Publisher, Audio Renaissance (January 2005)

Listen to a Windows Media audio clip.

“Wild and beautiful...The story is told using the epistolary form with a brilliant skill not seen since The Color Purple.” —Sapphire, national bestselling author of Push

“Heartbreaking and true...I’d read it again just for the power of the language.” —Dorothy Allison, National Book Award finalist and national bestselling author of Bastard Out of Carolina and Cavedweller

Set in New York in the 80s and 90s, UPSTATE tells the story of two young lovers, Antonio and Natasha, torn apart by tragedy and struggling to survive against all odds. When a horrific tragedy sends Antonio to jail, their worlds turn upside down.

Antonio struggles to stay alive on the inside; Natasha battles society on the outside. Over the course of 10 years, they share an intimate correspondence as their lives change dramatically and they often have only each other to turn to. Will fate bring them back together, or will they remain forever apart? Ripe with unforgettable characters and two haunting voices, UPSTATE is an audio program not to be missed.

About the Author: KALISHA BUCKHANON was born in Kankakee, Illinois in 1977. She has been the recipient of awards and fellowships from the NAACP, Andrew Mellon Fund, Illinois Arts Council, Illinois Young Authors Commission, Mary Roberts Rhinehart Fund and the Chicago Black Writer’s Conference. Her work has appeared in such publications as Michigan Quarterly Review and Warpland: A Journal of Black Literature and Ideas. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New School University and a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago. She has taught literacy and writing to children on Chicago’s South Side, in Harlem, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Upstate is her first novel.