Past Events
November 2015
Shapers of History
Author of The Butler, Wil Haygood, details the life and career of one of the most transformative legal minds of the past one hundred years, in Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America. The 1906 rampage of black soldiers stationed in Brownsville, and President Roosevelt’s controversial response to it, is the subject of Harry Lembeck’s Taking on Theodore Roosevelt: How One Senator Defied the President on Brownsville and Shook American Politics.…
Jewish Stories, World Histories
Former Jerusalem bureau chief for Newsweek and the Daily Beast, Dan Ephron, analyzes the single most consequential event in Israel’s recent history, in Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel. Rita Gabis comes to terms with an unthinkable revelation about her family story, in A Guest at the Shooter’s Banquet: My Grandfather’s SS Past, My Jewish Family, A Search for Truth.…
The Rise of ISIS and How Islamic State Hashtags
In Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents. In Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate, Abdel Bari Atwan reveals the origins and modus operandi of Islamic State, and also shows how the group’s rapid growth has been facilitated by its masterful command of social media platforms.…
On Snowden and Security
Veteran Washington, D.C. attorney Ronald Goldfarb and contributors to After Snowden: Privacy, Secrecy, and Security in the Information Age discuss the legal, political, and journalistic ramifications of national security leaks. …
Sports Center
Diane Roberts’s nonfiction book Tribal: College Football and the Secret Heart of America tackles the controversies plaguing college athletics, tracing the dubious historical underpinnings of Americans’ most popular sport. In Beast: Blood, Struggle, and Dreams at the Heart of Mixed Martial Arts, Doug Merlino brings us a blunt examination of the history, culture, business, and meaning of professional cage fighting.…
Sports Center
Florida Histories
In Fruits of Eden: David Fairchild and America’s Plant Hunters, Amanda Harris recounts the exploits of David Fairchild and his band of adventurers and botanists as they traversed Africa, Asia, South America, and Europe in search of new and exciting plants packed with flavor. In George Merrick, Son of the South Wind: Visionary Creator of Coral Gables, South Florida historian Arva Moore Parks recounts George Merrick’s quest to distinguish himself from the legions of developers who sought only profit.…
Florida Histories
In her latest nonfiction book, Saving Florida: Women’s Fight for the Environment in the Twentieth Century, Leslie Kemp Poole reveals the impact women have had on preserving Florida’s natural resources. In her nonfiction book, The Allure of Immortality: An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet, Lyn Millner weaves the many bizarre strands of cult leader Cyrus Teed’s life and those of his followers into a riveting story. In They Dared to Dream: Florida Women Who Shaped History,…
Around the World and Into the Past: Stories
Magda Montiel Davis’s essay “Ashes Over Havana,” included in The Best Women’s Travel Writing, Volume 10: True Stories from Around the World, is the story of her return to the country of her birth. Jo Ivester presents The Outskirts of Hope: A Memoir of the 1960’s Deep South a portrait of her family’s experiences living and working in an all-black town during the height of the civil rights movement. …
The Deco Age in American Furniture
American Art Deco Furniture is a Limited Edition book written by collector Ric Emmet that covers the development of an American “style” of furniture that breaks from European tradition; Iza Emmet, the author’s wife and partner will be presenting.…
November 2016
Transatlantic Pollination
The Caribbean colonies were established — and served for centuries — as a nexus for various forms of trade. The region also became a cultural crossroads, blending European, African and indigenous American culture. This panel explores the interplay of cultural currents throughout the Caribbean. With Jacqueline Couti, Laurent Dubois, Ronald Angelo Johnson, Andrea J. Queeley. Moderator: Marlene L. Daut. Professor Jacqueline Couti presents Dangerous Creole Liaisons, which not only exposes readers to a less familiar historical period of the French Caribbean,…
Origins presents: The Politics of Pleasure: Caribbean Women Writing About Sex
Caribbean sexuality is both hyper-visible and obscured. Celebrated in popular culture as an important ingredient in Caribbean social life, and flaunted to attract tourists to the region, sex is also shrouded in double entendre, secrecy and shame. This panel, presented by Origins, a literary journal that explores the narrative arts through the lens of identity, discusses the difficulties and delights of Caribbean women writing about sex and desire across generations, cultures, and genres. Panelists: Anjanette Delgado, Fabienne Josaphat,…
