Hill Harper - Enoch Pratt Free Library

Writers LIVE!
Readings and Book Signings
Podcasts
Selected writers
now available.
Hear them at
www.prattlibrary.org.
All programs will be held at the Central Library, unless otherwise indicated.
Copies of the authors’ books will be on sale at book signings following the programs.
Fred Emil Katz
Our Quest for Effective Living:
How We Cope in Social Space;
A Window to a New Science
Wednesday, January 6, 6:30 p.m., Poe Room
Science is more than observation of what exists in nature: science
is adventure of the mind. It took many creative leaps of the mind
to produce science as sophisticated as modern physics and genetic
biology. In his new book, Fred Katz offers creative leaps about the social space in which
we humans live our lives. Katz taught sociology at various universities, including the State
University of New York/Buffalo and Tel Aviv University.
Vic Carter
From Yonder to Here:
A Memoir of Dr. Ozell Sutton
Tuesday, January 12, 6:30 p.m., Poe Room
WJZ-TV anchor Vic Carter tells the compelling story of Ozell
Sutton, a civil rights pioneer who risked his life to ensure the
rights of others. From rural Arkansas, Dr. Sutton conducted voter
registration in the South and helped select and train “The Little Rock Nine.” He later
worked for the Department of Justice as a conciliator and forced rural police departments
to offer adequate protection to marchers. At age 23 Vic Carter received broadcasting’s
highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award. He was named Journalist of the Year
by the University of Georgia’s School of Journalism and was inducted into the National
Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame.
Josh Weil
The New Valley: Novellas
Wednesday, January 27, 6:30 p.m., Poe Room
Josh Weil’s The New Valley, published last year, was honored with
a “5 Under 35” National Book Award. Set in the hardscrabble
hill country between West Virginia and Virginia, the three linked
novellas open up the private worlds of three very different men
as they confront love, loss, and their own personal demons. Since
earning his MFA from Columbia University, Josh Weil has received many fellowships
and grants and is the 2009 Tickner Fellow and writer-in-residence at Gilman School in
Baltimore.
Fran Allen McKinney
Been Through, Going
Through The Journey
Wednesday January 27, 6 p.m., Northwood Branch
Wednesday, February 10, 6:30 p.m., Poe Room
In her new book, Fran Allen McKinney offers the experiences of her life as a life-line for
others: the confirmation that you are not alone, validation that you are not crazy, and
realization that you will survive the twists and turns of life. A native of Omaha, Nebraska,
McKinney served nearly eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps. She earned a Bachelor’s
degree in business from Johns Hopkins University and now serves as District Director for
Congressman Elijah E. Cummings.
Peter E. Dans
Christians in the Movies:
A Century of Saints and Sinners
Sunday, January 31, 2 p.m., Wheeler Auditorium
For a long time the portrayal of Christians in cinema was largely
favorable, but around 1970 this changed and Christianity was
mocked on the silver screen. Reviewing nearly 175 films from
1905 to 2007, Peter Dans explores this shift and the associated societal and cultural
changes that took place in the later decades of the 20th century. Peter Dans is the author
of Doctors in the Movies, Perry’s Baltimore Adventure, and Life on the Lower East Side.
Dennis Barnes
Shades of Light
Saturday, February 6, 2 p.m., Roland Park Branch
Poet Dennis Barnes graduated from Pennsylvania State
University. He leads poetry workshops and readings throughout
the Baltimore area for Poets’ Ink. His poems have been published
in more than 30 magazines and anthologies, including the
Christian Science Monitor. Barnes was the 2005 recipient of the
People’s Poetry “Done the Most to Advance Poetry” award.
Shades of Light is his first book of poetry.
Neil Sheehan
A Fiery Peace in a
Cold War: Bernard
Schriever and the
Ultimate Weapon
Wednesday, February 3, 6:30 p.m.,
wheeler auditorium
Neil Sheehan, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, A
Bright Shining Lie, tells the story of the nuclear arms race that
changed history and the visionary American Air Force officer,
Bernard Schriever, who led the high-stakes effort. He details
Schriever’s quest to prevent the Soviet Union from acquiring
nuclear superiority, to penetrate and exploit space for America,
and to build the first weapons meant to deter an atomic holocaust
rather than to be fired in anger. A Fiery Peace in a Cold War was
named “one of the 10 best books of 2009” by Publishers Weekly.
Grant Wahl
The Beckham Experiment:
How the World’s Most Famous
Athlete Tried to Conquer America
Wednesday, February 17, 7 p.m., Wheeler Auditorium
In 2007, David Beckham left the comfort and security of European
soccer and embarked on a new and risky adventure in the U.S. with
the L.A. Galaxy. Sports writer Grant Wahl spent two years following
Beckham and the Galaxy and, in The Beckham Experiment,
provides the behind-the-scenes drama of Beckham’s time on the road in one of sports’ most
fascinating gambles. In 12 years at Sports Illustrated, Grant Wahl has written 31 cover stories
and covered five World Cups, three Olympics, and 12 NCAA basketball tournaments.
Gil L. Robertson IV
Family Affair: What It Means
To Be African American Today
Saturday, February 20, 2 p.m. , Central Library, Poe Room
This collection of personal stories and short essays, edited by
Gil Robertson, addresses a wide range of issues and emotions
facing African Americans: family, culture, relationships,
community, and self. Contributors include Isaac Hayes, Ruby
Dee, Isaiah Washington, Beverly Johnson, and Victoria Rowell.
Gil Robertson is a national authority on African American pop
culture and co-founder of the African American Film Critics Association. He is also the
author of Writing as a Tool of Empowerment, a resource book for media professionals, and
the editor of Not in My Family: AIDS in the African American Community.
Alexandra Natapoff
Snitching: Criminal
Information and the
Erosion of American Justice
Sunday, February 21, 2 p.m., Poe Room
Alexandra Natapoff, professor of law at Loyola Law School
in Los Angeles, is an award-winning scholar and a nationallyrecognized
expert on snitching in the criminal justice system. In her book, she discusses
the widespread use of criminal informants, the legal, cultural and political consequences,
from street to drug crime to Hip Hop music, the FBI, and terrorism. Natapoff served as
an assistant federal public defender in Baltimore from 1998 to 2003.
Christopher Corbett
The Poker Bride:
The First Chinese in the Wild West
Wednesday, February 24, 6:30 p.m., Poe Room
When gold rush fever gripped the globe in 1849, thousands of
Chinese immigrants came through San Francisco on their way to
seek their fortunes. In The Poker Bride, Christopher Corbett looks
at this Chinese experience through a little-known legend from
Idaho lore, the story of Polly, a young Chinese concubine, won by
a white gambler in a poker game in Idaho. Corbett is the author of Orphans Preferred: The
Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express and Vacationland; he writes the popular
“Back Page” column for Style magazine and teaches at UMBC.
6 January & February 2010