TODAY—June 7, 2022—the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF) presents Elizabeth Nunez, who will be in conversation with educator Crystal Bobb-Semple for the celebration of her new novel, Now Lila Knows, which will be released on the same date. This event takes place at 7:00pm (EST) online and in person at the Center for Fiction. The BCLF Team writes:

Elizabeth Nunez holds a special place in the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival’s ethos, outlook, inspiration and work. She is THE quintessential Caribbean-American writer.

Despite her many, many accolades and writing awards, Dr. Nunez remains accessible, kind and supportive of our mission to showcase, uplift and establish Caribbean literature as a noteworthy genre and to champion New York City’s rightful place as a cradle and crucible of Caribbean-American literary thought, ideas, expression and scholarship. The narrative of the one who lives on the island of the hyphen between Caribbean and American is no less valuable than the Caribbean writer elsewhere in the diaspora.

Description: Lila Bonnard has left her island home in the Caribbean to join the faculty as a visiting professor at Mayfield College in a small Vermont town. On her way from the airport to Mayfield, Lila witnesses the fatal shooting of a Black man by the police. It turns out that the victim was a professor at Mayfield and was giving CPR to a white woman who was on the verge of an opioid overdose.

The two Black faculty and a Black administrator in the otherwise all-white college expect Lila to be a witness in the case against the police. Unfortunately, Lila fears that in the current hostile political climate against immigrants of color she may jeopardize her position at the college by speaking out, and her fiancé advises her to remain neutral.

Now Lila Knows is a gripping story that explores our obligation to act when confronted with the unfair treatment of fellow human beings. A page-turner with universal resonance, this novel will leave readers rethinking the meaning of love and empathy.

For more information and to register for this event, go to https://centerforfiction.org/event/elizabeth-nunez-on-now-lila-knows-with-crystal-bobb-semple/