The Caribbean Short Story: Continuity, Innovation, and Varied Voices
The short story is a vital Caribbean literary form. Through its continuity and innovation, the short story gathers and reflects the individual and collective voices of culture and history. This panel of Caribbean short story writers and editors will consider the problems and possibilities aesthetic, traditional, ideological, and cultural of publishing short stories, as they also explore the ways that short fiction has changed the Caribbean literary landscape over the ages. With Rhoda Bharath, Sharon Millar, and Olive Senior. Told through a distinctive range of individual voices,…
No Place Like Home: Setting in the Contemporary Caribbean Novel
Where does one set the modern novel in this globalized age? What are the artistic and political implications of these choices? In a modern world where stories take place across and outside of national boundaries, how does setting impact subject, tone, and point of view? This panel of Caribbean writers with ties to multiple countries reflect on how they situate the trans-national novel, and highlight narrative tools to bring geographically rich narratives to life. With Fabienne Josaphat, Jacqueline Bishop and Marie-Ketsia Théodore-Pharel.…
Reading Jamaica: Fresh Poetry and Prose
In Garfield Ellis’s novel, The Angels’ Share, a Jamaican father and his adult son travel across the island together in a touching and humorous novel that explores family reconciliation. A-dZiko Simba Gegele’s debut YA novel, All Over Again, is a hilarious and enchanting coming-of-age story about a young boy who goes through the trials and joys of puberty. Tanya Shirley’s latest collection of poetry, The Merchant of Feathers, longlisted for the 2015 Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature,…
Kreyòl Pale, Kreyòl Konprann! Yon Deba Avèk Manm Akademi Kreyòl (yon prezantasyon an kreyòl, avèk entèpretasyon annanglè an menm tan) // State of the Kreyòl Union. A Discussion with Members of the Kreyòl Academy (Presented in Kreyòl Ayisyen, with simultaneous English translation)
Pa gen twò lontan, Akademi Kreyòl Ayisyen boujonnen nan peyi Dayiti pou li asire devlòpman, prezèvasyon, ak simayman lang kreyòl. Manm konsèy Akademi an, ansanm ak detwa lòt kokennchenn entelektyèl, ki se gwo save sou zafè lang kreyòl, pwal prezante travay yo te fè e kontinye ap fè nan kad kreyòl ayisyen, ansanm ak sa ki gen pou fèt toujou nan lavni. Gérard A. Férère, Michel-Ange Hyppolite, Claude Pierre, Jean-Robert Placide, and Marie Jocelyne Trouillot. Moderatè: Max Manigat.…
Pwezi Kreyòl Kounye A (yon prezantasyon an kreyòl, avèk entèpretasyon annanglè an menm tan) // Modern Haitian-Creole Poetry (Presented in Kreyòl Ayisyen with simultaneous English translation)
Yon gwoup powèt ayisyen kontanporen pwal prezante diferan fòm powetik « modèn » ki genyen nan lang kreyòl. Vin asiste bèl woumble sa a, pou aprann tousa ki enpòtan sou pase, prezan, ak fiti pwezi peyi nou. Josaphat-Robert Large, Yvette Israel Leroy (Wanègès), Schiller Marcelin, Iléus Papillon. Moderatè: Lochard Noël. A panel of contemporary poets detail their exploration of “modern” Haitian Creole poetic forms and their reflections on the past and present state of Haitian poetry. Josaphat-Robert Large,…
Réformes: Conversation Entre Femmes des Caraïbes – Histoire, Mystère, Et Inspiration! (en français, avec interprétation simultanée en anglais) // Reformation: Women on History, Mystery and Inspiration (In French with simultaneous interpretation in English)
(en français, avec interprétation simultanée en anglais) Les auteures de cette table-ronde ont publié des textes qui forcent le lecteur à repenser la femme Caribéenne, tant sur le plan historique que sur le plan spirituel. Elles présentent leurs idées sur comment créer un nouveau guide pour la femme moderne des Caraïbes. Mimerose Beaubrun, Myriam J.A. Chancy, Gessica Généus, Gisèle Pineau. Modératrice: Nancy T. Férère. Authors on this panel have produced works that force the reader to re-contextualize their perceptions of Caribbean women,…
Koze Mande Chèz: Dyalòg Sou Literati Kontanporèn Ayiti // Conversations On Contemporary Haitian Literature
(yon prezantasyon an kreyòl, avèk entèpretasyon annanglè an menm tan) (Presented in Kreyòl Ayisyen with simultaneous interpretation in English) Yon ekip gwo otè ayisyen pwal diskite sa k ap pase sèjousi nan monn literatè Ayiti. Vin asiste bèl deba sa a, kote otè diferan jenerasyon pwal prezante pèspektiv yo opwendevi lengwistik ak estil. Edwidge Danticat, Yanick Lahens, Gary Victor. Moderatè: Michèle Pierre-Louis. The current state of contemporary Haitian literature is discussed among these literary luminaries. Join the panel for a meaningful discussion of Haiti’s literature from each author’s generational,…
