Events
Civil rights activist Medgar Wiley Evers was well aware of the dangers
he would face when he challenged the status quo in Mississippi in the
1950s and '60s, a place and time known for the brutal murders of Emmett
Till, Reverend George Lee, Lamar Smith, and others. Nonetheless, Evers
consistently investigated the rapes, murders, beatings, and lynching's
of black Mississippians and reported the horrid incidents to a national
audience, all the while organizing economic boycotts, sit-ins, and
street protests in Jackson as the NAACP's first full-time Mississippi
field secretary. He organized and participated in voting drives and
nonviolent direct-action protests, joined lawsuits to overturn
state-supported school segregation, and devoted himself to a career that
cost him his life.
This biography of a lesser-known but seminal civil rights leader draws on personal interviews from Myrlie Evers-Williams (Evers's widow), his two remaining siblings, friends, grade-school-to-college schoolmates, and fellow activists to elucidate Evers as an individual, leader, husband, brother, and father. Extensive archival work in the Evers Papers, the NAACP Papers, oral history collections, FBI files, Citizen Council collections, and the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission Papers, to list a few, provides a detailed account of Evers's NAACP work and a clearer understanding of the racist
environment that ultimately led to his murder.
Rose Bunch will be at Nightbird Books on Friday, May 4th at 7pm. Rose Bunch, PhD, is a MacDowell Fellow, Fulbright Scholar and native of Northwest Arkansas. Her work has recently appeared in Tin House as the New Voice in American Fiction, New Letters (winner of the Dorothy Cappon Prize in Nonfiction), The Greensboro Review, Poem, Memoir, Story, River Styx, Gulf Coast, and Fugue. Her latest publication, Speed Chronicles from Akashic Books, is a short story collection comprised of 14 authors (including William T. Vollman and Sherman Alexie), concerning the effects of the methamphetamine industry on America.
Join us to welcome Fayetteville's own Geoff Oelsner back to Nightbird Books. Geoff will be with us to celebrate the release of his new book, A Country Where All Colors are Sacred and Alive.
Many of us have experiences that point toward a more holistic, interconnected Reality than we normally perceive. Episodes of telepathy,
spontaneous healings, confirmed intuitions, precognition, attunement to
nonphysical beings, nonlocal awareness, or communion with the natural world--all these can expand our understanding of what ispossible for us and remind us of an undivided spiritual dimension of ourselves.
"This memoir in prose and poetry is an account of my continuing education in such experiences, which can empower us to step forward into more conscious, collaborative relationships with the sentient energies of Nature. These sacred relationships can contribute to environmental harmony right now, and may help downscale our climatic predicament in days to come."
— Geoffrey Oelsner
Expect A Miracle is the compelling story of a young girl growing up in the Deep South during the 1950's. The Arkansas Delta is fertile for plants, but not so much for young girls. Marianne shares provocative memories of her upbringing in a middle class family caught up in the racial attitudes of the place and time. Ironically, the person who matters most in Marianne's young life is her nanny, who happens to be black. With unpretentious candor, Marianne readily admits, "I came from a family that looked good but felt bad."
Marianne Hooker holds a master's degree in social work and has practiced psychotherapy for 23 years. She was one of the pioneers of the Victim Assistance Program in Englewood, Colorado and was featured on NBC's Today Show for her work in cluster suicide prevention. She has worked with homeless women and children, addicts, adolescent sex offenders, victims of sociopaths, and those in need of cult deprogramming.
Improved Lighting Reading Series
presents
literary readings by
Aran Donovan
Zac Henderson
Katy Henriksen
Saturday, May 12, 7pm
Nightbird Books
205 West Dickson Street
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Improved Lighting Reading Series hosts monthly readings, mostly poetry
and mostly Saturdays, with occasional musical acts, at Nightbird Books.
Free admission. Curated by Roger Barrett, Kaveh Bassiri, and Matthew
Henriksen.
Visit us at improvedlighting.blogspot.com.
