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Spring 2015 lineup:
• Isabel Wilkerson – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist; Wednesday, March 18 – Main Library (McMaster), 7 p.m.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Isabel Wilkerson devoted 15 years to the research and writing of The Warmth of Other Suns. She interviewed more than 1,200 people, unearthed archival works and gathered the voices of the famous and the unknown to tell the epic story of the Great Migration, one of the biggest underreported stories of the 20th Century and one of the largest migrations in American history.
The story is framed by three young people who set out from the US-American South during different decades of the 20th Century en route to the North and West in search of what the novelist Richard Wright called “the warmth of other suns,” and interweaves their stories and those of others who made the journey with the larger forces and inner motivations that compelled them to flee, and with the challenges they confronted upon arrival in the New World.
The book was named to more than 30 Best of the Year lists, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, among other honors, and made national news when President Obama chose Warmth for his summer reading. Additionally, The New York Times named the book to its list of the best nonfiction books of all time.
Wilkerson won the Pulitzer Prize for her work as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times, making her one of the first black women in journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize and the first African-American to win for individual reporting. She has appeared on national programs such as CBS’ “60 Minutes,” NPR’s “Fresh Air,” and PBS’ “NewsHour” and “Charlie Rose Show.” She taught at Princeton University, Emory University and Boston University and has spoken at more than 100 universities in the United States and in Europe.
• Sandra Cisneros – Award-winning novelist, Wednesday, April 22 – Stranahan Theater, 7 p.m.
Sandra Cisneros is the internationally renowned author of several books including The House on Mango Street, Caramelo, Loose Woman, and, most recently, Have You Seen Marie? (a picture book for adults). A winner of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, she subsequently founded the Latino MacArthur Fellows (Los MacArturos). Additionally, she is the founder of two organizations that serve writers, the Macondo Foundation (now administered by the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center) and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation. Her distinguished books have won innumerable awards and have been translated into more than 20 languages and published internationally.
Perhaps no truer testament to this renown, The House on Mango Street, a perennial must-read on countless syllabi, is made up of lyrical passages, interconnected vignettes, and meditations and observations that resemble prose poems. It has been compared (notably by the critic Harold Bloom) to the works of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. This structurally and thematically bold work explores the often-violent coming of age of a young Mexican-American woman.
• Chef Jacques Pépin with daughter Claudine; Wednesday, May 13 – Stranahan Theater, 7 p.m.
It’s debatable whether world renowned Master Chef Jacques Pépin has garnished more plates or awards. Among his cooking laurels, including numerous James Beard Awards, he can boast an Emmy and France’s highest civilian decoration Légion d’honneur. One of the original celebrity chefs, Pépin has long appeared on TV cooking shows such as Top Chef and countless Food Network programs - most notably the pioneering and much beloved PBS show Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home with dear friend Julia Child. He has hosted numerous cooking shows since 1997 – many featuring his daughter Claudine – and currently appears in Essential Pépin.
A long time columnist for the The New York Times and Food & Wine, Pépin is the author of 27 bestselling cookbooks. Anthony Bourdain, echoing colleagues and culinary institutes, has called La Technique the Bible of the fundamentals of French Cuisine, while his Fast Food My Way series has converted former fast food junkies into do-it-yourself foodies.
This very special evening will feature Jacques with his daughter Claudine, in what may be called an encore of their Jacques Pépin's Kitchen series. Their unique (and endearingly funny) father/daughter dynamic paired with invaluable cooking instruction from the master will make this a night to remember.
Tickets for this powerhouse Spring 2015 lineup are on sale beginning Wednesday, October 1 at all Library locations during normal hours of operation. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students. Current Fall 2014 lineup tickets are currently available.
At each program, authors will speak for about an hour, followed by a short question and answer session. Following the program, the featured author will be available to sign copies of their works. Books will be available for purchase at the program from Barnes & Noble Booksellers.
Don’t forget that the Fall 2014 Authors! Authors! lineup is underway with Iranian-born, award-winning author Marjane Satrapi scheduled to appear at Main Library on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 and bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame scheduled at the Stranahan on Wednesday, November 19. Both appearances begin at 7 p.m.
For information on tickets, please contact Library Marketing at 419.259.5266.
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