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Roots & Wings Hosts 10th Annual Authors’ Luncheon

On Wednesday, April 26, 2023, Roots & Wings, a Denville-based non-profit supporting young people who have aged out of foster care, will host its annual Authors’ Lunch at the Crystal Plaza in Livingston. This event is traditionally attended by over 125 professional and literary-minded people who understand the need to support aged-out foster youth in New Jersey. 

This year, author Emi Nietfeld will discuss her memoir, Acceptance, a memoir of her journey through foster care and homelessness, interrogating the true meanings of resilience, ambition, and success. After graduating from Harvard in 2015, Nietfeld worked as a software engineer, an experience she wrote about in her viral New York Times essay, “After Working At Google, I’ll Never Let Myself Love a Job Again.” Today she's a mental health advocate, speaker, and journalist writing for publications like The Atlantic, Fortune, and Slate.

Nietfeld will be joined by #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline who is continuing her longstanding relationship with Roots & Wings to lead a discussion and Q&A session with Nietfeld. Kline is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, including The ExilesOrphan Train, and A Piece of the World, and the author and/or editor of five nonfiction books. She is published in more than 40 countries; her books are taught in universities, colleges, and high schools.

Hundreds of young adults age out of New Jersey’s foster care each year. Many are not reunited with their families or placed into a permanent home, leaving them vulnerable to homelessness, poverty, unemployment, lack of education and incarceration. You can help. Join us for an afternoon of fine dining, stimulating conversation, and good company while supporting our mission of providing safe housing, emotional support, life skills, and educational opportunities for youth aging out of foster care; empowering them to rise toward their greatest potential.

Roots & Wings is funded almost entirely by individual donations. We rely on the generous support of donors to help change the course of the lives of aged-out foster youth in New Jersey.

To learn more and register to attend please visit www.rootsandwingsnj.org.