Freeman’s N°1:
Arrival

What does it mean to be of a place? Especially when, for reasons of color or class, you are not considered a citizen of that place like other citizens. How do you tell your story? Can your story be told?

In the inaugural edition of Freeman’s, the new biannual of unpublished writing, former Granta editor and National Book Critics Circle President John Freeman brings together the best new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry about that electrifying moment when we arrive.

In this SAVVY Contemporary literary event, Berlin-based writers Michael Salu, Fatin Abbas and Taiye Selasi read from and talk about their pieces in two new literary projects designed to provoke such questions. Salu and Abbas are contributors to “Freeman’s”, and Selasi and Salu have written pieces for Tales of Two Cities: The Best of Times and Worst of Times in Today’s New York, both edited by the former Granta editor John Freeman. Just out, Freeman’s has been described by the BBC as “fresh, provocative, engrossing,” and “sure to become a classic in years to come,” by the San Francisco Chronicle. Come hear the writers that will make it so.

John Freeman was the editor of Granta until 2013. His books include How to Read a Novelist and Tales of Two Cities: The Best of Times and Worst of Times in Today's New York. He is an executive editor at the Literary Hub and teaches at the New School. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Paris Review.

Fatin Abbas was born in Khartoum, Sudan, grew up in New York, and attended university in the United Kingdom and the United States, gaining her PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University and her MFA in Creative Writing from Hunter College, City University of New York. She is at work on her first novel, an excerpt of which appears in the inaugural issue of Freeman’s.

Michael Salu is an award-winning creative director, writer, art editor/critic and occasional artist. His short fiction, non-fiction and art have appeared in a range of publications including Tales of Two Cities and his most recent story appears in the inaugural edition of the new literary journal Freeman’s. Salu was formerly the creative director and art editor of Granta Publications and now runs a multi-disciplinary creative consultancy [SALU.io] and is one of three partners of the visual culture online magazine American Suburb X. He is currently finishing his first collection of stories and essays, whist working on a script for a feature film.

Taiye Selasi is a writer and photographer. Born in London and raised in Boston, she holds a BA in American Studies from Yale and an MPhil in International Relations from Oxford. In 2005 she published the seminal essay Bye-Bye, Babar (Or: What is an Afropolitan?), offering an alternative vision of African identity for a transnational generation. In 2011 she made her fiction debut with The Sex Lives of African Girls, selected for Best American Short Stories 2012. In 2013 Selasi’s first novel Ghana Must Go, a New York Times and Der Spiegel bestseller, was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2013 by The Wall Street Journal and The Economist. She is writing her second novel.

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