Ti Koze Sou Vodou // Vodou Explorations
(yon prezantasyon an kreyòl, avèk entèpretasyon annanglè an menm tan) (In Kreyòl Ayisyen with simultaneous interpretation in English) Vodou (sou divès fòm li genyen) se rasin kiltirèl peyi Afrik Delwès. Plizyè gwo otè ak entelektyèl kontanporen, pwal pale sou diferan aspè Vodou genyen, e yo pwal ofri piblik la divès pèspektiv sou sijè enteresan sa a. Mimerose Beaubrun (Nan Dòmi: An Initiate’s Journey into Haitian Vodou), Jerry M. Gilles (Remembrance: Roots, Ritual, and Reverence in Vodou),…
November 2017
Race, Identity and Politics in Latin America
Multi-ethnicity, Racelessness, Indigenismo. These are some terms of identity that have masked the ways that anti-Blackness and ambivalence, if not full resistance to Latin America’s African roots, have evolved in nations across the region. With attention to its historic roots, contemporary manifestations, and present-day movements, these authors offer compelling insight into the ways that race, identity and politics have intersected in Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. With with Devyn Spence Benson (Antiracism in Cuba: The Unfinished Revolution),…
Race, Identity and Politics in Latin America
Multi-ethnicity, Racelessness, Indigenismo. These are some terms of identity that have masked the ways that anti-Blackness and ambivalence, if not full resistance to Latin America’s African roots, have evolved in nations across the region. With attention to its historic roots, contemporary manifestations, and present-day movements, these authors offer compelling insight into the ways that race, identity and politics have intersected in Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. With Devyn Spence Benson, Danielle Clealand, Andrea Queeley, and Milagros Ricourt.…
Haiti: Sovereignty & Ownership
The world’s first independent black republic, Haiti was forged in the fire of history’s only successful slave revolution. Yet more than two hundred years later, the full promise of the revolution—a free country and a free people—remains unfulfilled. Domestic forces have certainly contributed to Haiti’s turbulence. However, external actors, including the United States, the United Nations, and non-profits have always wielded considerable influence on Haiti’s past and her present. This panel will examine how this outside influence affected the country’s notions of sovereignty and its citizens’ efforts to build a truly independent country.…
Caribbean Voices in Circulation
This panel emphasizes the power and imperativeness of allowing voices from the Caribbean to be heard as widely as possible. The circulation of Caribbean voices is featured here pertains among many things to: 1) the translation of Caribbean’s literary giants, female and male, into English (both past and present); and, 2) to what has happened when voices from Caribbean have defied odds to be heard. With Kaiama Glover, Aliyyah Eniath Hosein, Helen Klonaris, and Kei Miller. ReadCaribbean programs created in partnership with Sosyete Koukouy,…
Trinidad Noir: The Classics
Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the geographic area of the book. Now, two of Trinidad’s top writers masterfully curate this literary retrospective of the nation’s best writing over the past century. With co-editor of the collection, Robert Antoni, and contributors Barbara Jenkins, Shani Mootoo, and Elizabeth Nunez. ReadCaribbean programs created in partnership with Sosyete Koukouy,…
80th Anniversary Session of the 1937 Anti-Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic: Reflections on the Past on behalf of the Future
As a means of making this fall’s anniversary a meaningful and constructive one, this panel features original and hard-hitting perspectives about Haitian-Dominican relations, and the significance of the history of genocide that took place on the island. These authors introduce new evidence from the nineteenth-century to the present, including the 1937 massacre, to offer insights about race, nation-building, and freedom struggles that resonate beyond Hispañola’s borders. With Edwidge Danticat, Anne Eller and Edward Paulino. ReadCaribbean programs created in partnership with Sosyete Koukouy,…
Pwezi: Vwa Kreyòl /Poetry: Haitian Creole Voices in Circulation
Yon prezantasyon an kreyòl, avèk entèpretasyon annanglè an menm tan/ Presented in Kreyòl Ayisyen, with simultaneous English translation Yon pànèl powèt kontanporen ki gen rasin yo nan Kanada, Kiba, ak Srilanka pral debat sou sèten fòm pwezi ki egziste an kreyòl e prezante aspè inivèsèl pwezi ayisyen an. Avèk Indran Amirthanayagam, Emmanuel Eugène, Yvon Lamour. A ReadCaribbean panel of contemporary poets with ties to Canada, Cuba, and Sri-Lanka detail their exploration of poetic forms in Kreyòl and their reflections on the universality of Haitian poetry.…
Voix de la Caraïbe / “Caribbean: Illuminate!”
