The One Grand Read initiative is back in Mid-Michigan this summer. The community read is hosted by several library systems in the region and launched last year.
The 2026 selection is the memoir “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension” by essayist and poet Hanif Abdurraqib.
Abdurraqib will be speaking about his book at the Kellogg Center on Michigan State University's campus on September 27.
Ahead of his appearance in East Lansing, he spoke to WKAR's Sophia Saliby about his love for basketball and the Midwest and what he hopes readers gain from his book.
Basketball has been a constant in Abdurraqib's life, from growing up to Columbus, Ohio to following professional players and their careers as an adult.
"It was like a language that existed in my neighborhood," he said. "Everyone played, and even if you weren't very good, you played because it was a barrier of entry to friendship, to being understood, to being seen more clearly."
He's nearly the same age as LeBron James, another Ohio native, who began gaining national notoriety for his athletic prowess as a highschooler. James was initially drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers where he played for two different stretches during the aughts and 2010s.
The title of Abdurraqib's book comes from a banner created by the Cleveland Cavaliers during a finals run, a play on the phrase "there's always next year."
"I don't think Cleveland is hyper unique in this way, but its reputation is kind of unique in this way that it's this like deeply cursed sports town that is always looking forward to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, and I just thought it was very powerful to have fans, you know, demanding the now."
He says the title also relates to one of the themes of the book.
"I also think the book is so obsessed with time and the passage of time, and there was an eagerness in me to not necessarily be future-facing or steeped directly in the past, and instead to kind of think about how all the elements of who I was created someone who very much wants to laser-focus on the slow drip of time's passage."
Abdurraqib says he's interested to see how James plays with Philadelphia after leaving the Lakers. James signed onto the 76ers in July.
"I really thought, you know, he's going to come back to Cleveland and close it out. So, I think it'll be interesting," he said. "Getting that one more late career ring, I think, would be massive for his legacy, so he's in a good position."
Registration for the event with Abdurraqib is free online.
Interview Highlights
On centering this memoir on basketball and his relationship to the sport
I think basketball was something that was the undercurrent of my growing up. It was like a language that existed in my neighborhood. You know, everyone played, and even if you weren't very good, you played because it was a barrier of entry to friendship, to being understood, to being seen more clearly. And I thought to expand those themes and then project them on what it means to love a place and affix yourself to it, you know, it felt like a great springboard for that.
On his love for the Midwest
There's so many different kinds of Midwest, and I think that perhaps the underdog mentality comes from I think a desire for people to not have a place they love be forgotten or kind of washed away in the grander story of the country. You know, I'm from Ohio, which I think where I'm from, there was a point, although I think this has changed a little bit, but there was a point when I was younger where people only focused on Ohio during election years, right? Because it was, at one point, people viewed it as a battleground state. And what that did was created this kind of monolithic identity of Ohio as a political battleground and little else. I can only speak for Ohio. I'm in Central Ohio. What I love about driving through Ohio is that if I go 10 minutes in any direction, I'm seeing a very different version of the Ohio that I know and love, Columbus, and I'm fascinated by that.
On starting the book with an invitation to readers
What I was mostly attempting to do was to say, I'm going to be traversing a pretty complex thing with a lot of tendrils, you know, a lot of runoffs in many directions. Some of them my own, and some of them, you know, history-based, and some of them basketball-based. And I wanted people to understand very early on, even if you don't love or care about basketball, I promise you, there is something in this for us together. We're going to be figuring out something larger together, and so the opening is really kind of a trick to shrink the world of between the reader and the speaker and create a universe where we're sitting across from each other in the same room, and I'm asking for a level of trust because we're going to go to a lot of places, and some of them you may on on its face have no interest in, but if you trust me and believe in me and stick with me for a little bit, I promise you I can make it appealing to you for a little while.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: The One Grand Read Initiative is back in Mid-Michigan this summer. The community read is hosted by several library systems in the region and launched last year.
The 2026 selection is “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension” by essayist and poet Hanif Abdurraqib.
He joins me now to talk about his book ahead of an author visit to East Lansing he’ll be making later this month. Thanks for being here.
Hanif Abdurraqib: Thank you so much for having me.
Saliby: You've written personal essays before. Why was it important to write this memoir around basketball specifically?
Abdurraqib: Well, I think basketball was something that was the undercurrent of my growing up. It was like a language that existed in my neighborhood. You know, everyone played, and even if you weren't very good, you played because it was a barrier of entry to friendship, to being understood, to being seen more clearly. And I thought to expand those themes and then project them on what it means to love a place and affix yourself to it, you know, it felt like a great springboard for that.
