Ta-Nehisi Coates reads from The Beautiful Struggle NOTE DATE CHANGE February 13, 2009

The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood, Coates's impressive debut, is set in 1980s Baltimore, a city in distress. "The details of Coates's travels through disintegrating neighborhoods and schools that seemed almost designed to torment a bookish, dreamy kid would be pedestrian in many writers' hands, but he wields words with a rare grace that gives his story an uncommon power."-Kirkus Reviews.

Against this bleak backdrop Ta-Nehisi and his six siblings were raised by an enigmatic and unconventional father intent on pushing his children past the streets and into the doors of Howard University. Through sharp observation and poetic phrasing, Coates crafts a story about the strong ties that bind father and son.

Coates is a former staff writer at the Village Voice and Time, he contributes to the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic and other publications. He also blogs for the Atlantic. He lives in New York City.

All are welcome to attend our readings but if you wish to have a book signed, it must be purchased at Vertigo Books, rather than at a competitor.

Official Website: http://vertigo-books.com/