Diane and I drove down to Kleinhans Music Hall for the second session in the Just Buffalo Literary Center’s Babel series featuring Tommy Orange (last month we heard Sandra Cisneros who led off this Babel series, you can read my review here).
Tommy Orange’s first novel was There There, a best selling book about the lives of urban Native Americans. Orange’s second novel, Wandering Stars, was published in February 2024. Diane is reading it now.
Tommy Orange’s presentation concerned his Native American experiences. Orange is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. As you might suspect, both of Orange’s novels are heavily autobiographical.
Diane and I–and the hundreds of other audience members–enjoyed the “Conversation” segment of the evening where Barbara Cole, Just Buffalo’s CEO, engaged Orange with questions about his writing process, his evolution from a non-reader to a reading addict, and his current movie and TV projects. All in all, a satisfying evening full of humor and pathos. GRADE: A
Not familiar with him or his work. Should try it.
Todd, Diane liked THERE THERE more than WANDERING STARS.
I know Patti is a big fan of THERE THERE, and I’ve been meaning to read it since it came out. I really liked the story about the teacher in The Bronx who wrote to him and got him to come speak to his class. Sounds like a worthwhile evening.
Jeff, Diane and I have attended BABEL events over the years. Our favorites were Alexander McCall Smith (who wore a kilt!), Patti Smith (who both sang songs and read poetry), Anthony Doerr (who wrote ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE which Diane loves), and more recently, Sandras Cisneros (who wrote THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET). We have two more BABEL events in 2025: Cheryl Strayed and James McBride.
If you get to ask questions, ask McBride about his membership in the Rock Bottom Remainders. I loved his THE COLOR OF WATER.
Jeff, I’ll certainly submit that question about the Rock Bottom Remainders. Will they ask McBride about it…we’ll have to wait and see.