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She will discuss Bookmarks: Readings in Black and White, A Memoir
Author Karla F.C. Holloway, the James B. Duke Professor of English and professor of law at Duke University, will discuss her latest book at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20 in the Gendebien Room of Skillman Library. Sponsored by the Friends of Skillman Library, the event is the 2008 John L. Hatfield ’67 Lecture. It is free and open to the public.
Her presentation, “Reading Culture, Reading Race,” will explore themes from Bookmarks: Readings in Black and White, A Memoir (2006). The book looks at a remarkable trend among African American writers to comment on the books they have read in their autobiographies.
The reading lists of writers like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, and Malcolm X, as well as selections of Oprah Winfrey’s popular book club, reveal something interesting and profound about race and culture in America. The book also focuses on the role of the Civil Rights movement in desegregating southern libraries, and the ways that reading has personally affected the author as a young girl, a parent, and a scholar.
Holloway is the author of five other books including Passed On: African American Mourning Stories (2002). Passed On is the recipient of the 2003 Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Finalist Award, and Bookmarks was nominated for the award.
At Duke, Holloway has served as Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, and she is founding co-director of the John Hope Franklin Center and the Franklin Humanities Institute. Her research and teaching interests focus on African American cultural studies, biocultural studies, ethics, and law.