The Santa Clarita Public Library will present a free author event Monday, April 20, at 7 p.m., featuring Alepho Deng, co-author of the autobiographical book “They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys of Sudan.” The event will take place at the Valencia Library, located at 23743 W. Valencia Boulevard.

The book conveys the amazing tale of Deng, his brother Benson Deng and their cousin Benjamin Ajak who fled as child refugees during the Second Sudanese Civil War across Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. The story was the inspiration for the film, The Good Lie, starring Reese Witherspoon. At the event, Deng will discuss his experiences, his immigration to the United States and the plight of children’s rights.

This event is co-sponsored by the local high school chapters of the Human Rights Watch and the City of Santa Clarita’s Cultural Landscape Initiative.

For more information about the upcoming author event, please visit SantaClaritaLibrary.com or contact Karen Cruze, Library Outreach Coordinator at (661) 799-6137.

About Alephonsion Deng

“They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys of Sudan”

In 1987, when Alephonsion was seven years old, his village in Southern Sudan was attacked by his own government troops. To avoid capture he ran into the night with many other young boys. Without food, water, shoes or parents, he crossed 1,000 miles of lion- and crocodile-infested territory. After five years of fleeing war, starvation and wild animals, he reached Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya and began his education.

In 2001 the U.S. Government welcomed Alephonsion as one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. His first job was at Ralph’s Grocery Store where he worked for nine months. An opportunity came up to be in a Russell Crowe movie and he spent six months on the Fox Studios set in Rosarito Mexico where he learned to sail a tall ship, fire a cannon and swordfight. In 2006 he had the lead role in the play Since Africa in San Diego for three weeks of sold out performances and won the Patte award for theatre excellence for his performance.

His memoir, written with his brother, Benson, and cousin, Benjamin, entitled, “They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky.” www.TheyPouredFire.com has won many awards including the Christopher Award.

Alephonsion has spoken to hundreds of universities, clubs and organizations to bring awareness to the world about what is going on in his country by sharing his extraordinary story of survival. From Jennifer Vroom, Teacher, Campbell Hall: “It was amazing! We had 75-80 people attend – a nice mix of students, faculty, parents, and even friends of parents. I received amazing feedback from parents of kids who went…one mother told me that her 17-year-old son came home and cried as he told her about the documentary and Alepho’s speech. He’d always been pretty “anti-immigrant” but felt awful seeing what happened to these kids. She said their conversation was one of the best they’ve had in ages.”

Watch for his newest production Across Worlds: A Tale of Two Lives of Adventure.