En français, avec interprétation simultanée en anglais/In French, with simultaneous interpretation into English Dans le cadre de ReadCaribbean, une série très appréciée de présentations se déroulant toute l’année, cette table ronde (stoïque, provocante, parfois gênante, mais certainement enthousiasmante) porte sur la littérature et l’histoire caribéennes. Divers auteurs d’Haïti, de la Guadeloupe, de la Martinique et de la Guyane Française discuteront de leurs œuvres, ainsi que de leurs expériences – vécues, mais aussi héritées de l’histoire – afin de faire la lumière sur leurs réalités respectives et d’accompagner le public dans un voyage à travers les nombreux chapitres de la vie et de l’histoire modernes de la Caraïbe.…
Readcaribbean Presents Mervyn Morris in Conversation with Kwame Dawes. Moderated by Geoffrey Philp
ReadCaribbean ap prezante Mervyn Morris an konvèsasyon avèk Kwame Dawes. Moderatè: Geoffrey Philp. (In English, with simultaneous interpretation into Haitian Creole/yon prezantasyon an annanglè, avèk entèpretasyon kreyòl an menm tan) Former Poet Laureate of Jamaica Mervyn Morris presents half a century of poetry with an intense musicality in Peelin Orange: Collected Poems, reinventing how universals can inhere in the local, the incarnation in a Caribbean setting. Kwame Dawes’s City of Bone haunts us with its own musicality,…
Tansyon nan Verite Listwa Ayiti/ Tensions in the Truths of Haitian History
(yon prezantasyon an kreyòl, avèk entèpretasyon annanglè an menm tan) Presented in Kreyòl Ayisyen, with simultaneous English translation Pànèl ReadCaribbean sa a pral analize tansyon ki egziste osen sosyete nou an, akòz santiman ki an divèjans depi digdantan nan listwa peyi Dayiti – onivo sosyal e ekonomik, epitou osen anviwònman natirèl peyi a. Otè yo ap konsantre sou defas yon menm verite, tankou paregzanp: jan yon moun kapab pale Vodou mal epoutan li nan Vodou; santiman sa bay lè ou fè pati yon sosyete epoutan ou alamaj menm sosyete sa a;…
November 2018
After Irma, After Maria: Caribbean Women Writing the Storms
Modern Caribbean literature captures not just the endemic mismanagement of natural resources and public projects, but also the enduring chasm between promises of progress through major infrastructures and the outcomes of natural disasters for average citizens. In this panel, four Caribbean writers reflect on the devastation from Hurricanes Irma and Maria to many Caribbean islands whose economies rely on tourism; they pay considerable attention to the Caribbean bodies caught in the crosscurrents of a catastrophic natural history. With Edwidge Danticat (Haiti),…
Unknown Histories of the Caribbean
This panel will discuss how writers from the Caribbean have attempted to construct alternative images of the present and future from the histories of slavery and colonialism that haunt the Caribbean and its diasporas. In parallel with these invented stories, archival registers give unexpected details of the unknown histories of the Caribbean and allow for scrupulously researched literary works to emerge alongside tales of imagination. With Natalie Hopkinson (Guyana), author of A Mouth is Always Muzzled, Patrick Bellegarde-Smith (Haiti),…
Murder and Mayhem in the Caribbean
Writers with roots in Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Trinidad and Tobago present masterful and unvarnished literary crime fiction and wildly transgressive noir from the Caribbean. With Kevin Jared Hosein, The Repenters and The Beast of Kukuyo; Hector Duarte Jr., Desperate Times Call; and Nicholas Laughlin, editor of the anthology, So Many Islands. Moderated by Manny Duran. Sponsored by…
Reading Jamaica
Reading stories that explore such themes as racial identity, gender and sexuality, family and alienation, exile and history, this panel brings to life the richness and diversity of writing from and/or about Jamaica. With Marcia Douglas, author of The Marvellous Equations of the Dread: A Novel in Bass Riddim, Alecia McKenzie, author of Sweetheart, and Alexia Arthurs, author of How to Love a Jamaican. Moderated by Geoffrey Philp, author of Garvey’s Ghost.…
Haitian Identities and Caribbean Aesthetics/ Idantite Ayisyen Ak Estetik Karibeyen