Saliby: The title of the book is "There's Always This Year." It's kind of a play on the phrase, "there's always next year" or "next season" that many sports fans say, and maybe around these parts, it's Detroit Lions fans talking about their Super Bowl chances.
Why did you bring that phrase into the present tense as opposed to that future forward looking way that we typically say it?
Abdurraqib: Well, it's actually from a banner that the Cleveland Cavs unfurled during one of their finals runs, and I loved that sense, particularly in Cleveland, which is, like a lot of sports towns, I don't think Cleveland is hyper unique in this way, but its reputation is kind of unique in this way that it's this like deeply cursed sports town that is always looking forward to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, and I just thought it was very powerful to have fans, you know, demanding the now.
And I also think the book is so obsessed with time and the passage of time, and there was an eagerness in me to not necessarily be future-facing or steeped directly in the past, and instead to kind of think about how all the elements of who I was created someone who very much wants to laser-focus on the slow drip of time's passage.
Saliby: You're from Columbus, Ohio. You're a Midwesterner, just like probably a lot of the people from East Lansing, in the Lansing area that will be reading this book.
Do you think there's something specific about the Midwest where there's kind of an underdog element to being here in what I think you call the flyover country?
Abdurraqib: Well, it depends on where you're at in the Midwest. What I like about the Midwest is that I think more than any other region there are like 10 different kinds of Midwest, you know, perhaps more. I think especially if you believe as I do that like the Dakotas are Midwest, right, Midwestern states, and you know, Missouri is a Midwestern state, but also like it has a southern-ness to it that I value.
You know, there's so many different kinds of Midwest, and I think that perhaps the underdog mentality comes from I think a desire for people to not have a place they love be forgotten or kind of washed away in the grander story of the country.
You know, I'm from Ohio, which I think where I'm from, there was a point, although I think this has changed a little bit, but there was a point when I was younger where people only focused on Ohio during election years, right? Because it was, at one point, people viewed it as a battleground state. And what that did was created this kind of monolithic identity of Ohio as a political battleground and little else.
I can only speak for Ohio. I'm in Central Ohio. What I love about driving through Ohio is that if I go 10 minutes in any direction, I'm seeing a very different version of the Ohio that I know and love, Columbus, and I'm fascinated by that. You know, and I think that there are people in those places fighting to to not be forgotten, and that requires, I think, a commitment to an underdog mentality.
Saliby: I want to take a moment to talk about the start of the book. There's kind of an invocation. You invite the listeners to your side against unnamed but implied enemies. Why take the time in the initial pages to do that when I think many people expect a memoir, you know, you are going to be on the author's side?
Abdurraqib: I don't know if—I've read many memoirs where I'm not entirely on the author's side, but I will say I don't even know if I was attempting to win people over as much as I was attempting to use a rhetorical device to create a universe wherein the reader and the speaker are on equal footing.
And I guess, in some ways, the end result of that is that the reader may be on the side of the speaker. But what I was mostly attempting to do was to say, I'm going to be traversing a pretty complex thing with a lot of tendrils, you know, a lot of runoffs in many directions. Some of them my own, and some of them, you know, history-based, and some of them basketball-based.
And I wanted people to understand very early on, even if you don't love or care about basketball, I promise you, there is something in this for us together. We're going to be figuring out something larger together, and so the opening is really kind of a trick to shrink the world of between the reader and the speaker and create a universe where we're sitting across from each other in the same room, and I'm asking for a level of trust because we're going to go to a lot of places, and some of them you may on on its face have no interest in, but if you trust me and believe in me and stick with me for a little bit, I promise you I can make it appealing to you for a little while.
Saliby: We're nearly out of time together, but readers of your book will know about your connection to LeBron James. I have to ask, what do you think about LeBron playing for Philadelphia this season?
Abdurraqib: Yeah, that was unexpected. At least for me, I know early on people were saying it was going to be Philly, maybe, but I really thought, you know, he's going to come back to Cleveland and close it out. So, I think it'll be interesting. I find that team very compelling if they can stay healthy, you know, I do think it is a very good situation for him because he will not have to play that much defense.
He can maybe get away with kind of sleeping a little bit on defense, which will prolong his ability to play in the playoffs. And you know, getting that one more late career ring, I think, would be massive for his legacy, so he's in a good position.
Saliby: Hanif Abdurraqib is the author of "There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension," this year's One Grand Read selection. Thank you for joining us.
Abdurraqib: Thank you for having me.
Saliby: Abdurraqib will be speaking about his book at the Kellogg Center on Michigan State University's campus on September 27. Registration for the event is free online.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
