Thanks to the hundreds of people who came out to hear Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Justin Phillip Reed at Indecent Histories at the Melrose Branch of the Roanoke Public Library on August 29th. Summer with the National Book Awards was a program of the National Book Foundation and Roanoke Public Libraries.
Look for information soon on how we’re carrying forward the conversation with a Stamped from the Beginning Book Club. In the meantime here are some press clippings and reading recommendations from Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Justin Phillip Reed.
- Read Stanley R. Hale’s Roanoke Tribune article on the evening.
- Read the Roanoke Times Editorial.
- Read the BOOK CITY Roanoke opinion piece in the Roanoke Times.
Additional titles recommended by Dr. Kendi and Mr. Reed.
- Pale Colors in a Tall Field by Carl Phillips
- Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval by Saidiya Hartman
- Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland by Johnathan M. Metzl
- Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
- Hull by Xandria Phillips
Photographs from Roanoke Public Libraries. See more pictures from library events, including some beautiful shots of the new Melrose Library.
Historian Ibram X. Kendi was the youngest author to win the National Book Award for nonfiction for his book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, (Bold Type Books, 2017). The history runs from fifteenth-century Europe into the twenty-first century in five sections, each with a “tour guide” of thought of their era. Kendi is a professor of history and international relations at American University.
Paired with Kendi for the event was Justin Phillip Reed. The poet and essayist is originally from South Carolina, and now lives in St. Louis. He won the award in 2018 for his poetry collection, Indecency (Coffee House Press, 2018).
BOOK CITY ★ Roanoke 