An Afternoon With Michael G. Long
Saturday, February 12 | 2 PM
Central Library
Join us for a special visit from author Michael G. Long, who will discuss and sign copies of his latest book, Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall.
The first collection of Thurgood Marshall’s selected letters, which repositions Marshall as first and foremost a groundbreaking and vibrant Civil Rights activist in the tradition of Martin Luther King and Julian Bond – not as the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court. For twenty years prior to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a rebellious young attorney with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) named Thurgood Marshall struggled tirelessly to combat racism, discrimination, and segregation in schools, transportation, the military, businesses, and voting booths across America. Compiled by Michael G. Long, this collection of letters written during Marshall’s tenure with the NAACP—long before he became a Supreme Court justice—reveals this remarkable man’s extraordinary intellectual development and invaluable contributions to the civil rights movement, highlighting his relentless work in helping secure equality and justice for all Americans.
Michael G. Long is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Peace and Conflict studies at Elizabethtown College and is the author or editor of several books on civil rights, religion, and politics in midcentury America, including First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson and Billy Graham and the Beloved Community: America’s Evangelist and the Dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. He holds a Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta and resides in Highland Park, Pennsylvania.
An Evening with Cydney Rax
Thursday, February 17 | 5:30PM
Mancuso Neighborhood Library
Join us for a special visit from author Cydney Rax, who will discuss and sign copies of her latest book, Brothers and Wives.
Danielle Frazier walked into her ex’s family reunion expecting some drama. But she never could have anticipated what happened next. At the reunion, Dani meets Scottie Meadows, a smooth bad boy with a killer smile who smells just like the kind of danger Dani could get down with. And he isn’t shy about how he’s feeling about her either. Too bad his brother is Neil, Dani’s ex and baby daddy, who wants the two to have nothing to do with each other, especially while Scottie is living in his house.
Cydney Rax is the author of My Daughter’s Boyfriend and My Husband’s Girlfriend. Born and raised in Detroit, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Michigan University. Cydney is also an author promoter and her reviews have appeared on numerous books.
An Evening with Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Thursday, February 24| 5:30 PM
Smith Neighborhood Library
Join us for a special visit from author Dolen Perkins Valdez who will discuss and sign copies of her debut novel, Wench. An enchanting and unforgettable novel based on little-known fact, Wench combines the narrative allure of Cane River by Lalita Tademy and the moral complexities of Edward P. Jones’s The Known World as it tells the story of four black enslaved women in the years preceding the Civil War. A stunning debut novel, Wench marks author Perkins-Valdez—previously a finalist for the 2009 Robert Olen Butler Short Fiction Prize—as a writer destined for greatness.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s fiction and essays have appeared in Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories 2009, The Kenyon Review, PMS: PoemMemoirStory, North Carolina Literary Review, and the Richard Wright Newsletter. She is a former University of California postdoctoral fellow and graduate of Harvard. Dolen lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family.
An Evening with ReShonda Tate Billingsley
Monday, February 28 | 5:30PM
Vinson Neighborhood Library
Join us for a special visit from local author ReShonda Tate Billingsley, who will discuss and sign copies of her work, including her latest book in the Good Girlz series for teens, Drama Queens and her latest books for adult, Holy Rollers.
Now that the women are approaching thirty, they’re finding it harder than ever to compete with the pro groupies. Determined to change the game and find some worthwhile men, Tia hatches an outrageous plan. Soon the trio is "holy rolling," masquerading as God-fearing churchgoers at a local conference for young ministers in the hopes of snagging a prominent pastor. But will their big gamble pay off? Men of the cloth are still just men, after all. As the three friends meet their potential life partners, they will have to decide how far they want to take their holy rollers scheme—each risking heartbreak while taking a chance on finding a reliable, responsible man to love and cherish, flaws and all.
ReShonda Tate Billingsley is the national bestselling author of 20 titles (Eight adult novels, eight teen novels, one non-fiction, two anthologies, and one poetry book). Her sophomore novel, Let the Church Say Amen, is being made into a movie, of which she is Executive Producer and actress Regina King is the director.