This cover image released by Touchstone shows, "It Occurs to Me That I Am America," a collection of stories supporting the American Civil Liberties Union, to be released on Jan. 16. (Touchstone via AP)
November 15, 2017 - 5:59 AM
NEW YORK - Louise Erdrich, Neil Gaiman and Mary Higgins Clark are among more than 35 authors contributing original stories for a collection supporting the American Civil Liberties Union.
Touchstone told The Associated Press on Wednesday that "It Occurs to Me That I Am America: New Stories and Art" will be published Jan. 16, close to the anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration and the Women's March, and also will feature illustrations from Roz Chast and Art Spiegelman, among others. According to Touchstone, a Simon & Schuster imprint, "It Occurs to Me" will celebrate the ideals of a "free, just, and compassionate democracy." Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen wrote the introduction.
"As I remembered this presidential election, what became clear to me was that the contest for our American identity wasn't strictly a political affair," he wrote. "It is also a matter of storytelling. The struggle over the direction of our country is also a fight over whose words will win and whose images will ignite the collective imagination."
Others who have completed stories for the anthology include Alice Walker, Richard Russo and Lee Child.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said in a statement that he hoped the book would be "both a powerful tool in the fight to uphold our values and a tribute to the remarkable voices behind it."
News from © The Associated Press, 2017