Spokane Is Reading Presents Tananarive Due’s ‘The Reformatory’
Posted on June 26, 2025 at 4:30 am
Spokane Is Reading announces author Tananarive Due and her novel The Reformatory for this year’s community-wide reading event! You’re invited to read the book, learn more about Due, and attend the free author events.
About the Book
In this story combining history with the mystical, a pair of siblings must battle the injustices of Jim Crow using their community ties as well as their supernatural abilities. The Reformatory delves into this haunting history and unravels the untold story of a long-forgotten ancestor and his time at the infamous Dozier School for Boys in Florida. After teenager Gloria is harassed and her younger brother Robbie stands up for her, 12-year-old Robbie is sentenced to a brutal reform school where the “haints” of the boys who were killed there may be the only chance he has of getting out alive.
The Reformatory was named a New York Times Notable Book and an ALA Notable Book and received the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, the Los Angeles Times 2023 Book Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction, and the 2024 Chautauqua Prize.
Get a copy of the novel to start reading today:
See the praise others have shared about The Reformatory.
About the Author
Tananarive Due is an American Book Award and NAACP Image Award-winning author, who was an executive producer on Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror for Shudder and teaches Afrofuturism and Black Horror at UCLA. Due is the author of several novels and two short story collections, Ghost Summer: Stories and The Wishing Pool and Other Stories. She is also coauthor of a civil rights memoir, Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights, written with her late mother, Patricia Stephens Due.
For more information about Due, visit simonspeakers.com and tananarivedue.com.
Spokane Is Reading Author Events
Spokane Is Reading Presents Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory
For teens & adults
Come to the library for a live watch party with award-winning author Tananarive Due. During this virtual author talk, Due reads from a section of her work and takes questions from the audience. The event is free and open to the public. Find out more about The Reformatory and Tananarive Due at spokaneisreading.org.
At this event, Spokane Is Reading will hold a raffle for a selection of Tananarive Due’s books. You must be present to win.
Copies of The Reformatory will be available for purchase from Auntie’s Bookstore at the event. Author-signed book plates will also be available.
Tananarive Due is planning to visit Auntie’s Bookstore at a future date to sign books. Check auntiesbooks.com for information about future author visits.
Presented by Spokane Is Reading and generously supported by Spokane Arts, ArtsWA, Friends of the Libraries in Spokane County, Friends of the Spokane Public Library, and community donors
Please note: Because of unforeseen circumstances, the author will be appearing virtually for this event. Event details were updated on October 1, 2025.
SPOKANE VALLEY LIBRARY
22 N Herald Rd, Spokane Valley
Thursday, Oct 23, 1pm
Doors open at 12:15pm. Free parking is available.
CENTRAL LIBRARY (Spokane Public Library)
906 W Main Ave, Spokane
Thursday, Oct 23, 7pm
Doors open at 6:15pm. Paid parking is available in the library’s underground lot. Metered parking may be available on the streets (payment required until 7pm; free after 7pm).
Praise for The Reformatory
“A riveting masterpiece that manages to be both heartwarming and chilling… literally impossible to stop reading.” — Locus Magazine
“You’re in for a treat. The Reformatory is one of those books you can’t put down. Tananarive Due hit it out of the park.” — Stephen King
“One of the best novels published in 2023. A superb mix of literary fiction, horror, and historical fiction.” — Gabino Iglesias, NPR Books
“The Reformatory is a masterpiece—a new American classic of the uncanny. I was gripped from the first lines to the catch-your-breath desperation of the final pages. Even in the tale’s grimmest moments, Tananarive Due insists on the almost supernatural power of simple kindness. You have to read this book.” — Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman
“The writing here is spectacular; the pacing, engrossing; the setting, heartbreaking but honest; and the characters are given a nuance and depth rarely seen… A masterpiece of fiction.” — Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
“With fully realized characters and well-placed twists, Due ratchets up the tension until the final, extraordinary showdown.” — Booklist, STARRED REVIEW
“A vividly realized page-turner, which is at once an ingenious ghost story, a white-knuckle adventure, and an illuminating if infuriating look back at a shameful period in American jurisprudence.” — Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW
Tags: adults, book, community, reading, spokane is reading, teens
