The CT Center for the Book is proud to announce it has selected two books as being representative of Connecticut’s literary heritage for the Library of Congress’ Roadmap to Reading project at the 2023 National Book Festival:
- Adult Title: Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi of New Haven
- Youth Title: Soul Food Sunday by Winsome Bingham of Groton
The books both won fiction prizes in the 2022 Connecticut Book Awards and were featured at CT Center for the Book’s table at the National Book Festival August 12 in Washington, D.C. During the Festival, representatives from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and Northern Marianas staffed tables as part of the Roadmap to Reading to promote their book selections and other literary works reflective of their unique locations. The CT Center for the Book is one of 56 affiliates of the Library of Congress and its Center for the Book.
About Tochi Onyebuchi
Q&A with Author Tochi Onyebuchi and Lisa Comstock from CT Humanities
Tochi Onyebuchi, author of Goliath, has earned degrees from Yale University, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Columbia Law School, and the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He is a Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and NAACP Image Award finalist and ALA Alex and New England Book Award winner.
In Goliath, his adult novel debut, Onyebuchi delivers a sweeping science fiction epic set in Connecticut in the 2050s, when Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege have departed the great cities of the United States for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighborhoods are being cannibalized. Brick by brick, their houses are sent to the colonies, what was once a home now a quaint reminder for the colonists of the world that they wrecked.
About Winsome Bingham
Q&A with Author Winsome Bingham and Lisa Comstock from CT Humanities
Winsome Bingham is a soul food connoisseur, master cook, and a US Army war and disabled veteran. She received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and an MFA in Writing For Children and Young Adults. She has more than 15 years of teaching experience. You can find her writing on a deck while waiting patiently with a camera to capture a submarine shooting out of the water.
Bingham’s debut picture book, Soul Food Sunday, illustrated by Charles G. Esperanza, is an evocatively written, mouthwatering story that warmly celebrates tradition and coming together at a table filled with love and delicious food. In it, Granny teaches her grandson to cook the family meal in this loving celebration of food, traditions, and gathering together at the table.
