The New 411, By Raymond Ward
Join us October 3rd, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m., as we host a conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates, National Book Award recipient, for his 2015 work Between the World and Me. The prolific Atlantic correspondent will discuss his new book, The Water Dancer, with renowned Chicago poet Tara Betts.
The book details “the fantastic and spiritual journey of a slave in antebellum Virginia, reminding us that the present cannot be fully embraced unless the past has been acknowledged beforehand.”
The Water Dancer follows Hiram Walker, a young slave in antebellum Virginia, as he explores the metaphorical and metaphysical boundaries of his world. A remarkable blend of historical fiction and fantasy, evocatively detailed, and constantly thought-provoking, The Water Dancer serves as a profound reminder of Coates’ ongoing pro-position: that we must remember and speak of our history in relation to present predicaments.
Ta-Nehisi Coat-es is the author of The Beautiful Struggle, We Were Eight Years in Power, and Between the World and Me, which won the National Book Award in 2015. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. The Water Dancer is his first novel.
Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit and Arc & Hue, as well as the chapbooks 7 x 7: kwansabas and THE GREATEST!: An Homage to Muhammad Ali. She is part of the MFA faculty at Stonecoast – University of Southern Maine. When she’s not teaching, Tara works with dedicated teams at Another Chicago Magazine and The Langston Hughes Review as Poetry Editor. She also hosts author chats at the Seminary Co-Op bookstores in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
DuSable Museum of African American History is located at 740 E. 56th Place, Chicago. The event will be held October 3, from 7:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. Admission: $50.00, which includes the book price. Enter the museum through the Harold Washington Wing Entrance on 57th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. Doors Open at 6:00 p.m. The Event Partner is Seminary Co-Op Bookstores.
To purchase tickets, visit https://tinyurl.com/yytcsmfq.
