Celebrate the release of GROWN WOMEN with Sarai Johnson!

Join us to celebrate local author Sarai Johnson for the launch of her debut novel, GROWN WOMEN! She'll be joined by Helena Andrews-Dyer, culture reporter for the Washington Post and author of three books, including The Mamas: What I Learned About Kids, Class and Race From Moms Not Like Me.

In Sarai Johnson's stunning debut novel, four generations of complex Black women contend with motherhood and daughterhood, generational trauma and the deeply ingrained tensions and wounds that divide them as they redefine happiness and healing for themselves.

Erudite Evelyn, her cynical daughter Charlotte, and Charlotte’s optimistic daughter Corinna see the world very differently. Though they love each other deeply, it’s no wonder that their personalities often clash. But their conflicts go deeper than run-of-the-mill disagreements. Here, there is deep, dark resentment for past and present hurt.

When Corinna gives birth to her own daughter, Camille, the beautiful, intelligent little girl offers this trio of mothers something they all need: hope, joy, and an opportunity to reconcile. They decide to work together to raise their collective daughter with the tenderness and empathy they missed in their own relationships. Yet despite their best intentions, they cannot agree on what that means.

After Camille eventually leaves her mother and grandmother in rural Tennessee for a more cosmopolitan life in Washington, DC with her great-grandmother, it’s unclear whether this complex and self-contained girl will thrive or be overwhelmed by the fears and dreams of three generations she carries. As she grows into a gutsy young woman, Camille must decide for herself what happiness will look like.

In masterful, elegant prose, debut novelist Sarai Johnson has created a rich and moving portrait of Black women’s lives today.

SARAI JOHNSON grew up in the South, primarily in Nashville, Tennessee. She studied journalism and English at Howard University, and later earned a Master’s in Literature from American University. She has taught writing at both her alma maters and with several nonprofit writing programs in the DC area.

HELENA ANDREWS-DYER is an award-winning culture reporter for The Washington Post, covering the intersection of popular culture, race, politics and art in the nation’s capital. She is the author of “The Mamas: What I Learned About Kids, Class and Race From Moms Not Like Me” (2022), “Reclaiming Her Time: The Power of Maxine Waters” co-written with R. Eric Thomas (2020), and her memoir-in-essays “Bitch is the New Black,” published in 2010.

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