Enter to win 'The Atlas of Reds and Blues,' a page-turner from poet Devi Laskar
A little thank you for being a Foreign Bodies subscriber
Life is chaotic right now, I know. But for anyone itching to get some meaningful reading done, you’ll want to enter our next book giveaway for poet and novelist Devi Laskar’s The Atlas of Reds and Blues, a page-turner on race and racism that tells the story of an American-born daughter of Bengali immigrants who moves her family from the city to Atlanta’s wealthy suburbs. We’ll be mailing one lucky subscriber an inscribed copy of the novel from none other than Ms. Laskar herself. Entries accepted through Friday, April 3 at 8 p.m. EST.
PSA: This giveaway is only open to paying subscribers or comps (gifted subscriptions). Please—if you haven’t yet—subscribe and help keep Foreign Bodies afloat!
About the book
Devi Laskar’s The Atlas of Reds and Blues is a mixture of personal experience and fiction told in gripping, vivid and fierce prose. It follows a Bengali American who goes by “Mother” as she moves her family to the suburbs of Atlanta and finds herself in the middle of a baseless police raid.
“While bleeding from a gunshot wound, the events of her life race through her mind, from childhood visits to cousins in India, to her time working in the newsroom before she had children of her own, to her relationship with a husband who spends more time traveling than at home,” writes Book Riot’s Stacey Megally.
Laskar’s book earned her the 2020 Crook's Corner Book Prize and the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award in Literature. The Atlas of Reds and Blues was also named a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, a Book All Georgians Should Read by The Georgia Center for the Book and a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by The Millions.
Praise for The Atlas of Reds and Blues
“Devi S. Laskar’s The Atlas of Reds and Blues is as narratively beautiful as it is brutal… I’ve never read a novel that does nearly as much in so few pages.”
—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
“Poet and novelist Caoilinn Hughes wrote in Granta last year that ‘when poets turn their hands to prose, those hands might well belong to Midas.’ Indeed, there is often something that stands out about novels written by poetically minded people: ‘It’s not just the sentences — though me-o-my, the sentences! — it’s the sensibility,’ Hughes wrote. Her examples included books by Paul Beatty, Sylvia Plath and James Baldwin, but she might as well have been describing ‘The Atlas of Reds and Blues,’ poet Devi S. Laskar’s debut novel.”
—Ilana Masad, The Washington Post
“A poignant meditation on racism and police brutality experienced by people of color . . . The Atlas of Reds and Blues provides no easy answers. It does, however, delve deeply into the plight of ordinary people who do nothing to invite hate and yet get caught in hatred's web, only to find disentanglement almost impossible. Laskar's fine and moving novel is a step toward her own release, and with it she simultaneously offers readers a way out, too.”
—Soniah Kamal, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
About Foreign Bodies giveaways
Whenever I read a book I fall in love with, I’m driven to give everyone around me a sprinkle of the magic. That means you too. These little surprise giveaways are my special way of thanking you for joining the Foreign Bodies family. I hope the books and collections I send your way make you feel a little more at home, or perhaps inspire you to learn a bit more about the myriad voices out there, voices we don’t get the privilege of hearing as often as we could.
Giveaway rules
Entrants must be paying subscribers or comps (gift recipients) of the Foreign Bodies Newsletter and must have a valid U.S. mailing address. You may only enter once and must use the email address affiliated with your account. Each entry will be assigned a number and winner(s) will be chosen using the Random Integer Generator. Winner(s) will be notified via email and your gift will come personally packaged in the mail.
If you have any additional questions or concerns, please email 4nbodies@gmail.com.
Recommend a book!
Have a favorite immigrant-written book, collection of essays or poetry or what-have-you? Stories that made you feel understood? Stories about immigrant or refugee experiences, about mental illness? Send your recommendations—especially if it’s your own work. And check out the wealth of books and essays we already have up on foreignbodies.net!
Are you an author?
Want your book or collection to be part of a Foreign Bodies giveaway? Just fill out this form and we’ll be in touch as soon as a giveaway slot opens.
Love,
Fiza