East York native Latoya Dickenson was a late bloomer when it came to books. “I never liked reading in school,” she said.

The current tour coordinator said her love of reading began as a young adult when a friend of hers lent her the book, Scenes From a Sistah by Lolita Files.  “I loved the book at the time and began reading fiction books by other African American authors such as Terry McMillan, Eric Jerome Dickey and Toni Morrison.”

Dickenson said her desire to start reading again and get together with others to discuss them has prompted her to reboot the Soulful Expressions Book Club.

“Black literature for me means reading stories that I can relate to on one level or another as well as supporting the work of black writers.”  She has chosen the book Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones for the month of July.

Synopsis

Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and the teenage girls caught in the middle. Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s families– the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered.

Tayari Jones was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Her previous novels are Leaving Atlanta, winner of the Hurston/Wright Award for Debut Fiction and The Untelling, published in 2005. Tayari Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, The University of Iowa, and Arizona State University.

Soulful Expressions’ first meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 5, at Trane Studio on Bathurst Street. If you would like to attend, rsvp to [email protected].

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