In English with simultaneous interpretation into Haitian Creole This panel of four Haitian women writers will address the impact of their Haitian and Haitian-American identity(ies) on their writing and the ways they navigate (hyper)visibility and erasure to honor Caribbean aesthetics. Join Marilène Phipps, author of Unseen Worlds, Katia D. Ulysse, author of Mouths Don’t Speak, and Fabienne Josaphat, author of Dancing in the Baron’s Shadow, as they discuss the ways in which their writings respond to cultural presumptions about Haitian identity.…
Compelling Stories from the French Caribbean/Des Histoires Captivantes de la CaraÏbe Française
In French with simultaneous interpretation into English Writers from the French Caribbean create and chisel narratives that are vibrant and compelling as their Caribbean identity shapes and informs the stories they choose to tell. This panel will focus on choices writers make in telling and reporting stories that embody the depth and breadth of French-Caribbean life and imagination. With Gerty Dambury (Guadeloupe), author of The Restless; Mehdi Chalmers (Haiti), author of À Partir du mensonge;…
The Realities of Haitian Migrations
In Haitian Creole with simultaneous interpretation into English Individuals who migrate often experience the loss of cultural norms, religious customs, and social support systems. The adjustment to a new culture brings forth changes in identity and concept of self. In the case of Haiti, how do these changes affect the motherland – and the Haitian communities of the Diaspora? In this panel, academics and experts in the literary field will speak to the issue of Haitian migration, racial, gender, and national identity,…
#MeToo Movement in the Afro-Caribbean Communities
In Haitian Creole with simultaneous interpretation into English In many African-Caribbean communities, reactions to the #MeToo movement often reflect a lack of adequate thought about abuse; in fact, these reactions can even indicate increasing levels of gender-based violence as a norm. Women brave enough to come out with their ordeals are often silenced or made to face backlash for their choice to demand justice. Academics and writing professionals will discuss the blurry lines between abuse and what is considered “normal” gender relations and “natural”’ male behavior in Haiti and other African-Caribbean countries,…
November 2019
Caribbean Myth, Mythology, and Science Fiction
Caribbean writers publish gripping works in the fields of science fiction and fantasy — evolving the texture and nature of the genres with new perspectives and new approaches. Listen to four contemporary writers, Karen Lorde (Barbados), Imam Baksh (Guyana), Breanne McIvor (Trinidad), and Ann Dávila Cardinal (Puerto Rico) read from, and discuss, stories that edge beyond myth, mythology, and science fiction, and into reality. By imagining worlds altered by local lore, mythos, and futurism, their writing addresses questions of race, gender,…
Caribbean Writers: Race, Gender and Representation
Caribbean writers often occupy a space of hybridity, between worlds, so that they often engage with writing through the lenses of their perceived “otherness,” exploring the biases and inherited classifications, and the implications of writing from the margins. Edwidge Danticat (Haiti), Kevin Adonis Browne (Trinidad), Candice Carty-Williams (Jamaica), and Jaquira Diaz (Puerto-Rico) will consider how, even as they honor each other’s identities, they can transcend the limitations that such categorizations may seem to impose.…
Caribbean Journeys Through Time and Space
Caribbean writers in and outside of the Caribbean have been creating meaningful and evocative settings using sensitive and sophisticated approaches to displacement and repatriation. They’ve written across real and unreal boundaries and drawn on their homelands’ history and landscapes in order to create a broader Caribbean literary pantheon. Panelists will discuss how they create and consider real and imagined spaces, with particular attention to identity and territoriality. The influence of place and time upon one’s writing is known, but what if one is from a place that has many places within place,…
Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico
When the Sky Fell: Hurricane Maria and the United States in Puerto Rico is a searing investigation of the factors that devastated Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, from acclaimed investigative reporter Michael Deibert.…
Is Haiti a Nation State?
