Marking a year into the presidency of Donald Trump… Special Reading Event by Dr. Thelma T. Reyna
National award-winning author, Thelma T. Reyna, whose new book, Reading Tea Leaves After Trump (Golden Foothills Press), marks the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s presidency, will discuss her book on Sunday, January 21, at 4 PM at the Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse.
In this collection of poetry and fictional prose, Dr. Reyna—Poet Laureate Emerita and Pushcart Prize Nominee—explores President Trump’s effects on the nation. She weaves factual public reports with real and imagined characters to give a reality-based context to the emotions, opinions, fears, hopes, and dreams of Americans on both sides of the political aisle in Trump’s pivotal first year.
The book’s introduction is written by Robin D.G. Kelley, Ph.D., the Gary B. Nash Distinguished Professor of American History at UCLA, who states: “This is a work of empathy in the best sense. Without apology, Reyna steps into the worlds of others and tries to feel her way into their pain, anger, and frustration, elusive as it might be. She animates Trump’s base and reveals how their anguish and confusion were so easily mobilized by forces that didn’t truly care about their well-being.”
American politics were upended in 2016. For the first time in U.S. history, a woman almost became president. Instead, for the first time a billionaire with no governance or military experience, a deconstructor of the State, as he described himself, won the November election.
Political analysts declared that Donald J. Trump captured the White House by harnessing people’s fears, mistrust, economic frustrations, and anxieties about the direction our nation was headed. A year after his election, for millions of Americans, anxiety persists and new fears have arisen.
The book has earned early critical acclaim. National award-winning poet Cassie Premo Steele, author of Tongues in Trees: Poems: 1993-2017, writes this about Reading Tea Leaves After Trump: “If poets are the prophets of our age, Thelma T. Reyna is not only a prophet but a first responder to the Trump era. Placing her poems like bandages over bleeding lies and broken promises, Reyna soothes the pain of a nation in crisis.”
Reyna’s fiction and poetry have won 10 national literary awards. She has written four books and, as Poet Laureate, edited two anthologies. Her short fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in literary journals, anthologies, textbooks, blogs, and regional media for over 25 years. She holds a Ph.D. from UCLA.
Also, visit www.GoldenFoothillsPress.com for more information about the author and her new book.