Town Book Discussion

Wednesday, October 2, 7:00 pm

Collingswood Public Library

Town Book Discussion – Ours by  Phillip B. Williams 

Join the Collingswood Reads Book Club and Collingswood High School AP English Class in discussing the 2024 Town Book, Ours. This debut novel by award-winning poet Phillip B. Williams is an epic about the spiritual costs of a freedom that demands fierce protection. Set over the course of four decades and steeped in a rich tradition of American literature informed by Black surrealism, mythology, and spirituality, the novel is a stunning exploration of the possibilities and limitations of love and freedom. In his ingenious, sweeping novel, Phillip B. Williams introduces us to an enigmatic woman named Saint, a fearsome conjurer who, in the 1830s, annihilates plantations all over Arkansas to rescue the people enslaved there. She brings those she has freed to a haven of her own creation: a town just north of St. Louis, magically concealed from outsiders, named Ours.

Phillip B. Williams will be speaking at the Book Festival main stage at 2:00 pm on October 5.