Jewell Parker Rhodes talks to Catherine Johnson

Towers Falling: 15 Years After 9/11

Award-winning American author Jewell Parker Rhodes talks about her new novel that helps children who were not alive at the time to understand the horrific impact of the events of 9/11.

Rhodes’s newest book Towers Falling follows 15-year-old Brooklyn resident Dèja as she discovers the story of 9/11 and grows to understand the monumental impact it bears on her life. The New York Times calls Towers Falling “Powerful, clear-eyed . . . Rhodes doesn’t assume her readers know the magnitude of 9/11; she walks them tenderly through it”. Rhodes will read from the book and discuss its delicate subject matter.

Rhodes’s books for children and adults have won awards such as the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Jane Addam’s Children’s Book Award, and the American Book Award. She is Piper Endowed Chair of the Virginia G Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. Here she talks to fellow children’s writer Catherine Johnson, author of Curious Tale of The Lady Caraboo and Blade and Bone.

Age 8-12

Programme of American literature and culture