If All Arkansas Read the Same Book
Arkansas Center for the Book kicks off statewide reading program with Perfect Peace by Daniel Black
Perfect Peace, an award-winning novel by Daniel Black, is the selection for the 2014 statewide reading program, If All Arkansas Read the Same Book.
The yearlong program kicked off in October with author visits to libraries and bookstores in Hot Springs, Van Buren, Conway, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Morrilton, Wynne, Newport, Blytheville and Jonesboro.
To see a YouTube clip of Daniel Black reading at That Bookstore in Blytheville, click here.
To hear an hourlong program with Black recorded during his October visit, tune in to the program Arts & Letters hosted by UALR professor Brad Minnick at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16 on KUAR Public Radio 89.1 in Little Rock. You can listen online at www.kuar.org or on iTunes radio. After it airs, the show will be archived here.
Perfect Peace is the story of the seventh child of the Peace family. When the child named Perfect turns eight, her mother Emma Jean tells her bewildered daughter, "You was born a boy. I made you a girl. But that ain't what you was supposed to be. So, from now on, you gon' be a boy. It'll be a little strange at first, but you'll get used to it, and this'll be over after a while."
From this point forward, Perfect's life becomes a bizarre kaleidoscope of events. Meanwhile, the Peace family is forced to question everything they knew about gender, sexuality, unconditional love, and fulfillment.
The story is set in rural Arkansas in the 1940s.
Daniel Black was born in Kansas City but reared in Blackwell, Arkansas, where his great-grandmother played a key role in his life. "She spent her final days grooming my spirit for the life of a transformer," he says.
| Daniel Black reading to students at Central High School in Little Rock |
After graduating from Morrilton High School, Black attended Clark College in Atlanta on a full academic scholarship where he earned his bachelor's degree in English. He received the prestigious Oxford Modern British Studies fellowship and earned a certificate in English literature.
He earned his master's degree and doctorate in African-American Studies at Temple University. He currently teaches African-American Studies at Clark Atlanta University.
Black is the author of three other novels - They Tell Me of a Home, The Sacred Place, and Twelve Gates to the City. His novels are published by St. Martin's Press.
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Daniel Black signs copies of Perfect Peace for Anita Paddock, a trustee on the Fort Smith Public Library Board.
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If All Arkansas Read the Same Book is presented by the Arkansas Center for the Book at the Arkansas State Library and all programs are offered free-of-charge to the public. The project is funded by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services to the Arkansas State Library under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act. Copies of Perfect Peace are available at all 230 public libraries throughout the state.
The statewide reading program started in 2001 with author Terry Kay's To Dance With the White Dog. Other past programs have featured books by Laura Castoro, Rick Bragg, Sandra Cisneros, Doug Kelly, Charlaine Harris, Jennifer Paddock, Sid McMath, Jeff Shaara, Shirley Abbott and Kevin Brockmeier.
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