How It Happens | Author Reading & Discussion

Author of the Black History Month community read, How It Happens, Jean Alicia Elster, reads from the novel based on her maternal family history. She will discuss the book's themes and the research process in writing it.

A limited number of copies of How It Happens is available for free for Sterling Heights Public Library card holders. Ebook versions are available to check out through Hoopla, here. If you would like to purchase the book, please consider purchasing through a local bookstore on bookshop.org, such as Oak Park, Michigan's Book Beat.

About the author:

A former attorney, Jean Alicia Elster is the author of the young adult novel How It Happens (Wayne State University Press, September 2021). How It Happens was honored as a 2021 Foreword INDIES Silver Winner for Young Adult Fiction and as a 2022 Midwest Book Award Silver Winner in Young Adult Fiction. It was also awarded the 2022 Bronze Medal in Young Adult Fiction by the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Elster is also the author of middle grade books Who’s Jim Hines and The Colored Car, both published by Wayne State University Press. They were each selected as a Michigan Notable Book in 2009 and 2014, respectively. Her other books include the “Joe Joe in the City” series (Judson Press): I’ll Do the Right Thing, I’ll Fly My Own Plane, I Have a Dream, Too!, and Just Call Me Joe Joe.  Her essays have appeared in national publications including Ms., World Vision, Christian Science Sentinel and Black Child. In recognition of outstanding work, Elster was honored with a 2017 Kresge Artist Fellowship in Literary Arts, a program of The Kresge Foundation.  Elster has been awarded three residencies at the internationally acclaimed Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois.