Memory & Identity: Writing Race and Class Fiction by Jody Lester read by actor Leopold Lowe
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
4:15 p.m. - Kohlberg 116
Jody Lester has recently completed a series of three novels set on the fictional island of Squibnoket (inspired by Martha's Vineyard) that follow themes and events that began generations ago but resonate in the present time. Leopold Lowe will read an excerpt entitled "Cricket," the story of a young man (a member of the Harlem elite) who, in 1919, falls in love with the daughter of a famous blues singer. Paying homage to such literary forbearers as Charles Chestnutt and James Weldon Johnson, this work takes on the merging of Old Guard Negroes and their New Negro literary offspring with the "folk" from the other side of the tracks. Lester earned her PhD in American Studies from Yale University and held fellowships at Dartmouth and Brown before deciding to devote herself fulltime to fiction writing. "Cricket" will be published in Calalloo. For more information see www.jodylester.com.
Leopold Lowe is an award-winning actor who has appeared on Law & Order, Guiding Light, All My Children, One Life to Live, and As The World Turns as well as in numerous theater productions (including the Classical Theatre of Harlem).
