automobiles—particularly big Buicks.

Curtis’s writing—and his dedication to it—has been greatly influenced by his family members, particularly his wife, Kaysandra. With grandfathers like Earl “Lefty” Lewis, a Negro Baseball League pitcher, and 1930s bandleader Herman E. Curtis, Sr., of Herman Curtis and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression, it is easy to see why Christopher Paul Curtis was destined to become an entertainer.

“To me the highest accolade comes when a young reader tells me, ‘I really liked your book.’ The young seem to be able to say ‘really’ with a clarity, a faith, and an honesty that we as adults have long forgotten. That is why I write.”—Christopher Paul Curtis
                                     ###