Maura Cheeks

MAURA CHEEKS is the author of ACTS OF FORGIVENESS, named a most anticipated book by Elle, The Root, Real Simple, and The Millions. ACTS OF FORGIVENESS imagines the country has just passed the nation’s first reparations bill for Black families. It follows four generations of the Revel family as they grapple with a struggling family business while retracing their lineage. This is a book that imagines what it would be like if America granted reparations to Black families. But really it’s about wealth, collective memory, ambition, and the power of our ancestors. It will be published by Ballantine, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Maura was named one of “10 Writers to Watch” by Publisher’s Weekly. Her other work has been published in the Paris Review, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, Tin House, Lenny Letter, and others. In 2018 she was selected to attend Tin House's Winter Workshop and was one of seven people selected to attend Jamel Brinkley's Tin House Craft Intensive. In 2019 she was awarded the Masthead Reporting Residency for The Atlantic’s first residency program where she worked on the feature article that would later inspire the idea for her novel.

She is the owner and general manager of Liz’s Book Bar.