Richmond Memorial Library will welcome back author George “Rollie” Adams to discuss his new work of historical fiction, Found in Pieces. Mr. Adams, president and CEO emeritus of the Strong National Museum of Play, will be at the library for a talk and signing on Wednesday, May 18 at 7 pm.
Found in Pieces was recognized by the Independent Press Awards as the winner of its 2022 Award for Race Relations. Set in fictional Unionville, Arkansas, Found in Pieces unfolds during the second year of turmoil over Governor Orval Faubus’s determination to stop the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School. Found in Pieces, recipient of five previous national and international awards for historical and social issues fiction, explores the tension between business considerations and editorial policy in journalism during the Civil Rights Era in the South.
Copies of the book are available to check out at the library before the program & will be available for sale by the author at the event for $15 (paperback) or $20 (hardcover), cash or check.
This event is free and all are welcome. It is best suited to older teens and adults.
George Rollie Adams is a native of southern Arkansas and a former teacher with graduate degrees in history and education. His previous novel, South of Little Rock, received four independent publishers’ awards for regional and social issues. Adams has served as a writer, editor, and program director for the American Association for State and Local History and as director of the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans. He is president and CEO emeritus of the Strong National Museum of Play. Learn more at georgerollieadamsbooks.com
An additional press release about the Independent Press Awards honor for George Rollie Adams as well as additional background on Found In Pieces after the jump (click here read more):
Press release:
Independent Press Awards has recognized the novel Found in Pieces by George Rollie Adams as a winner of its 2022 Award for Race Relations.
Independent Press Awards are given in several categories and are based on judging by experts in different aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, cover designers, and copywriters. Award winners are selected based on excellence.
Found in Pieces, recipient of five previous national and international awards for historical and social issues fiction, explores the tension between business considerations and editorial policy in journalism during the Civil Rights Era in the South. In doing so, the book helps us understand the role of media in today’s political and social climate. Adams, a PhD historian, and former president and CEO of The Strong National Museum of Play, examines what happens when public perceptions and expectations, economic pressures, and personal beliefs about morality, fairness, and justice clash in a small southern town in 1958. (Author, coauthor, and coeditor of nonfiction books on American history, Adams grew up in southern Arkansas during this period, and his first novel, South of Little Rock, received four independent publishing awards for regional and social issues fiction.)
“Found in Pieces is a captivating story and a must-read for anyone interested in American history and how it informs our lives today,” says Gretchen Sorin, historian and author of Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights, which was the basis for a PBS documentary. With “characters you care about and experiences that tug at your heart,” says Sorin, Found in Pieces “raises questions about the importance of a free press, the meaning of democracy, and the ultimate fate of American racism.”
Set in fictional Unionville, Arkansas, Found in Pieces unfolds during the second year of turmoil over Governor Orval Faubus’s determination to stop the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School. At a time when almost no women own and edit newspapers, Pearl Goodbar risks her family’s financial future to buy a defunct weekly. Before she can get the paper up and running, her husband loses his job, Faubus initiates a new crisis in the state capital, and the adult son of black businesswoman Sadie Rose Washington disappears. The mystery of his whereabouts brings the two women—one white and one black but both of them mothers—together and leaves Pearl facing business decisions that could lead to more money woes and even physical harm to herself and those close to her. Meanwhile, a prominent white man hides a dark secret that Sadie Rose knows but will not tell.
“I am grateful for this book,” says James Whorton, Jr. of the College at Brockport and author of Frankland, Approximately Heaven, and other works of fiction. “Once upon a time, respectable people thought that races should be kept apart. Insane but true, and Found In Pieces does the work of remembering how natural and easy it is not to see the wrong in front of you. There are always a dozen reasons to overlook injustice. George Rollie Adams dramatizes the problem in a vivid, suspenseful, and violent story that I did not want to put down.”
Says Adams, “Growing up in Arkansas and later teaching there, I saw and heard firsthand the arguments for and against social change, and I saw how the coming of it heightened tensions between the races and among white citizens who held diverging views. But I also saw ways in which social change brought people together, and how it caused some to see in new ways. Also, as a youngster, I had opportunity to see inside a small local newspaper, and later I was privileged to do historical research in many newspapers from various eras and sections of the country. I used all of that and numerous works of history to inform the novel.”
According to Independent Press Awards sponsor Garbielle Olczak, this year the awards judges considered books from the United States, Canada, Australia, and several European countries. “It’s crystal clear,” she says, that independent publishing is pushing to every corner of the earth with great content. We are thrilled to be highlighting key titles representing global independent publishing.” For more on Independent Press Awards, see: https://www.independentpressaward.com/2022winners.
Found in Pieces, published by Barn Loft Press, is available in hardcover, paperback, and digital formats through Amazon and other major book outlets. For more information, visit: https://georgerollieadamsbooks.com.
About George Rollie Adams
Adams is an educator, historian, author, and museum professional. As president and CEO of The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, from 1987 through 2016, Adams led the development of the world’s first collections-based history museum devoted solely to the study of play and its critical role in learning and human development and the ways in which play illuminates cultural history. Adams grew up in southern Arkansas, received a bachelor’s degree in social science education and English from Louisiana Tech University, and taught history for four years at El Dorado, Arkansas, High School while also earning a master’s degree in education from Louisiana Tech. He holds a doctorate in American history from the University of Arizona and is the founding editor in chief of the American Journal of Play; author of General William S. Harney: Prince of Dragoons, a finalist for the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Book Award; and author of South of Little Rock, recipient of four independent publishing awards for regional and social issues fiction.
