Join us for an evening with John Sayles, the renowned novelist, screenwriter, actor, and feature film director. A resident of Guilford, Sayles will discuss his latest novel, To Save the Man. Over the course of his career, Sayles has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay, for Passion Fish (1992) and Lone Star (1996). In addition to his work in film, he is the author of eight novels, including Yellow Earth (2020) and JAMIE MACGILLIVRAY: The Renegade’s Journey (2023), which was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice.
In September 1890, the academic year begins at the Carlisle Indian School, a military-style boarding school aimed at assimilating Native American children under the harsh motto, “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” As students are forced to abandon their cultures and learn to conform to white society, they hear rumors of the “ghost dance,” a Native movement hoping to restore their way of life. Tensions rise when government troops intervene to control the reservations, and the killing of Sitting Bull sparks a crisis. Each student at Carlisle must confront the question of loyalty and decide what they are willing to risk for their freedom.
“Filmmaker and novelist Sayles offers an electrifying and convincing chronicle of resistance among Indigenous students at the Carlisle Industrial School in 1890… Sayles constructs his story masterfully. Readers will carry this with them for a long time.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Copies of To Save the Man will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of Breakwater Books.