Free TALK BACK and Breakfast w/Afrofuturist Writer Rita Woods

Contact Name:
Topeka (KS) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated
Phone:
N/A
E-mail:
topekachapteroflinks@yahoo.com
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Things to do near Topeka, KS » Education » Literary

The Topeka (KS) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated invites you to attend our FREE Celebrate Black Diversity Events with a kick-off Unity Breakfast, followed by A Talk Back Conversation with Dr. Rita Woods, the Hurston/Wright Award-Winning writer and Afrofuturist author of "The Last Dreamwalker" and "Remembrance". Woods and Canady will be discussing themes of power, agency and the ways that trauma and secrets can take shape across generations. This event will also feature a Canady-directed LIVE Reading of "The Last Dreamwalker" as well as a performance by the Top City Step Team led by founder and Step Artist, Tonyce Jackson. Door Prizes included.

A Book Signing Reception will immediately follow. "The Lat Dreamwalker" will be available for purchase at the event, or pre-order from RAVEN BOOKS, a Kansas Independent Bookseller.

Unity Breakfast - 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM
Talk Back, Conversation, and Celebration - 10:00 AM to 12 noon
Book Signing Reception - 12 noon - 2:00pm

The FREE Unity Breakfast, sponsored by the Greater Topeka Partnership's Equity and Opportunity Office, is from 9:00-10:00 AM with featured guest Senator Oletha Faust-Goodeau, Assistant Minority Speaker, the most powerful Black person in the Kansas Legislature. Quiche, Sausage, and Coffee will be served. Breakfast Registration Required by April 12th.

From author Rita Woods: "Since I was first introduced to the Gullah years ago, while in Charleston on a business trip, I have been intrigued by the idea of a people and a culture that is both part of and outside of 'mainstream' culture. South Carolina is a beautiful state, but like so many things that appear beautiful on the surface, there is a darker underbelly, secrets that are kept hidden. This is true of people and places and families, and The Last Dreamwalker came to me as the intersection of both generational and historical secrets and the havoc those secrets can wreak."

"Beautiful and compelling. . .histories we hide and the places we forget. It's about buried truths and dreams too long deferred, and the hope that comes after."-Alix Harrow, NYTimes bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January

"A fascinating novel about a family heritage that is both gift and curse. I love this book both for its voice and its story of a painful history set right."-Louisa Morgan, Author of A Secret History of Witches

About playwright DARREN CANADY: "I come from a family that revels in storytelling." Darren Canady hails from Topeka, KS. His work has been produced at the Alliance Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Aurora Theater, Congo Square Theater, Horizon Theatre, London's the Old Vic Theatre, M Ensemble, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, American Blues Theater, and others. His awards include the Alliance Theater's Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award, Chicago's Black Excellence Award, the Black Theatre Alliance Award, and the American Theatre Critics Association's Osborn Award. His work has been developed at numerous festivals including the O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwright's Conference. His play You're Invited appeared in The Best American Short Plays 2010-2011. His work has been seen or developed at the Quo Vadimus Arts' ID America Festival, the Fremont Centre Theatre, Premiere Stages, the BE Company, Penumbra Theatre, and American Blues Theater. Darren is an alum of Carnegie Mellon University, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and the Juilliard School. He is a current member of the Core Writers Program at the Playwrights's Center and Midwest Dramatists Center. He is an artistic associate with American Blues Theater and Congo Square Theatre. He currently teaches playwriting at the University of Kansas.

IN PERSON or ZOOM is available. Participants will be able to attend either. Registration needed.

In-person attendees will be eligible to participate in the drawing for a book signed by Rita Woods.

Springhill Suites Wheatfield Village Topeka discount rooms available for our out of town guests.


Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/1634824-0?pid=176

Time: 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Category: Arts | Books and Literature | Book Signings

Price:
Free: USD 0.00

http://www.eventsnearhere.com/find-events/KS/TOPEKA/Education/Literary/addetail/213204/Free-TALK-BACK-and-Breakfast-w/Afrofuturist-Writer-Rita-Woods

Street Address

Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, 1515 Southwest 10th Avenue
Topeka, KS 66604

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