Pulitzer Prize Winner Series: Andrea Elliott, Author of Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City

Andrea Elliott, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, will discuss her book Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City, winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

In Invisible Child, Elliott follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani, a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. In this sweeping narrative, Elliott weaves the story of Dasani’s childhood with the history of her ancestors, tracing their passage from slavery to the Great Migration north. As Dasani comes of age, New York City’s homeless crisis has exploded, deepening the chasm between rich and poor. She must guide her siblings through a world riddled by hunger, violence, racism, drug addiction and the threat of foster care. Out on the street, Dasani becomes a fierce fighter “to protect those who I love.” When she finally escapes city life to enroll in a boarding school, she faces an impossible question: What if leaving poverty means abandoning your family and yourself?

A work of luminous and riveting prose, Elliott’s Invisible Child reads like a page-turning novel. It is an astonishing story about the power of resilience, the importance of family and the cost of inequality—told through the crucible of one remarkable girl. 

A reception will open the presentation; book sale and signing by Elm Street Books will follow.

Registration required.

Andrea Elliott is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has documented the lives of poor Americans, Muslim immigrants and other people on the margins of power. She is an investigative reporter for The New York Times and the recipient of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, a George Polk award, an Overseas Press Club award and a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

This is the third author visit in the Ferguson Library's Pulitzer Prize Winner Series.

Generously supported by Ann and Timothy Duffy.