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One Book – One Lincoln – 2019 – Resources

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Resources for the book The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life:

Books and Other Resources on the Topics of the Book


“The deeply reported story of identical twin brothers who escape El Salvador’s violence to build new lives in California—fighting to survive, to stay, and to belong

Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, the United States was a distant fantasy to identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores—until, at age seventeen, a deadly threat from the region’s brutal gangs forces them to flee the only home they’ve ever known. In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist Lauren Markham follows the Flores twins as they make their way across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother in Oakland, CA. Soon these unaccompanied minors are navigating school in a new language, working to pay down their mounting coyote debt, and facing their day in immigration court, while also encountering the triumphs and pitfalls of teenage life with only each other for support. With intimate access and breathtaking range, Markham offers an unforgettable testament to the migrant experience.”

Winner of the Ridenhour Book Prize | Silver Winner of the California Book Award
Finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review


Although numerous publisher, promotion, bookseller and review sites on the Internet include excerpts from The Far Away Brothers, they all use the same excerpt, either in full or truncated form. Therefore, we’re only including a single excerpt link, to where a sample can be found on the publisher’s website (link below).


Want to see what reviewers thought of The Far Away Brothers before you read it? There are dozens of reviews online, from established traditional review sources, to individual bloggers and readers. Below, you’ll find a selection of some of the more detailed reviews:


We’ve compiled an official list of discussion questions, using questions from a variety of different web sources. Click the link below to open up a printable list of discussion topics for The Far Away Brothers.

Discussion Questions for 2019 — click here for a printable copy of the questions!

Also: See the 2019 Discussion Groups page for information about joining a public discussion of The Far Away Brothers or requesting a discussion leader from the libraries for your private book group.

Teacher’s Guide to The Far Away Brothers (from publisher Penguin Random House)


Lauren Markham is a writer based in Berkeley, California, focusing on issues related to youth, migration and the environment. Her work has appeared in outlets such as VQR, VICE, Orion, Pacific Standard, Guernica, newyorker.com, on This American Life, and elsewhere. Lauren earned her MFA in Fiction Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has been awarded the Middlebury Fellowship in Environmental Journalism, the 11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship, and fellowships from the Mesa Refuge and the Rotary Foundation. For the past decade, she has worked in the fields of refugee resettlement and immigrant education.

Visit any of the following websites for more detailed information about Markham.


Video Profiles:

(above) 2-minute “Meet the Author” clip with Lauren Markham from publisher Penguin Random House (May 2018)

(above) 2-minute “Meet the Journalist” profile from The Pulitzer Center (April 2016)

 

Video Interviews:

(above) Lauren Markham discusses her new book THE FAR AWAY BROTHERS at Revolution Books, Berkeley, CA (November 2017)

C-Span: Author Discussion on Immigrants (C-Span/23rd Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, April 2018)


Lincoln, Nebraska appears to be the first city to have selected The Far Away Brothers for a community-wide reading program. Below, you’ll find information about other cities, communities or regional organizations that have selected this particular title:


If you enjoyed the writing style/tone and subject matter of The Far Away Brothers, some of the following titles — hotlinked to our online library catalog for those that are available locally — may also appeal to you:

NON-FICTION:

FICTION:



Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to the Modern Immigration Experience, one of the topical themes of The Far Away Brothers:


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Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to “Coyotes”, Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking, some of the topical themes of The Far Away Brothers:


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Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to The Northern Triangle, MS 13, Barrio 18 and Gang Violence, some of the topical themes of The Far Away Brothers:


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Here are some books in the Lincoln City Libraries collection related to Twins, one of the topical themes of The Far Away Brothers:

Here are some selected web sites containing information about Twins:


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One Book – One Lincoln – 2019: Main Page | Finalists | Winner | Programs | Discussions | Additional Resources

One Book – One Lincoln is a community reading program sponsored by Lincoln City Libraries. The program encourages all adults in Lincoln and Lancaster County to read and discuss the same book at the same time. The goal of the program is to encourage reading and dialogue by creating a community wide reading and discussion experience.
The presence of a link on this page does not indicate an endorsement by the Lincoln City Libraries. Links are provided for informational purposes only, in conjunction with the themes and subject matter of this year’s One Book – One Lincoln selection.