Book lovers in the Milwaukee area will surely be excited for an upcoming opportunity to spend an evening with Amina Gautier who will be visiting Boswell Book Company on 2559 North Downer Avenue in Milwaukee this coming Thursday, Jan. 25, 6:30 p.m. The author of “The Best That You Can Do” will be joining attendees for an hour to discuss her book and other work, especially in her career as a short story author.
“The Best That You Can Do” is an ode by Gautier to the women and children in New York neighborhoods and across the Northeastern United States who undergo the everyday struggle of maintaining culture and connection to families and fathers in countries like Puerto Rico. Gautier’s focus on such experiences speaks to the longing of many who relocate from another country that often places them emotionally and mentally between two physical locations. 
Stories filled with family, romance, and nostalgia look to bring readers into a world where the joy of being together and within a community contends with the difficulty of displacement and separation. Gautier’s characters come to life through the weaving of their narratives between identity, family, and growth amounting to a story Publishers Weekly calls, “Powerful . . . Gautier’s flashes of familial angst and political commentary ignite each entry. This packs a stinging punch.”
Gautier earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania after earning a master’s degree and has authored three previous short story collections, “At Risk”, “Now We Will Be Happy”, and “The Loss of All Lost Things.” Her work has garnered her awards and recognition such as the Blackwell Prize, the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 21st Century Award, the International Latino Book Award, the Flannery O’Connor Award, and the Phillis Wheatley Award in Fiction, along with the PEN/MALAMUD Award for Excellence in the Short Story for her body of work overall.
To learn more about the event and register for free, visit the event page here.
