Mariner Books has revealed the cover for Chinelo Okparanta’s new novel Harry Sylvester Bird, scheduled to be published in July by Mariner.

In Pennsylvania, Harry’s parents are the embodiment of everything wrong with America. “And his small town [Edward] isn’t any better. He witnesses racial profiling, graffitied swastikas, and White Power signs on his walk home from school. He can’t wait until he’s old enough to leave.”

Harry sees New York as a place to actualize his adult dreams and live out his true self. He eventually leaves Edward for NY. But it takes meeting Maryam to unravel the nature of that true self. In Mariner’s words, “in the city, he meets and falls in love with Maryam, a young Nigerian woman. But when Maryam begins to pull away, Harry is forced to confront his identity as he never has before—if he can.”

The book cover of Chinelo Okparanta’s Harry Sylvester Bird, was designed by Jaya Miceli, illustrator extraordinaire and art director for Scribner (an imprint of Simon and Schuster). She said she drew inspiration from the theme in these texts: the inner search and hope of discovering one’s true identity among the many created in one’s head.”

“It speaks to the idea of a divided self, the various identities that can exist within each of us,” Chinelo Okparanta says, in an interview with Lit Hub, on the subject of the book cover.

Who is Chinelo Okparanta?

Does she need an introduction? Have you read Under the Udala Trees (2015)? What about her 2013 work Happiness, Like Water? 

Born in Port Harcourt forty-one years ago, Chinelo Okparanta has consistently dazzled readers all over the world with writing reeking of genius, with a precision marinated in gracefulness.

The writer, who is currently an associate professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Swathmore College, has won several awards for her works, including The New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award (2014), Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction (2014), Society of Midland Authors Award (2013), Caine Prize for African Writing (2013), Etisalat Prize for Literature (2014), and many other awards, nominations, and recognitions.

We look forward to her new book finding a home in our hearts, as usual.