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Staff Pick
I innocently picked up The World Doesn't Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott due to
the striking cover. Though the writing was excellent and so creative, I was not enjoying it.
The flagrant use of the N-word made me uncomfortable and at one point I had to put it
down and read a different book. This book is dense, challenging and difficult, not an easy
read. Yet very intelligent, intriguing and incredible. So glad I did finish this powerful read! Recommended By Adrienne C., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
• Longlisted - Aspen Words Literary Prize
• Best Books of the Year:
Washington Post, NPR,
Buzzfeed and
Entropy
• Best Short Story Collections of the Year:
Kirkus Reviews,
Library Journal, the New York Public Library, and
Electric Literature
The World Doesn't Require You announces the arrival of a generational talent, as Rion Amilcar Scott shatters rigid genre lines to explore larger themes of religion, violence, and love — all told with sly humor and a dash of magical realism.
Review
"A rich, genre-splicing mix of alternate history, magical realism and satire that interrogates issues of race, sexism and where both meet here in the real world." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Mischievous, relentlessly inventive stories whose interweaving content swerves from down-home grit to dreamlike grotesque....Mordantly bizarre and trenchantly observant, these stories stake out fresh territory in the nation's literary landscape." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Review
"Scott's bold and often outlandish imagination makes for stories that may be difficult to define, but whose emotional authenticity is never once in doubt." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
About the Author
Rion Amilcar Scott's first book, Insurrections, won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. His work has been published in the Kenyon Review, the Rumpus, PANK, and Confrontation, among others. He lives and writes in Maryland.