Heidi W. Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

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Air date:

Thu, 02/02/2012 - 11:30am to 12:00pm

Heidi W. Durrow, author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

"Black Book Talk's" February interview is with Heidi W. Durrow, the New York Times best-selling author of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky (Algonquin Books). The novel tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy.

With her strict African American grandmother as her new guardian, Rachel moves to Portland, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring mixed attention her way. Growing up in the 1980s, she learns to swallow her overwhelming grief and confronts her identity as a biracial young woman in a world that wants to see her as either black or white.

Chosen as this year's "Eveybody Reads" selection, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky received the 2008 Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Change, and has been hailed as one of the Best Novels of 2010 by the Washington Post, a Top 10 Book of 2010 by The Oregonian, a Top 10 Buzz Book of 2010 by the Boston Herald and named a Top 10 Debut of 2010 by Booklist. Heidi was nominated for an 2011 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Debut.