The Known World

Friends Reading Group,
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
7:30 - 9:00 PM

We have multiple copies here for checking out, but suggest that you don't wait until the last minute. The Known World is such an absorbing book that many readers don't realize that Madison County Virginia does not exit. It is fictional, as are the characters. It is the writer's skill that makes everything and everyone seem so real. This book won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Edward P. Jones grew up nearby, in Washington, and was previously known primarily as a short story writer. His first published book was Lost in the City, a collection of short stories, a sort of Dubliners for DC, and nominated for a National Book Award.

NPR story
Interview from the African American Review Spring 2000, before the publication of The Known World
Washington Post online interview
A bit of information about Lost in the City from the New York Review of Books. You can read the whole article, "Gone with the Wind", for free by coming into the library, asking for the 10/21/2004 edition, then starting on page 14. Do it when you come in to check out The Known World.

If you go to our magazine articles database you can find the full text of "The Devil Swims Across the Anacostia River" which was published in Grand Street.

Jones wrote an interesting piece about his mother, "In the Name of the Mother", which was published in Essence 12/01/2005. You can read that online in elibrary, or read the print copy in the library.