Author Bios and Links
Aran Donovan is a third year MFA student in poetry and translation at
the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She likes it there. She is
the 2010 winner of Phoebe journal’s Greg Grummer poetry prize and the
2010-2011 recipient of the Walton Family Endowment for Creative Writing:
Student Author Fellowship in Translation. She is a 2012 recipient of an
Edward Albee Foundation residency. Her poetry has also appeared or is
forthcoming in Rhino, Cider Press Review, Southern Poetry Review, Iron
Horse Literary Review, and Bayou.
Zac Henderson studies both
writing and gender studies as an undergraduate at The University of
Arkansas. He was the 2011 recipient of a Northwest Arkansas Music Award
in the category of Spoken Word, represented the Ozarks at the 2011
National Poetry Slam in Boston and Cambridge, and won the 2012 Felix
Christopher McKean Prize for Poetry
at the University of Arkansas. He has work forthcoming in Constellations: A Journal of Poetry and Fiction and Marco Polo.
Katy Henriksen is the classical music and arts producer for KUAF 91.3 npr and the music editor for The Rumpus.
Nightbird Books is excited to be hosting a new book club. It will
primarily be reading literary fiction and is scheduled for the 4th
Tuesday of each month at 5:30. Clint Schnekloth is facilitating this
group.
Book club books are discounted 10%, but you will need to let the
bookseller know at checkout that you are purchasing the book for book
club.
The May selection is The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.
Our great Sci-Fi Book Club meets the 4th Monday of each month at 7pm.
They are a fun and welcoming group, so give them a try one month. Their
reading selections vary between old school scifi, fantasy, and new scifi
trends. You are certain to find a book you will enjoy.
The May selection is the John Christopher Tripod Trilogy.
Ten years ago, Ron and his then-girlfriend, Jill, did the impossible. They bought condemned property, a big Baltimore Victorian brownstone, and vowed to bring it back to its original glory. The house had been home to Baltimore's most notorious fraternity for a decade and now, wrecked and abandoned, it was filled with garbage. As if that weren't daunting enough: Ron and Jill had been dating for only six months and they knew nothing about fixing up old houses. Friends, family, and concerned onlookers told them not to do it - they would surely lose their shirts and their love in the bargain. But Jill wanted the house and Ron wanted Jill. So Ron bought the house.
Our great Sci-Fi Book Club meets the 4th Monday of each month at 7pm.
They are a fun and welcoming group, so give them a try one month. Their
reading selections vary between old school scifi, fantasy, and new scifi
trends. You are certain to find a book you will enjoy.
The June selection is The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach.
This great book club will primarily be reading literary fiction and is scheduled for the 4th Tuesday of each month at 5:30. Clint Schnekloth is facilitating this group.
Book club books are discounted 10%, but you will need to let the
bookseller know at checkout that you are purchasing the book for book
club.
The June selection is Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks.
Based on knowledge gleaned over a lifetime of getting her big butt in motion and decades of teaching people of all ages, shapes sizes and abilities, Jeanette DePatie AKA The Fat Chick helps you learn to love your body and love exercise. Filled with over 50 exercises, loads of practical advice, tons of pictures and hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking stories from The Fat Chick's own journey, The Fat Chick Works Out! will not only help you get and stay fit, but also help you find peace with the skin you're in.
Our great Sci-Fi Book Club meets the 4th Monday of each month at 7pm.
They are a fun and welcoming group, so give them a try one month. Their
reading selections vary between old school scifi, fantasy, and new scifi
trends. You are certain to find a book you will enjoy.
The July selection is Wild Seed by Octavia Butler
This great book club will primarily be reading literary fiction and is
scheduled for the 4th Tuesday of each month at 5:30. Clint Schnekloth is
facilitating this group.
Book club books are discounted 10%, but you will need to let the
bookseller know at checkout that you are purchasing the book for book
club.
The July selection is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
This book is also available as an eBook from Nightbird Books.
