Avid Bookshop is thrilled to invite you to an evening with Xhenet Aliu in celebration of her book Everybody Says It’s Everything. This event will include a reading, themed trivia, and a discussion with former Avid Operations Director, Rachel Watkins. Hang out with us on Friday, April 18 at ATHICA from 7:00-8:30pm with a signing after the reading. Avid Bookshop will have copies of Everybody Says It’s Everything for sale at the event. We do recommend ordering your copy before the event to guarantee your copy! This event is free and non-ticketed.

For accessibility requests, contact events@avidbookshop.com. Please submit your request at least two weeks before the event.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Xhenet Aliu is the author of three books, including the recently released novel Everybody Says It’s Everything (Random House). Her previous novel, Brass, was awarded the biennial Townsend Prize, the Georgia Author of the Year FIrst Novel Prize, was a Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection, and was long-listed for the 2018 Center for Fiction First Book Prize. Numerous media outlets, including Entertainment Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, Real Simple, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution named Brass a best book of the year. Previously, her debut story collection, Domesticated Wild Things, and Other Stories won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction. Aliu’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Glimmer Train, LitHub, Buzzfeed, and elsewhere, and she has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences, a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation, and a fellowship from the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, among other awards. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

In this unforgettable novel from the award-winning author of Brass, twins growing up in America in 1999 unravel larger truths about identity and sibling bonds when one gets wrapped up in the war in Kosovo. Growing up in Connecticut, adopted twins Drita and Petrit (aka Pete) had no connection to their Albanian heritage. Their lives were all about Barbie dolls, the mall, and roller skating at the local rink. Though inseparable in childhood, their paths diverged as teenagers; Drita was a good girl with and good manners who was going to go to a good college, Pete was a bad boy going nowhere fast. Even their twinhood was not enough to keep them together. Fast forward to their twenties and Drita has abandoned her graduate studies to move home and take care of their mother, giving up her dreams for the future. She hasn’t heard from her brother in three years when Pete’s girlfriend and their son show up unexpectedly without him and in need of help. Realizing that his child may offer the siblings a second chance at being family, Drita becomes determined to find Pete. But what she ends up discovering—about their connection to their Albanian roots, the war in Kosovo, and the story of their adoption—will surprise everyone, and will either be the thing that brings them together, or tears them apart for good.

ABOUT ATHICA:

ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art is an independent, non-profit gallery promoting and supporting innovative contemporary art and artists through exhibitions, education, and events.