Téa Obreht: Sunrise

Téa Obreht comes to First Light Books on Friday, August 14, for an evening centered on her new novel, Sunrise. It's a reception, a conversation, and a signing, all in one night. She'll be joined by Lucas Schaefer, author of the debut novel The Slip, which is set in an Austin boxing gym in the summer of 1998.

Sunrise is Obreht's second novel set in the American West, following Inland. The story follows Nina Terzić, who crashes into a mountain lake and washes up in the abandoned town of Sunrise, where a manuscript and a skull turn her fight for survival into a multigenerational mystery. Obreht spent over three years researching the territory, traveling old wagon roads from Texas to Wyoming and Arizona to California. The novel arrives as the Western genre has seen a cultural resurgence.

Obreht was born in the former Yugoslavia and now lives in Wyoming, the landscape central to Sunrise. Her previous work includes The Tiger's Wife, which won the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction, and Inland, which won the Southwest Book Award. Schaefer's The Slip brings a local connection to the pairing, as its setting is right here in Austin.

The event starts at 6:30 PM at First Light Books, 4300 Speedway. Tickets include a copy of the book and a reserved seat, and free RSVPs are encouraged.