Carroll 250: Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Balm, Wench, and Take My Hand, which was a Target Book Club pick and earned her an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Fiction. She is known for reaching into the archives of American history and excavating the stories of long-forgotten Black men and women. And in Happy Land, she widens her scope to uncover the true story of an entire kingdom that existed in history and very few know about. Hidden in the hills of Appalachia, there was once The Kingdom of the Happy Land, a territory ruled and owned by formerly enslaved people. Inspired by stories of African royals, they reclaimed their freedom on American soil. For a while they thrived... until the kingdom suddenly disappeared. Happy Land, shares a fictionalized account of the real Kingdom of the Happy Land, a historical moment which has barely been explored until now. Books will be available for purchase and signing. 

Dolen will be in conversation with Mona Becker.

Presented by Carroll County Public Library and Park Books on Main. 

This program is part of the Carroll 250 Speaker Series celebrating the United States Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence.