Women Writers Event; Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth
Guild Complex
The 12th Annual Chicago Humanities Festival, Words & Pictures, in collaboration with Guild Complex, Chopin Theater, and 57th Street Books presents celebrated young Afro-British novelist Zadie Smith. She is hailed as the most electrifying writer to emerge from Britain in many years.
The 12th Annual Chicago Humanities Festival, Words & Pictures, in collaboration with Guild Complex, Chopin Theater, and 57th Street Books presents celebrated young Afro-British novelist Zadie Smith. She is hailed as the most electrifying writer to emerge from Britain in many years.
White Teeth, her debut novel, has recieved rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. The New York Times called her “a writer of remarkable powers…whose talents prove commensurate with her ambitions.” White Teeth is an elaborate work that explores issues of race, gender, cultural identity, class, and religion. Written when Smith was just 21, the sprawling narrative traces three families through Jamaica, Turkey, Bangladesh, and India, before settling on the lives of two best friends and their families in a vibrant, diverse North London suburb. She will read from the book and answer questions about her sudden success and newfound status as a literary celebrity. White Teeth is the debut of an important literary voice. Barbara Ransby is a historian, writer and longtime community activist who received her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. She is on the editorial board of the London-based journal, Race and Class, is a guest contributer to WBEZ’s “848” radio program, writes for The Progressive Media Project, and serves on the boards of The Crossroads Fund and The Chicago Reporter. Dr. Ransby is a faculty member in the Departments of African American Studies and History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Women Writers Series supported by Illinois Arts Council, Cheney Foundation, Girls Best Friend Foundation and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.Performers
Zadie Smith, Barbara Ransby