Tyriek White and Reggie Bailey for WE ARE A HAUNTING *IN-PERSON*

Loyalty can't wait to host Tyriek White and Reggie Bailey for an IN-PERSON event celebrating the release of We Are a Haunting! Join us at Loyalty's Petworth store at 7 PM on Thursday, May 4th for an incredible discussion, followed by a meet + greet & book signing! **Plus, order your copy of the book from Loyalty and receive a gorgeous postcard with a bespoke map of the neighborhood depicted in the book (while supplies last)!**

This event is free to attend but RSVPs are required—please use the form below. **Face masks are required for all attendees in the event space.** Please email events@loyaltybookstores.com with any questions.

ABOUT THE BOOK

"What a beautiful, haunting and hued narrative of American living. I’m in love with this story and the way Tyriek White breathes life into these characters." —Jacqueline Woodson, MacArthur Fellow and author of Another Brooklyn

"This novel is so New York—so, so New York—yet so deeply southern on lower frequencies. It's astonishing." —Kiese Laymon, MacArthur Fellow and author of Long Division

A poignant debut for readers of Jesmyn Ward and Jamel Brinkley, We Are a Haunting follows three generations of a working class family and their inherited ghosts: a story of hope and transformation. 

In 1980’s Brooklyn, Key is enchanted with her world, glowing with her dreams. A charming and tender doula serving the Black women of her East New York neighborhood, she lives, like her mother, among the departed and learns to speak to and for them. Her untimely death leaves behind her mother Audrey, who is on the verge of losing the public housing apartment they once shared. Colly, Key’s grieving son, soon learns that he too has inherited this sacred gift and begins to slip into the liminal space between the living and the dead on his journey to self-realization.

In the present, an expulsion from school forces Colly across town where, feeling increasingly detached and disenchanted with the condition of his community, he begins to realize that he must, ultimately, be accountable to the place he is from. After college, having forged an understanding of friendship, kinship, community, and how to foster love in places where it seems impossible, Colly returns to East New York to work toward addressing structural neglect and the crumbling blocks of New York City public housing he was born to; discovering a collective path forward from the wreckages of the past. A supernatural family saga, a searing social critique, and a lyrical and potent account of displaced lives, We Are a Haunting unravels the threads connecting the past, present, and future, and depicts the palpable, breathing essence of the neglected corridors of a pulsing city with pathos and poise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tyriek White is a writer, musician, and educator from Brooklyn, NY. He has received fellowships from Callaloo Writing Workshop and the New York State Writer's Institute, among other honors. He holds a degree in Creative Writing and Africana Studies from Pitzer College, and most recently earned an MFA from the University of Mississippi. He is the author of the forthcoming novel, WE ARE A HAUNTING (Astra House, 2023).

ABOUT THE IN CONVERSATION PARTNER

Reggie Bailey is the co-founder and Executive Producer of Books Are Pop Culture, the talk show that asks the questions pop culture deserves to the authors who create it. He is the creator of the 10 Books 10 Decades: The Biggest Book Challenge. A literary citizen who believes that books are a form of entertainment that should occupy the same space in our cultural lexicon as film, television, music, video games & fashion.

Please note Loyalty has a zero tolerance policy for harassment or intimidation of any kind during this event.