'Outcasts United' Author to Speak at U of A, Fayetteville Public Library

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Warren St. John

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Warren St. John, a former New York Times reporter and author of Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference, will give a free public lecture and sign books from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 5 in the Donald W. Reynolds Center Auditorium.

He will also speak to Fayetteville Public Library book club members at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6.

St. John is currently the editor-in-chief of Patch, a hyperlocal online news network. He grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.

His lectures are the final events in this year’s U of A One Book, One Community program, which encourages the university and surrounding community to read the same book and come together to discuss it.

Outcasts United is the true story of refugees from wars in the Middle East and Africa who were re-settled in the small town of Clarkson, Georgia, a new miles outside of Atlanta. The change was as wrenching for the refugee families as it was for the townspeople. For the refugee children and teenagers, soccer was a common link. For their coach, a young Jordanian woman, herself an exile, the challenge was to build that link into something strong enough keep her players in school and out of trouble. The soccer teams she led, known as the Fugees, became a symbol of the turmoil and changes for the refugees and the Clarkson community.

“The One Book, One Community committee always tries to find a book that is timely and relevant to readers, both on campus and the in the local community,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the program. “Given the daily news reports about refugees and migrants fleeing to Europe, and our own experiences of refugees, migrants and immigrants in Northwest Arkansas, it’s hard to imagine a book that is more timely or relevant than Outcasts United.”