Name: Launch Party with Author Sharon Flake for new book, Hattie Mae Begins Again
Start: 2026-01-13T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-01-13T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Riverstone Books

Launch Party with Author Sharon Flake for new book, Hattie Mae Begins Again

Local author Sharon Flake joins us to talk about her anticipated next book, Hattie Mae Begins Again.
About this Event

Local author Sharon Flake joins us to talk about her anticipated next book, Hattie Mae Begins Again. Following the talk, there will be time for Q&A and book signing. All ages are welcome!

Want to pre-order your copy of the book? You can do so .

About the book:

From the three-time Coretta Scott King Honor winning author of The Skin I'm In comes a poignant story about a southern girl far from home at an elite girls boarding school in the north, who must find the courage to be herself and to dream of a brighter future, set against the backdrop of the great migration in South Philly.
You can be what you want in life.
Climb as high as you wish.
Nothing can stop you,
not even pedigree.
Hattie Mae is from Seed County, North Carolina. She knows hard work: milking cows, plucking chickens, minding the garden. Her hands are made for manual labor, her feet for dirt—that is, according to Lisa and some of the girls at Miss Abigail’s School for Exceptional Young Ladies in Philadelphia. In their eyes, Hattie Mae will never break into upper society and is unworthy of becoming a doctor or a lawyer.
Though Hattie Mae sticks out like a sore thumb and has more in common with the hundreds of Black folks pouring into the city looking for better opportunities during the Great Migration, she knows that she belongs. She just has to prove it to the rest of the girls—and maybe even to herself.
A moving coming-of-age story about finding the courage to be yourself, chasing your dreams, and lending a hand to others along the way.

About the author:

Sharon G. Flake is the author of the groundbreaking novel, The Skin I’m In which brought a bold dimension to literature for young readers. Now considered a modern classic, the book is used in classrooms worldwide and studied by experts in education and literature. Flake has authored over a dozen books, with more than 1.8 million in print globally. Her work has been translated into multiple languages including Korean, Italian, French and Portuguese. “My goal is to get young people reading, with well-written, fast paced, character driven novels that young people see themselves in, no matter where they live on the planet..”