One Book, One San Diego 2025 Author Event Featuring James McBride

Please join KPBS and our community partners for a special in-person event with James McBride, author of our 2025 One Book, One San Diego adult selection, .

Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction

Winner of the Gotham Book Prize

One of Barack Obama’s “Favorite Books of the Year”

Oprah’s Book Club Pick

New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

Named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and TIME Magazine

A Washington Post Notable Novel

From the author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, and the bestselling modern classic The Color of Water, comes one of the most celebrated novels of the past few years.

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range.

The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride’s funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird. In Deacon King Kong, McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood’s Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters—caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York—overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion.

Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us.

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THIS EVENT IS IN-PERSON AND FREE. The Belly Up venue is exclusively for individuals who are 21 years of age or older. Please remember to bring a valid ID with you as the venue strictly enforces age verification for entry. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. and the program will begin promptly at 7:15pm.

Event Schedule:

Doors Open: 6:45pm

Author Talk with Q&A: 7:15 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.

Book Signing*: 8:15 p.m. - 8:45 p.m.

The Belly Up is proud to be handicap accessible, ensuring that all our patrons can enjoy our shows comfortably. If you require accommodations, please email am1kZWFuIHwga3BicyAhIG9yZw== in advance of the event.

*Book signing will be first come, first served as time allows.

Bag Policy & Prohibited Items

Clear bags are strongly encouraged for quick inspection and enhanced security, as they provide visibility of contents, speeding up entry. If a clear bag isn’t feasible, opaque bags should be around clutch size or at least fit comfortably under a seat; oversized bags and backpacks will not be allowed inside. Prohibited items include weapons, illegal substances, outside food, hazardous materials, and disruptive items.

Concessions

Plenty of concessions are available at Belly Up Tavern. Non-alcoholic beverages are served as well as alcoholic beverages including but not limited to beer and mixed drinks.

Accepted Payment Methods

Belly Up Tavern primarily operates on a cashless basis.

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"Deacon King Kong" may be purchased at the event, or online prior from the Library Shop. Proceeds support the entire San Diego Public Library System. Or check out "Deacon King Kong" for free through the San Diego County Library or the San Diego Public eLibrary.

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One Book, One San Diego is a partnership, led by KPBS, with the San Diego Public Library, the San Diego County Library, San Diego State University, One Book Sin Fronteras and more than 40 organizations. For more information about One Book, One San Diego, please visit: kpbs.org/onebook

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More about James McBride

Writer, Composer & Musician

James McBride is a New York Times bestselling author, musician and screenwriter. His landmark memoir, The Color of Water, rested on the NYT bestseller list for two years and explored McBride’s search for identity as the son of a white, Jewish woman and a black man. It is considered an American classic and is read in schools and universities across the United States. His debut novel, Miracle at St. Anna was translated into a major motion picture, directed by American film icon Spike Lee. It was released by Disney/Touchstone in September 2008. James wrote the script for Miracle at St. Anna and co-wrote Spike Lee's 2012 Red Hook Summer. His novel, Song Yet Sung, was released in paperback in January 2009. His novel The Good Lord Bird, about American revolutionary John Brown, is the winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction and has been adapted by Ethan Hawke and Jason Blum into a Showtime series bearing the same name. His 2020 novel, Deacon King Kong tells the story of a 1969 shooting in Brooklyn and the strange intersections of the lives of the characters involved in the shooting. Deacon King Kong was a NYT bestseller, winner of the National Book Award and named a favorite book of the year by both Oprah Winfrey and President Barack Obama.

McBride’s latest novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, tells the story of small-town secrets and the people who keep them. McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store was a runaway NYT bestseller and was named Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, TIME Magazine, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

James is also a former staff writer for The Boston Globe, People Magazine and The Washington Post. His work has appeared in Essence, Rolling Stone and The New York Times. His April, 2007 National Geographic story entitled “Hip Hop Planet” is considered a respected treatise on African American music and culture.

James toured as a saxophonist sideman with jazz legend Jimmy Scott, among others. He

has also written songs (music and lyrics) for Anita Baker, Grover Washington Jr., Purafe, Gary Burton, and even for the PBS television character “Barney.” He did not write the “I Love You” song for “Barney” but wishes he did. He received the Stephen Sondheim Award and the Richard Rodgers Foundation Horizon Award for his musical “Bo-Bos,” co-written with playwright Ed Shockley. His 2003 “Riffin’ and Pontificatin’” Musical Tour was captured in a nationally televised Comcast documentary. He has been featured on national radio and television in America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. He often does his readings accompanied by a band.

James is a native New Yorker and a graduate of New York City public schools. He studied composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received his Masters in Journalism from Columbia University in New York at age 22. He holds several honorary doctorates and is currently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.

In the fall of 2016, President Barack Obama awarded McBride the 2015 National Humanities Medal "...for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America. Through writings about his own uniquely American story, and his works of fiction informed by our shared history, his moving stories of love display the character of the American family."

For more information, please visit https://www.jamesmcbride.com/ and follow James on Instagram: @jamesmcbrideauthor.

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Thank you to our sponsors!

One Book One San Diego is funded by the Linden Root Dickinson Foundation, the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, the Frieda Berlinski Foundation, the Payne Family Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, the City of San Diego, and Lloyd Pest Control.

A big thank you to the Belly Up for hosting this year's One Book, One San Diego Author Event!

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