Overview

Set in a Harlem high rise, a stunning debut about a tight-knit cast of characters grappling with their own personal challenges while the forces of gentrification threaten to upend life as they know it.Like Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place and Lin Manuel Miranda's In the Heights, Sidik Fofana's electrifying collection of eight interconnected stories showcases the strengths, struggles, and hopes of one residential community in a powerful storytelling experience. Each short story follows a tenant in the Banneker Homes, a low-income high rise in Harlem where gentrification weighs on everyone's mind. There is Swan in apartment 6B, whose excitement about his friend's release from prison jeopardizes the life he's been trying to lead. Mimi, in apartment 14D, who hustles to raise the child she had with Swan, waitressing at Roscoe's and doing hair on the side. And Quanneisha B. Miles, a former gymnast with a good education who wishes she could leave Banneker for good, but can't seem to escape the building's gravitational pull. We root for these characters and more as they weave in and out of each other's lives, endeavoring to escape from their pasts and blaze new paths forward for themselves and the people they love. Stories from the Tenants Downstairs brilliantly captures the joy and pain of the human experience and heralds the arrival of a uniquely talented writer.

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9781797145044

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Reviews

Nothing short of revelatory. Buy this book, and prepare to be blasted by the brilliance inside. -- Ben Fountain, author of Beautiful Country Burn Again

"Captivating...vividly and desperately authentic. -- ""Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"" It's impossible not to get sucked into this debut effort. -- ""Essence"" The portraits are conveyed in tight-woven, propulsive, rhythmically rich vernacular. -- ""Library Journal (starred review)"" The residents of a low-income high-rise apartment building in Harlem form the beating heart of Fofana's dynamic debut collection...These engrossing and gritty stories of tenuous living in a gentrifying America enchant. -- ""Publisher's Weekly (starred review)"" What [Fofana] does with these stories and with our beautiful, bottomless American language is nothing short of revelatory. Buy this book, and prepare to be blasted by the brilliance inside. -- ""Ben Fountain, author of Beautiful Country Burn Again"""

Captivating...vividly and desperately authentic. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) It's impossible not to get sucked into this debut effort. -- Essence The portraits are conveyed in tight-woven, propulsive, rhythmically rich vernacular. -- Library Journal (starred review) The residents of a low-income high-rise apartment building in Harlem form the beating heart of Fofana's dynamic debut collection...These engrossing and gritty stories of tenuous living in a gentrifying America enchant. -- Publisher's Weekly (starred review) What [Fofana] does with these stories and with our beautiful, bottomless American language is nothing short of revelatory. Buy this book, and prepare to be blasted by the brilliance inside. -- Ben Fountain, author of Beautiful Country Burn Again

Author Information

Sidik Fofana, a graduate of New York University's MFA degree program, is a public-school teacher in Brooklyn, New York. His work has appeared in the Sewanee Review and Granta. He was named a fellow at the Center for Fiction in 2018. Stories from the Tenants Downstairs, his debut short story collection composed of eight narratives about residents of a fictional building in Harlem, has received three starred reviews. Sidik Fofana, a graduate of New York University's MFA degree program, is a public-school teacher in Brooklyn, New York. His work has appeared in the Sewanee Review and Granta. He was named a fellow at the Center for Fiction in 2018. Stories from the Tenants Downstairs, his debut short story collection composed of eight narratives about residents of a fictional building in Harlem, has received three starred reviews. With an MFA in acting from the University of Iowa, Joniece Abbott-Pratt has performed on regional theater stages across the country, including The Public Theater in New York City. She has also appeared on numerous television shows, including The Good Fight, Law and Order: SVU, Luke Cage, and Orange Is the New Black. Bahni Turpin is an experienced audiobook narrator and actress who has appeared in numerous television productions as well as films. An ensemble member of the Cornerstone Theater Company, she also works as a yoga instructor. She currently resides in Los Angeles, where she founded the SoLA Food Co-op. Dominic Hoffman is a Los Angeles-based actor of stage, screen, and television. With a degree in English literature, he has appeared in such television shows as The Shield, NYPD Blue, and The Jamie Foxx Show. He attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts as well as the American Conservatory Theater.

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