(This panel is in Haitian Creole, with English interpretation) Since 1804, Haiti owns a territory and occupies a specific geographical space. The country’s government is supposedly autonomous, and Haiti has a culture and a language allowing his people—11+ million, in majority black—to communicate amongst themselves. Yet, many observers wonder if Haiti is indeed a nation state. In other words, does Haiti fulfill all the criteria for sovereignty? Featuring five panelists whose living and writing transcend national borders, this panel reflects one of the world’s most complex places back on itself,…
Caribbean Voices: Rising Tides
In French with simultaneous interpretation into English The rising tide of international literature and an increasing climate of global fluidity warrants us to dig deeper into the French and Creole works of modern Caribbean writers. This panel seeks to explore the aesthetics of Caribbean fiction by delving into conversations on the ways that the homeland of origin exerts emotional, cultural, spiritual, and imaginative influences both on the individual and collective consciousness. Ernest Pepin, Dominique Lancastre, Yamile Stitt, and Lyonel Trouillot will combine brief readings from their works and discuss the rising tides in new Caribbean literary narratives.…
November 2022
Kathie Klarreich on Don’t Shake the Spoon: A Journal of Prison Writing: Nonfiction
Kathie Klarreich founded the Miami-based prison writing nonprofit Exchange for Change in 2014, after a 24-year career as a journalist. Don’t Shake the Spoon: A Journal of Prison Writing Vol. 2, is a collection of Exchange for Change students’ stories, poems, and essays. Klarreich’s panelists include Eyone Williams, an author and violence prevention specialist who was incarcerated as a teenager and served 17 years in prison; Julia Mascioli, author and deputy director of the Free Minds Book Club &…
“More Than What Happened: The Aftermath of Gun Violence in Miami”: Nadege Green
Nadege Green, founder of Black Miami-Dade, a digital storytelling and history platform that resists the erasure of Miami’s Black past, leads “More Than What Happened: The Aftermath of Gun Violence in Miami,” a panel on the anthology of the same name for which she served as editor. Joining her are Webber J. Charles, senior site director of Breakthrough Miami; LeeBetsy Charon, accountant and entrepreneur; Darius Daughtry, founder of the Art Prevails Project and author of the poetry collection And the Walls Came Tumbling;…
M. Chris Fabricant, Derecka Purnell & Margaret Burnham: A Conversation
From CSI to Forensic Files to the celebrated reputation of the FBI crime lab, forensic scientists have long been mythologized in American popular culture as infallible crime solvers. In Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System, Innocence Project attorney M. Chris Fabricant chronicles the fights to overturn wrongful convictions and to end the use of the “science” that has destroyed lives. In Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom, human rights lawyer, writer, and organizer Derecka Purnell argues that the police cannot be reformed.…
Elizabeth Williamson & Erin Kimmerle: A Conversation
The murder of 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, has become a foundational story of how false conspiracy narratives and misinformation have gained traction in society. Elizabeth Williamson‘s landmark Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth shares the victims’ families’ battle to preserve their loved ones’ legacy despite threats to their own lives. In We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys,…
Jose Garcia-Pedrosa on Pensándolo Bien: Una ensalada de ensayos con aliño picante/On Further Thought: A Salad of Essays with a Spicy Dressing: Nonfiction
In Pensándolo Bien: Una ensalada de ensayos con aliño picante/On Further Thought: A Salad of Essays with a Spicy Dressing, Jose Garcia-Pedrosa muses over a variety of eclectic topics, including the actual start of the 21st century, George Washington, and Mother Teresa, through writing inspired by the 19th-century Spanish author Mariano José de Larra and the late modern-day author and journalist Christopher Hitchens.…
Meng Jin, Dionne Irving & Ingrid Rojas Contreras: A Conversation
