NEARY: 'There There' is a work of fiction, but it begins with a nonfiction essay. We pick a book a season to focus on, and this is has very easily been voted as the one they want to promote. So the majority of our staff have read it or are actively reading it right now, and it is what people are talking about.

HANNAH OLIVER DEPP: It is what we're calling our WORD Reads, which means the entire WORD bookstore staff is recommending this book.ĭEPP: Yeah. Hannah Oliver Depp is with WORD bookstores in Brooklyn and Jersey City. And based on the feedback orange was getting at this event, 'There There' has very much caught the attention of the bookselling community. NEARY: Making an impression on booksellers is crucial to a young writer. NEARY: Orange, who's not at all used to being the center of attention, was making the rounds with his publicist from a main-stage reading to signing his novel for independent booksellers from around the country. He'll go up to the podium, read for a minute, take a couple questions and then go back down there. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: They're going to introduce Tommy. NEARY: The leap to writing seemed like a natural progression to Orange, and with the publication of his first novel, he took another leap from the solitary world of reading and writing to center stage at Book Expo. I wasn't a reader, so fiction was a super novel thing for me, and the novel itself was. TOMMY ORANGE: You know, I was in my 20s and also searching for meaning. So he got a job at a bookstore, where he developed a passion for reading. He wasn't much of a reader as a kid, but after graduating from college with a degree in sound engineering, he couldn't find work. His mother is white, his father a member of the Cheyenne Tribe. LYNN NEARY, BYLINE: Tommy Orange grew up in Oakland. It drew lots of attention the other day at Book Expo, the big annual conference of the publishing industry. It explores the lives of Native Americans who live not on the reservation but in a city. The novel is 'There There' by Tommy Orange, and it's set in Oakland, Calif. A much-talked-about novel sheds light on people who haven't been discussed very much at all.

There there by tommy orange