Heidi W Durrow
In This Issue
Reviews
Year-End Accolades
Portland Public Schools Visits
NYT Bestseller & the Red Carpet
Book Tour 2011
Quick Links
The Girl  Who Fell From the Sky
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
"Exquisite . . . Poised to find a place among classic stories of the American experience."
Miami Herald
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Year-End Accolades

***Washington Post: Best Novels of 2010***

***The Oregonian: Top 10 Books of 2010***

***Booklist: Top 10 Debut Novel***

***Bookmarks Magazine: Best Books of 2010***


***NAACP Image Award Nomination: Outstanding Literary Debut***









Portland Public Schools Visit
Cleveland High School
I had the very best time visiting with the students of Portland Public Schools last week.  Two high schools adopted the book as a school-wide read thanks to two inspiring librarians and the Children's Literature Alive foundation, and the schools' PTAs.  I was touched by the lovely thank you notes, the inspired questions, the energy and the amazing artistic responses the students had to my book.  Here are just a couple:

Rachel in the Future
"I did this piece because I felt really close to Rachel's character and everything she's been through. Everything she's dealt with has made her a stronger person. While making this picture collage, I thought about her and her family (Mor and Pop, brothers and sister) I feel more connected to her and her problems. Making an art piece always makes things better and deeper to understand. This is Rachel in the future."


Rachel in the Bottle

"In the book, Rachel brings up a blue... bottle multiple times. It basically represents all the bad things in her life. I decided to collage the blue bottle with different shades of blues, different textures, and different designs to show different kinds of bad things that have happened in her life. However, behind the blue bottle I decided to paint it gold to show that even though you may have to go through hard times you can still be a golden individual. In fact, going through bad things makes you a golden individual."
Dreams Are Coming True!
Greetings!

   
I hope that you'll check out the March issue of Costco Connection magazine.  The Girl . . . is Pennie's Pick for book of the month!  Yay!  You can read the article on-line here.      
New York Times #15 & the Red Carpet
  
      Also in yesterday's New York Times, you could see that The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is climbing the charts and is now at  #15 on the New York Times Bestseller List!  Each week when my publisher emails or calls with the news I am absolutely stunned and so grateful.  This was the little book that racked up a good 4 dozen rejections and now look at it go!  It's just crazy!

    And a quick update: I didn't win that NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Debut, but I had a winning night.
  You can read about it on my website news blogVanessa Williams and meYup, that's me with the very lovely Vanessa Williams.  I have always adored her and after talking with her at length at the after-party I adore her more.

Finally, I've included my tour schedule below.  I would love to see you on the road!  I've been reading from the new work-in-progress.  Don't you want to hear a little bit? 

Book Tour 2011

paperback cover 3d

Boulder Book Store

Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO, 80302, 303-447-2074.

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Rediscovered Books

Reading & talk at the wonderful Rediscovered Books, 180 N. 8th Street, Boise, ID 83702, 208-376-4229.

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California African American Museum

Panel discussion: Identity: You Me and What Others See  

600 State Drive, Exposition Park

LA, CA  

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Waucoma Books

Reading & talk hosted by the wonderful Waucoma Bookstore, 212 Oak Street, Hood River, OR.

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Portland Community College Campus Read

April 13-14, 2011

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Jerrol's Bookstore & Friends of the Library

April 18, 2011

Hal Holmes Center, Ellensburg, WA
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Booktowne

April 26, 2011

171 Main Street
Manasquan, NJ
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The New School

Reading & talk moderated by the wonderful Jeffery Renard Allen, at the New School, Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall, 66 West 12th Street, room 510, New York, NY. In person purchases can be made at The New School Box Office at 66 West 12th Street, main floor, Monday-Thursday 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., and Friday 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. The box office opens the first day of classes and closes after the last paid event of each semester. Reservations and inquiries can be made by emailing boxoffice@newschool.edu or calling 212.229.5488

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LA Times Festival of Books

April 30-May 1, 2011

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Danish Cultural Center

South Carolina Book Festival

Columbia, SC

 

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Summer Book Series

Boone, NC

 

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Algonquin Book Club Night: Heidi Durrow Interviewed by Terry McMillan

An Algonquin Book Club Event! Literary luminary Terry McMillan interviews Heidi Durrow at Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA 94925.


I hope this finds you well! Thanks again for all of your support!  I look forward to seeing you soon.

Warmest wishes,
Heidi

www.heidiwdurrow.com

P.S. For those of you who are not in any of the cities I'm visiting, I hope that you will check out this audio recording I did for KQED.  I'm so very proud of it!
 
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Read all of the updates on The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (Algonquin Books) here.