Meng Jin‘s Self-Portrait with Ghost: Short Stories features 10 thematically linked stories. Written during the turbulent years of the Trump administration and the first year of the pandemic, they explore intimacy and isolation, coming of age, and coming to terms with the repercussions of past mistakes, fraying relationships, and surprising moments of connection. In The Islands: Stories, Dionne Irving looks at the history and condition of Jamaican women in locations and times ranging from 1950s London and 1960s Panama to modern-day New Jersey.…
Jeff Lindsay, Ben Mezrich & Megan Abbott: A Conversation
Jeff Lindsay‘s Three-Edged Sword: A Novel follows superthief Riley Wolfe. A rogue government agent has abducted the only two people Riley loves, and now he must do the man’s dirty work to set them free. Espionage, thievery, love, and betrayal – it looks like the only way out this time is through. In Ben Mezrich‘s The Midnight Ride: A Thriller, an MIT grad student unwittingly uncovers the hidden connection between the Gardner Museum heist and a fascinating secret in American history.…
Laird Hunt, Sabina Murray & Sloane Crosley: A Conversation
Laird Hunt‘s Zorrie: A Novel is set against a harsh, gorgeous, quintessentially American landscape, and spans Zorrie Underwood’s entire lifetime. It’s a life convulsed and transformed by the events of the 20th century and then, after finding love and community, a discovery that her trials have only begun. In Sabina Murray‘s The Human Zoo, Filipino American Christina “Ting” Klein travels from New York to Manila to escape her imminent divorce and start researching a book.…
Tajja Isen & Phoebe Robinson: A Conversation
In Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service, Tajja Isen explores the absurdities of life in a world fluent in the language of social justice but not always committed to following through with the necessary changes to address systemic problems. It is a fearless and darkly comic collection about race, justice, and the limits of good intentions. In her collection Please Don’t Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes: Essays, the inaugural title from her imprint,…
Jason Rekulak & Dwyer Murphy With Gio Gutierrez: A Conversation
In Jason Rekulak‘s Hidden Pictures: A Novel, Mallory Quinn takes a job as a babysitter looking after 5-year-old Teddy. He is a sweet, shy boy, always drawing. Then one day, he draws a man dragging a woman’s lifeless body in a forest. As his artwork becomes increasingly sinister, Mallory wonders if what she’s seeing are glimpses of an unsolved murder, relayed by a supernatural force. In Dwyer Murphy‘s An Honest Living: A Novel, an attorney who makes ends meet by picking up odd jobs takes what seems like a quick and easy assignment: find the husband of new client Anna Reddick.…
November 2023
CELEBRATING THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEES FOR NONFICTION
A special event with JONATHAN EIG, King: A Life; PRUDENCE PEIFFER, The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever; CRISTINA RIVERA GARZA, Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice; JOHN VAILLANT, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World; and KIDADA E. WILLIAMS, I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War Against Reconstruction. Buy King: A Life.…
CELEBRATING THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEES FOR FICTION
A special event with NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH, Chain-Gang All-Stars: A Novel; AALIYAH BILAL, Temple Folk; ELIOT DUNCAN, Ponyboy: A Novel; PAUL HARDING, This Other Eden: A Novel; TANIA JAMES, Loot: A Novel; JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS, Night Watch: A Novel; HANNA PYLVÄINEN, The End of Drum-Time: A Novel; JUSTIN TORRES, Blackouts: A Novel; and LATOYA WATKINS,…
CELEBRATING THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEES FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE
A special event with translator LISA DILLMAN, Abyss by Colombian writer Pilar Quintana; STÊNIO GARDEL, The Words that Remain: A Novel; and translator SAM TAYLOR, Beyond the Door of No Return: A Novel by French writer David Diop. Buy The Devil of the Provinces. – Davis Buy Abyss. – Dillman Buy The Words that Remain: A Novel. – Gardel Buy Beyond the Door of No Return: A Novel. – Taylor Presented in partnership with…
ON IMMIGRATION & ENSLAVEMENT
The Great Escape: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America is SAKET SONI’s gripping account of migrant workers trapped in squalid Gulf Coast “man camps” in 2006, who against all odds remained steadfast in their heroic journey for justice. In RACHEL L. SWARNS’ The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church, she offers a groundbreaking story of nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement to uncover the harrowing origin story of the Catholic Church in the United States.…
