About this item
"Baby, the first thing I need to know from you is do you believe I killed my father?"So begins Upstate, a powerful story told through letters between seventeen-year-old Antonio and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Natasha, set in the 1990's in New York. Antonio and Natasha's world is turned upside down, and their young love is put to the test, when Antonio finds himself in jail, accused of a shocking crime. Antonio fights to stay alive on the inside, while on the outside, Natasha faces choices that will change her life. Over the course of a decade, they share a desperate correspondence. Often, they have only each other to turn to as life takes them down separate paths and leaves them wondering if they will ever find their way back together. Startling, real, and filled with raw emotion, Upstate is an unforgettable coming-of-age story with a message of undeniable hope. Brilliant and profoundly felt, it is destined to speak to a new generation of readers.
About the Author
Kalisha Buckhanon is the author of SPEAKING OF SUMMER, SOLEMN, CONCEPTION and UPSTATE as well as numerous stories, essays, articles and blogs on her site negression.com. She was a true crime TV commentator on BET, ID Channel and TV One. She and her work featured also in such media as Essence, O Magazine, People, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmo, Marie Claire, Elle, The Guardian/London Observer and more. UPSTATE is an American Library Association ALEX Award winner, Audie Award in Literary Fiction winner, Terry McMillan Young Author Award winner, Hurston-Wright Foundation Debut Fiction Finalist and National Book Foundation "Literature for Justice" title. Kalisha has an M.A. and B.A. in English from University of Chicago, where she was elected into Phi Beta Kappa. Her Creative Writing M.F.A. is from The New School in New York City. She is at work on new projects in her home state of Illinois, where she was born in the small town of Kankakee.
