(Run-time 50 min)  *This event was postponed from an earlier date*

City of Asylum has swan-dived into our archives to bring you some of our most memorable programs for our new series "Staff Pick Favorites.' Tonight, we'll be revisiting a literary evening with Daniel Alarcón reading from his novel The King is Always Above the People. Daniel originally visited Alphabet City in February 2018, as part of our International Fiction Series.

This program is an intimate opportunity to listen to excerpts from an urgent, essential collection of stories about immigration, broken dreams, Los Angeles gang members, Latin American families, and other tales of high stakes journeys, from the award-winning author of War by Candlelight and At Night We Walk in Circles.

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction, The King is Always Above the People is an unforgettable collection of stories from Daniel Alarcón, one of the New Yorker's 20 best writers under 40, and one of the best storytellers of our time. Migration. Betrayal. Family secrets. Doomed love. Uncertain futures. In Daniel Alarcón's hands, these are transformed into deeply human stories with high stakes. In 'The Thousands', people are on the move and forging new paths; hope and heartbreak abound. A man deals with the fallout of his blind relatives' mysterious deaths and his father's mental breakdown and incarceration in 'The Bridge'. A gang member discovers a way to forgiveness and redemption through the haze of violence and trauma in 'The Ballad of Rocky Rontal'. And in the tour de force novella, 'The Auroras', a man severs himself from his old life and seeks to make a new one in a new city, only to find himself seduced and controlled by a powerful woman. Richly drawn, full of unforgettable characters, The King is Always Above the People reveals experiences both unsettling and unknown, and yet eerily familiar in this new world.

Daniel Alarcón is the author of At Night We Walk in Circles, which was a finalist for the 2014 Pen-Faulkner Award, as well as the story collection War by Candlelight, the novel Lost City Radio, and the graphic novel City of Clowns. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Granta, n+1, and Harpers, and he was named one of the New Yorker’s “20 Under 40.” He is Executive Producer of “Radio Ambulante,” distributed by NPR, and is an assistant professor of broadcast journalism at the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York.

Praise for The King is Always Above the People :

"Showcases his talent as a master storyteller. In 10 vivid, captivating stories, Alarcón explores immigration, family relationships, secrets, betrayal, hope, love, heartbreak, forgiveness, and redemption." —Buzzfeed

"Smart, political and incredibly engaging... Alarcón introduces readers to countless unforgettable characters along the way.” —Nylon (25 Books to Read this Fall)

“Vividly realized characters encounter family secrets, uncertain futures, ill-fated love and redemption.” —Chicago Tribune

Staff Pick Favorite: Daniel Alarcón