| SONJA WILLIAMS Monday, September 28, 7:00 p.m. Sonja Williams' incisive biography, Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio and Freedom, tells the story of a tireless champion of African American freedom, equality, and justice during an epoch that forever changed a nation. Posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2007, Richard Durham creatively chronicled and brought to life the significant events of his times. Durham's trademark narrative style engaged  listeners with fascinating characters, compelling details, and sharp images of pivotal moments in American and African American history and culture. Williams draws on archives and hard-to-access family records, as well as interviews with family and colleagues like Studs Terkel and Toni Morrison, to illuminate Durham's astounding career. Durham paved the way for black journalists as a dramatist and a star investigative reporter and editor for the pioneering black newspapers the Chicago Defender and Muhammad Speaks. Talented and versatile, he also created the acclaimed radio series Destination Freedom and Here Comes Tomorrow and wrote for popular radio fare like The Lone Ranger . Incredibly, his energies extended still further--to community and labor organizing, advising Chicago mayoral hopeful Harold Washington, and mentoring generations of activists. SONJA WILLIAMS was born and raised in NYC. She wrote and produced features and documentaries for PBS, Public Radio International, the Smithsonian and local radio stations. Williams began teaching at Edward Waters College in Florida and she continued on to Winston Salem State University and is currently at Howard University in their Media, Journalism and Film Department. She also taught in South Africa. Word Warrior is her first book.
KATHY GIUFFRE Wednesday, September 30, 7:00 p.m. The Drunken Spelunker's Guide to Platois based on Plato's Allegory of the Cave from The Republic. In this novel, the Cave is a dank basement bar in a small Southern town.  Josie is the newest bartender, just arrived from the Appalachian backwoods on a quest to discover who she is and where she belongs. What she finds is the Cave and the love of a charming regular named Danny. With Josie as our brave guide, we are submerged in a rarely explored subculture. Her journey into the Cave and back out is filled with trials and tragedy, but Josie is helped along by her newfound community of large-hearted hard drinkers. The Drunken Spelunker's Guide to Plato is a love letter to the families we build for ourselves and the unexpected ways life can answer the question, what if? Those of us who recall a dank basement bar in a small Southern town called Chapel Hill will have a special treat reading this book. KATHY GIUFFRE is a professor and sociologist specializing in social networks, cultural sociology, and Polynesian society. Giuffre was invited to present a TED Talk about her research in 2013. She is the author of a memoir, An Afternoon in Summer: My Year in the South Seas, as well as two academic books covering her areas of expertise. Giuffre received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. from Harvard University. Currently, she and her family live in Colorado Springs, Colorado where she is the A.E. and Ethel Irene Carlton Professor of Social Sciences at Colorado College.
Learn more on these and all of our upcoming events | 
No comments:
Post a Comment