Author Works with Naima Coster: What's Mine and Yours - 2022 One Maryland One Book

From the author of Halsey Street, a sweeping novel of legacy, identity, the American family—and the ways that race affects even our most intimate relationships.

A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the span of the next twenty years.

On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee’s steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he’ll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle’s headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn’t protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie.

As love is built and lost, and the past never too far behind, What’s Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years, from the foothills of North Carolina, to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Paris. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Naima Coster is the New York Times bestselling author of two novels and a recipient of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 honor. Her most recent novel, What’s Mine and Yours, was a Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club pick, a Book of the Month Club pick, and was named a best book of the year by Kirkus, Amazon, Esquire, Marie Claire, Ms. Magazine, The Millions, and Refinery29.

Naima’s first novel, Halsey Street, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction and a semifinalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Published in 2018, it was named a must-read book of the year by People, Essence, BitchMedia, Well-Read Black Girl, The Skimm, and the Brooklyn Public Library.

She is a graduate of Yale University, Fordham University, and the Columbia University School of the Arts, where she earned her MFA. She has taught writing for over a decade in community settings, youth programs, and universities. She currently teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Antioch University in L.A. She is a 2022 mentor for the Periplus Collective.

Naima Coster will be In-Conversation with Claudia Allen.  

Claudia Allen is the Community Outreach Supervisor for the Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity (OHRE). Prior to joining the Office of Human Rights & Equity, Claudia was a PhD Student in the Department of English at the University of Maryland, College Park specializing in 20^th & 21^st century African American Literature. While at UMD Claudia taught courses on race and academic writing. In addition, she has had the distinct privilege of lecturing on 20^th & 21^st century African American Literature, and religion and social engagement at other prominent institutions. With a Master of Arts in English from Georgetown University, Claudia also holds certificates from the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Education Program and the Howard University School of Divinity.

One Maryland One Book is a program of Maryland Humanities. 

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Maryland State Library.

We would like to thank our valuable partners Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo) and the Office of Human Rights & Equity (OHRE) and the Last Word bookstore.

Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Registration encouraged.