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The U.S. Embassy Literature Series – A reading and discussion with Ayana Mathis, moderated by Sharmaine Lovegrove

Two bold, utopic communities are at the heart of Ayana Mathis’s searing follow-up to her bestselling debut, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie.

Bonaparte, Alabama – once 10,000 glorious Black-owned acres – is now a ghost town vanishing to depopulation, crooked developers, and an eerie mist closing in on its shoreline. Dutchess Carson, Bonaparte’s fiery, tough-talking protector, fights to keep its remaining one thousand acres in the hands of the last five residents. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, her estranged daughter Ava is drawn into Ark – a seductive, radical group with a commitment to Black self-determination in the spirit of the Black Panthers and MOVE, with a dash of the Weather Underground’s violent zeal. Ava’s eleven-year-old son Toussaint wants out – his future awaits him on his grandmother’s land, where the sounds of cicada and frog song might save him if only he can make it there.

In Mathis’s electrifying novel, Bonaparte is both mythic landscape and spiritual inheritance, and 1980s Philadelphia is its raw, darkly glittering counterpoint. The Unsettled is a spellbinding portrait of two fierce women reckoning with the steep cost of resistance: What legacy will we leave our children? Where can we be free?

Ayana Mathis is the author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Knopf, 2012) and The Unsettled (Knopf, 2023). The Unsettled was named a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book of 2023, a best of 2023 by The New Yorker, Publisher’s Weekly, an Oprah Daily Best Novels of 2023, and a Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2023. The novel was a finalist for the 2024 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. The New York Times calls it, “Poignant, heartbreaking.”

Her first novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, was a New York Times Bestseller, the second selection for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0, a 2013 New York Times Notable Book, NPR Best Book of 2013, and was long listed for the Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for Hurston-Wright Foundation’s Legacy Award. Mathis’s essays and criticism have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, T Magazine, The Financial Times, Rolling Stone, Guernica and Glamour. Currently pursuing her Masters of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary, Mathis’s most recent nonfiction explores the intertwining of faith and American literature in her multi-essay New York Times series “Imprinted By Belief”.

Her work has been supported by the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the Bogliasco Foundation. She was a 2024-2025 American Academy in Berlin Prize Fellow. Mathis received her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and went on to become the first African-American woman to serve as an Assistant Professor in that program. She currently teaches at Hunter College in the MFA Program.

Sharmaine Lovegrove is the Managing Director of Dialogue Books, a brand-new division of Hachette UK with the remit of Inclusion, Inspiration and Innovation, the publishing division is a home for a variety of stories from illuminating voices often missing from the mainstream.

Sharmaine was the recipient of the Future Book Publishing Person of the Year 2018/19 and is inspired by innovative storytelling, and has worked in public relations, bookselling, events management and TV and Film scouting. She was the literary editor of ELLE and established a bookshop and creative agency in Berlin.

Sharmaine serves on the boards of The Black Cultural Archives and Bookshop.org UK and is a founding organizer of The Black Writers Guild. Home is London, she lives in Berlin and her roots are Jamaican – Sharmaine is proud to be part of the African diaspora and books make her feel part of the world.

German Book Release – Headshot | Schlaglicht

“With language that floats like a butterfly and revelations that sting like a bee, Bullwinkel takes the gloves off teenage girlhood, leaving it splayed out in all its wonder, humor, violence, and glory.” – Oprah Daily

Join us for the German book release of Rita Bullwinkel’s acclaimed debut novel Headshot, translated as Schlaglicht. Hailed as one of 2024’s most anticipated novels by The Washington Post, NYLON, Lit Hub, and others, we will celebrate the translation into German!

Schlaglicht unfolds the compelling narratives of eight teenage girl boxers in Reno, Nevada, each fighting for the national title and grappling with their personal quests for control, perfection, and the thrill of combat. Authored with a blend of raw emotion, ecstatic moments, and unexpected humor, Bullwinkel’s novel explores the intricate emotional landscapes of its characters.

We are thrilled to announce that Rita Bullwinkel will be present to discuss her journey in creating this novel. She will be joined by Christiane Neudecker, who translated the novel into German and brings her own rich experiences from the world of boxing! The discussion will be moderated by Teresa Bücker, ensuring an evening rich with insights into the themes of boxing, femininity and the challenges young female athletes face.

Join us to see how Schlaglicht casts new light on the literary and boxing worlds alike.