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Maddy Donaldo, homeless at twenty, has made a family of sorts in the dangerous spaces of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. She knows whom to trust, where to eat, when to move locations, and how to take care of her dog. It’s the only home she has. When she unwittingly witnesses the murder of a young homeless boy and is seen by the perpetrator, her relatively stable life is upended. Suddenly, everyone from the police to the dead boys’ parents want to talk to Maddy about what she saw. As adults pressure her to give up her secrets and reunite with her own family before she meets a similar fate, Maddy must decide whether she wants to stay lost or be found. Against the backdrop of a radically changing San Francisco, a city which embraces a booming tech economy while struggling to maintain its culture of tolerance, At the Edge of the Haight follows the lives of those who depend on makeshift homes and communities.

As judge Hillary Jordan says, “This book pulled me deep into a world I knew little about, bringing the struggles of its young, homeless inhabitants–the kind of people we avoid eye contact with on the street–to vivid, poignant life. The novel demands that you take a close look. If you knew, could you still ignore, fear, or condemn them? And knowing, how can you ever forget?” (Algonquin Books)

Katherine Seligman is a journalist and author in San Francisco. As a reporter, she’s focused on social issues, from homelessness, mental health and end of life issues to the city’s boom and bust cycles. But she’s also written about everything else, from self-appointed graffiti curators, urban coyotes and embryonic sex selection to what her kids learned growing up in Haight Ashbury. She has been a staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine and a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner and USA Today. Her stories have appeared in Redbook, Life, Time, California Magazine, PBS Next Avenue, CALmatters, Al Jazeera America, and the anthology “Fresh Takes.” She is a member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto and loves working in clay.

Hillary Jordan is the author of the novels Mudbound (2008) and When She Woke (2011), as well as the digital short “Aftermirth.” Her stories have been translated into 15 languages. When she’s not scribbling away, Hillary teaches the occasional writing workshop and gives talks at colleges, literary festivals, and community libraries. She has a BA from Wellesley College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. She grew up in Dallas, TX and Muskogee, OK and currently lives in Brooklyn, along with half the writers in America.

Friends in Deed is an interfaith organization that provides supportive services to meet basic human needs, so our homeless and at-risk neighbors can rebuild their lives. “Celebrating more than 120 years of service, we meet the needs of our clients by leveraging our small, but dedicated staff, with many volunteers. Friends In Deed meets people where they are, without judgment or restrictions that deny people the help they need. We bring dignity to homelessness and poverty. Our staff’s smiling faces and helping hands ensure that individuals in need are safe and fed and find a vision of hope for their futures.” Find out more about Friends in Deed on their website.