Join the Pollard Memorial Library for a special event with Mass Book Award-winner Crystal Maldonado! Crystal will share her satisfying and multidimensional YA novel, The Fall of Whit Rivera.

Blisteringly funny and profoundly well-observed, The Fall of Whit Rivera is a snug and cozy romcom that tackles weightier topics like chronic illness, sexuality, fatphobia, Latino/a identity, and class. Funny, honest, insightful, romantic, and poignant, it is classic Crystal Maldonado—and it will have her legion of fans absolutely swooning.

Frenemies Whit and Zay have been at odds for years (ever since he broke up with her in the most embarrassing way imaginable), so when they’re forced to organize the fall formal together, it’s a literal disaster. Sparks fly as Whitney—type-A, passionate, a perfectionist, and a certified sweater-weather fanatic—butts heads with Zay, a dry, relaxed skater boy who takes everything in stride. But not all of those sparks are bad. . . . Has their feud been a big misunderstanding all along?

This program is sponsored by the Mass Book Awards Speakers Bureau and is presented in collaboration with the Massachusetts Center for the Book.

Crystal Maldonado is a young adult author with a lot of feelings. She is the author of romcoms for fat, brown girls, including The Fall of Whit Rivera, which People Magazine called a “pumpkin-spice-latte-flavored treat” (Winner of the 2024 Mass Book Award in the Young Adult category); Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, which was a New England Book Award winner, a Cosmopolitan Best New Book, and a Kirkus Best YA Fiction of 2021; and No Filter and Other Lies, which was named a POPSUGAR and Seventeen Best New YA.

By day, Crystal works in higher ed marketing, and by night, she’s a writer who loves Beyoncé, glitter, shopping, and spending too much time on her phone. Her work has been published in Latina, BuzzFeed, and the Hartford Courant. She lives in western Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and dog. Follow her everywhere @crystalwrote or visit her website at crystalwrote.com.

Crystal will speak about her experience as a writer, and there will be time for a book signing at the end of the presentation. La La Books will be selling copies of The Fall of Whit Rivera, so don’t fret if you don’t have a copy!

This program is recommended for ages 13+

Registration is required, as space is limited.