Discover Great Places Through Reading
The Maryland Center for the Book, a program of the Maryland Humanities, has selected two books as the “Great Reads from Great Places” for the 2024 National Book Festival of the Library of Congress. As an affiliate of the Library of Congress, Maryland Center for the Book selects two titles each year in the Adult and Kids categories as a representation of the state’s literary heritage or talent.
The National Book Festival Roadmap to Reading is made possible by the generous support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities with additional support from Chief Officers of State Library Agencies.
- About the Great Read's Adult Book Selection
Behind You Is The Sea by Susan Muaddi DarrajA Best Book of 2024 by The New Yorker and Apple Books
Released in 2024, Darraj’s novel follows three Palestinian immigrant families in Baltimore – the Baladis, the Salamehs, and the Ammars – from weddings to funerals, grinding jobs to summer vacations, and from new home to homeland. Through different character in each chapter, the novel navigates divides of class, generation, religion, colonialism, and exile. At a time when the world’s attention is on Palestine and the ongoing conflict, this book is a vital and humanizing representation of Palestinians in our own communities, and how they continue to build lives beyond.
- About the Great Read's Adult Author
Susan Muaddi Darraj is is an award-winning writer of books for adults and children. She won an American Book Award, two Arab American Book Awards, and a Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artists Award. In 2018, she was named a USA Artists Ford Fellow. Her books include her linked short story collection, A Curious Land, as well as the Farah Rocks children’s book series. She lives in Baltimore, where she teaches creative writing at Harford Community College and the Johns Hopkins University. Her new novel, Behind You Is the Sea, was published in January 2024 by HarperVia. It received praise from The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Ms Magazine, and it was named a Best Book of 2024 by The New Yorker and Apple Books.
- About the Great Read's Children's Book Selection
My Indigo World by Rosa ChangA 2023 New York Public Library Best Book
Released in 2023, the book is a celebration of the indigo plant and its blue shade, a favorite of the author since her childhood in Korea. Changweaves together her own experiences of blue along with explorations of its use around the world, illustrating how indigo is used and prized across cultures. The book also includes instructions for growing indigo and making blue dye – making this the perfect book for kids to explore art, nature, craft, and storytelling, through a beautiful package.
- About the Great Read's Children's Author
Rosa Chang is an artist, writer, and gardener, committed to sustaining a harmonious balance between humans and the natural world. Rosa’s art draws inspiration from natural materials and environments, manifested in various forms, mediums, and scales. Currently her interest is sharing Korean/Asian traditional Indigo & Natural Dye processes and its culture with different communities as cultural exchanges. My Indigo World is her first book.
The Maryland Center for the Book is one of 56 Affiliates of the Library of Congress Center for the Book, joining other affilaites in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and Northern Marianas. These affiliates carry out the center’s mission of promoting books, reading, libraries and literacy, as well as their local literary heritage.
During the 2024 National Book Festival, on Saturday, Aug. 24, each Affiliate Center has a table at the Festival’s Roadmap to Reading in the Washington Convention Center. Attendees can visit each state and territory table and learn about their state’s literature, including their “Great Reads” selections. Both books will be featured and sold at the Festival’s bookstore. This activity has been a part of the festival since 2002.
The National Book Festival Roadmap to Reading is made possible by the generous support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities with additional support from Chief Officers of State Library Agencies.
