The Fall for the Book festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2023 with year full of programming. On February 15, the festival is hosting the first annual Mini Fest, which will bring together four authors from around the globe.
The Mini Fest, featuring writers Crystal S. Anderson, Ava Homa, Bisi Adjapon, and Rashmi Sadana, will run from 10:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. in Fenwick Library, Room 2001, on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus. The events are free and open to the public, but reserving free tickets is encouraged.
At 10:30 a.m., Anderson, who teaches in Mason’s African and African American Studies Program, will give her talk: “K-pop’s Got Soul” about her book Soul in Seoul: African American Popular Music and K-pop, which argues that Korean Pop is part of the global R&B movement.
At 12 p.m., Homa will discuss her novel Daughters of Smoke and Fire, which explores identity, family, and oppression in the everyday lives of Kurdish people. Homa herself was born in the Kurdistan province of Iran.
At 1:30 p.m., the Cheuse Center for International Writers presents Adjapon, their Ghanaian writer-in-residence, who will discuss Daughter in Exile—her novel about family, immigration, and adversity—with Mason creative writing professor and author Helon Habila. They will be joined by poet and artist Bennie Herron, whose work is currently on display at Mason Exhibitions Arlington.
Finally, at 3 p.m., Sadana, a cultural anthropologist in Mason’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology, will take readers to the heart of Delhi, India, with her book The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure.
Fall for the Book’s Mini Fest is the second event in an exciting expansion of festival programming year round. The 25th anniversary celebration continues in March, with the return of fan favorite, Story Sprint.
For the full schedule of events, visit fallforthebook.org.