![]() ![]() But they are also humane, alive with innocence and beauty where it’s least expected. These stories are at times hard, filled with moments of violence and helplessness. ![]() In their citation for awarding the collection, the judges describe Scott’s writing as: “hard, humane stories, free of grandstanding yet full of grace, that loom in the mind long after reading.” And the judges are correct. North/south, eloquent/colloquial, holy/profane: these dualities are brought to life throughout Insurrections, winner of the 2017 PEN/Robert W. Among the Cross Riverians-or Riverbabies, depending on who you ask-included in this collection are a suicidal father, an old man known as the slapsmith, and a pair of brothers separated by the constantly flooding Cross River, which gives the city its name and divides it into the affluent Northside and impoverished Southside. The city itself is a work of fiction, but the lives of its inhabitants feel startlingly real. The stories in Rion Amilcar Scott’s debut collection, Insurrections, are set in Cross River, Maryland, a small East Coast city you won’t find on any map. ![]()
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