On May 16, 2023, PADC hosted acclaimed Bay Area author Jonathan Escoffery, who read from and discussed his award winning collection of eight linked short stories entitled, If I Survive You. 

 

The book grapples with issues of race and identity inspired by the author’s experiences growing up in Miami, Florida as a first generation Jamaican American. Praised as a “must-read” that’s “outrageously funny and a piercing look at life in America,” If I Survive You was named one of the best books of 2022 by The New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Los Angeles Times, was shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize, and was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air. Following the reading, Mr. Escoffery entertained questions from the audience.

 

Attendees from the Piedmont community and beyond lingered to enjoy conversation and a book signing with Mr. Escoffery in the backyard of a Piedmont residence.