Imbolo Mbue discusses her powerful second novel How Beautiful We Were, which follows the environmental degradation brought on by an American oil company in the fictional African village of Kosawa. This modern fable comes from the perspective of a whole generation of children, determined to hold on to their ancestral land despite the impacts of pipeline spills that cause toxic water, infertile farmlands the blind pursuit of profit and the unfulfilled promises of reparations and cleanup.

Imbolo Mbue is the author of the New York Times bestseller Behold the Dreamers, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Blue Metropolis Words to Change Prize and was an Oprah's Book Club selection. Named a notable book of the year by The New York Times and The Washington Post and a best book of the year by close to a dozen publications, the novel has been translated into eleven languages, adapted into an opera and a stage play, and optioned for a movie. A native of Limbe, Cameroon, and a graduate of Rutgers and Columbia Universities, Mbue lives in New York City.

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks’ notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca.

Imbolo Mbue: How Beautiful We Were