FOUR MEMOIRS
In First Gen: A Memoir, ALEJANDRA CAMPOVERDI retraces her trajectory as a Mexican American woman raised by an immigrant single mother in Los Angeles with candor and heart. In AVA CHIN’s Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming, she traces her decadeslong quest to understand her family’s story, from the Pearl River Delta to a Mott Street building in New York’s Chinatown. In A Living Remedy: A Memoir,…
NEW POSSIBILITIES IN THE FIGHT FOR EQUALITY
In How We Ended Racism: Realizing a New Possibility in One Generation, SHELLY TYGIELSKI and JUSTIN MICHAEL WILLIAMS reveal a path for ending racism in a single generation. Drawing from a wide array of scientific studies and their practical successes in teaching a multitude of diverse groups, they offer a way to shift perspectives and enact lasting change. Buy How We Ended Racism: Realizing a New Possibility in One Generation. – Tygielski Buy How We Ended Racism: Realizing a New Possibility in One Generation.…
HOW THEY BUILT IT: STORIES ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
In Nightlife Lessons: How I Conquered the Business of Partying with Tech and a Glimpse into Its Future, SHANE NEMAN blends his passion for partying and nose for technology into a multimillion-dollar cocktail. In MICHAEL SAYMAN’s App Kid: How a Child of Immigrants Grabbed a Piece of the American Dream, the story of how he went from second-generation Latino immigrant to 13-year-old coder to successful entrepreneur unfolds. And in The Bad Bitch Business Bible: 10 Commandments to Break Free of Good Girl Brainwashing and Take Charge of Your Body,…
BLOCKCHAIN & THE FUTURE
In A Kids Book About Blockchain, HAROLD HUGHES asks readers, “What if I told you that someday, you’ll use blockchain everywhere? You’ll use it in school, playing your favorite video game, when you buy something, even when you make art!” fostering curiosity and conceptual discussion of the evolving technology. Moderating is journalist JEFF CARVALHO, co-host of the Culture Club Show podcast. This session is part of the Transformational Deep Dives with Chris Adamo and Stuart Sheldon series.…
THE RETURN OF GREAT POWERS: JIM SCIUTTO IN CONVERSATION WITH STUART SHELDON
CNN anchor JIM SCIUTTO, the network’s chief national security analyst, details a new post–post–Cold War era, the increasingly aligned Russian and Chinese governments, and the flashpoint of a new global nuclear arms race in The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War. Joining him in conversation is STUART SHELDON, co-host of the Swan Dive podcast. This session is part of the Transformational Deep Dives with Chris Adamo and Stuart Sheldon series.…
TO LIVE WITH PURPOSE
After growing up in a tough Washington, D.C., neighborhood, CHRIS WILSON killed a man in self-defense and was sentenced to life in prison. The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose is his unforgettable story of self-improvement – reading, learning languages, even starting a business – and early release from jail. Joining him in conversation is CHRIS ADAMO, a founding partner of Flamingo Capital. This session is part of the Transformational Deep Dives with Chris Adamo and Stuart Sheldon series.…
ARTS IN MIAMI
OCTAVIA YEARWOOD’s How The Hell Did You Do That?! is an interactive journey meant to facilitate self-healing. Sharing stories from her troubled childhood and past, she provides inspiration to those seeking it. Joining her in conversation are CHRIS ADAMO, a founding partner of Flamingo Capital, and STUART SHELDON, co-host of the Swan Dive podcast. This session is part of the Transformational Deep Dives with Chris Adamo and Stuart Sheldon series. Buy How The Hell Did You Do That?!…
LIVING IN HOPE, CHANGING THE WORLD
LEON FORD was 19 when he was shot five times by a police officer during a traffic stop. When he woke up, he discovered he was a new father and paralyzed from the waist down. An Unspeakable Hope: Brutality, Forgiveness, and Building a Better Future for My Son is his memoir and manifesto, and offers fresh, counterintuitive ways to effect social change. Joining him in conversation is CHRIS ADAMO, a founding partner of Flamingo Capital. This session is part of the Transformational Deep Dives with Chris Adamo and Stuart Sheldon series.…