Please join Buxton Books for a very special evening with poet DéLana R. A. Dameron to celebrate her debut novel, Redwood Court. DéLana will be in conversation with Charleston Poet Laureate Asiah Mae!
This breathtaking debut follows one unforgettable Southern Black family, seen through the eyes of its youngest daughter as she comes of age in the 1990s. Redwood Court was called “A triumph [and] storytelling at its best: tender, vivid, and richly complicated” by Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone.
DéLana, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, is a graduate of New York University’s MFA program in poetry and holds a BA degree in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her debut poetry collection, How God Ends Us, was selected by Elizabeth Alexander for the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize, and her second collection, Weary Kingdom, was chosen by Nikky Finney for the Palmetto Poetry Series. Dameron is also the founder of Saloma Acres, an equestrian and cultural space in her hometown in South Carolina, where she resides.
Tickets for this event are sure to sellout quickly so be sure to snag yours early!
To purchase your tickets, please click here.
*Please note that outside books are not allowed at Buxton Books events.
About Redwood Court:
“Mika, you sit at our feet all these hours and days, hearing us tell our tales. You have all these stories inside you: all the stories everyone in our family knows and all the stories everyone in our family tells. You write ‘em in your books and show everyone who we are.”
So begins award-winning poet DéLana R. A. Dameron’s debut novel, Redwood Court. The baby of the family, Mika Tabor spends much of her time in the care of loved ones, listening to their stories and witnessing their struggles. On Redwood Court, the cul-de-sac in the all Black working-class suburb of Columbia, South Carolina, where her grandparents live, Mika learns important lessons from the people who raise her: her exhausted parents, who work long hours at multiple jobs while still making sure their kids experience the adventure of family vacations; her older sister, who, in a house filled with Motown would rather listen to Alanis Morrisette, and can’t wait to taste real independence; her retired grandparents, children of Jim Crow, who realized their own vision of success when they bought their house on the Court in the 1960s, imagining it filled with future generations; and the many neighbors who hold tight to the community they’ve built, committed to fostering joy and love in an America so insistent on seeing Black people stumble and fall.
With visceral clarity and powerful prose, Dameron reveals the devastation of being made to feel invisible and the transformative power of being seen. Redwood Court is a celebration of extraordinary, ordinary people striving to achieve their own American dreams.
About DeLana R. A. Dameron:
DéLana R. A. Dameron received an MFA in poetry from NYU. Her debut collection, How God Ends Us, was selected by Elizabeth Alexander for the South Carolina Poetry Book Prize. Her work has appeared in Kweli Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Dameron is also the founder of Saloma Acres, an equestrian and cultural space in South Carolina.
About Asiah Mae:
AsiahMae, stylized A$iahMae, (they/she) is a Black, non-binary Southern poet, humorist and cultural worker with roots in Georgia, South and North Carolina. A multi-hyphenated artist, their background spans across film, curation, production, performance and language arts. A$iahmae is a Watering Hole Fellow and their work has been featured in The Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston Food & Wine Festival, The Post and Courier, and more. They are the co-creator of the writing platform For The Scribes and co-host of its podcast FTS Presents: Penpals, along with fellow poet Willie Kinard III. They are currently serving as the Second Poet Laureate of Charleston, SC.