Inspired by the return journey of Seth, a young immigrant from Sierra Leone and protagonist of the novel, Creature of Air and Still Water, this literary odyssey takes you into the streets and beaches of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown. Through the author’s commentary and readings of excerpts, during this interactive session the audience will experience the raggedness, beauty, and unceasing bustle of this historic city that was founded as a settlement for freed slaves.

Everyone knows we need to have plumbers, tax advisors, and teachers in our midst – and the same is true for writers! Writers have more to offer than the books they write and can share insights that could help you with your own writing, relationships, or curiosity about the writing process. Ask your local author Malaika Cheney-Coker questions about the writing life, the peculiar trade of writing literary novels, how to jumpstart your own writing, and more.

By keenly observing the day-to-day and decade-by-decade manifestations of the human condition, literary fiction–both the reading and the writing of it–stirs us in the deepest places. But how do literary writers effectively convey such observations both in their prose and the structure of their novels? Through excerpts from the novel, Creature of Air and Still Water, this interactive session will reveal the “anatomy of a watchful novel” to readers and wannabe writers, so as to inspire their powers of observation.  

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In the novel Creature of Air and Still Water, protagonist Seth does the unthinkable – he abandons his successful life in America to return to his impoverished homeland. But in Sierra Leone, he finds that he does not fit in as before, and his experience becomes an indirect commentary of the complexities of modern immigration and emigration and the quest for belonging. Explore these themes along with their significance for our society, with author Malaika Cheney-Coker.

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