National Book Award Finalist Salvatore Scibona visits Firestone Park Branch Library as part of the publicity tour to promote his new novel The Volunteer, out March 5th, 2019.
Salvatore Scibona's first novel, The End, was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Young Lions Fiction Award. His work has won a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, an O. Henry Award, and a Whiting Award; and the New Yorker named him one of its "20 Under 40" fiction writers to watch. He is the Sue Ann and John Weinberg Director of the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.
The Volunteer begins as a small boy speaking an unknown language is abandoned by his father at an international airport. In order to understand this heartbreaking scene, the story must return to the moment, decades earlier, when a young man named Vollie Frade enlists in the United States Marine Corps to fight in Vietnam. From the Cambodian jungle, to a flophouse in Queens, to a commune in New Mexico, Vollie’s path traces a secret history of life on the margins of America, culminating with an inevitable and terrible reckoning. An odyssey of loss and salvation, The Volunteer is a triumph in the grandest traditions of American storytelling.
The Firestone Park Branch Library has the tools and resources that customers need to meet their personal and professional goals—computers and computer classes, mini-clinics for one-on-one tech assistance, WiFi, printing, copying, scanning, faxing, and more. A rich collection of books, music, and movies, including a large Parent-Teacher collection, complements these services, offering learning and entertainment opportunities responsive to the needs and interests of the Firestone Park community.
The Firestone Park Branch Library is also a neighborhood hub for programming for all ages—storytime for the youngest customers, Fun Club for school-age visitors, teen gaming and crafting, adult learning opportunities, and an evolving NatureConnect space that inspires outdoor exploration programming across the seasons. Firestone Branch Library staff is out in the community—at schools and local events—and at the library to bring educational and entertainment resources to all.
