Author Isabel Wilkerson to visit GV this week
Mar 19, 2012
Pulitzer Prize- winner Isabel Wilkerson will visit GVSU to support the Community Reading Project this week.
This program picks and promotes a book and encourages members of the community to read and participate in events relating to the chosen book.
Wilkerson’s book “The Warmth of Other Suns” has been selected by the program and she has agreed to speak with readers about the text.
“The book is about the great migration, decades of blacks leaving the South and coming to the North,” said Maureen Wolverton, GVSU professor and part of the Community Reading Project.
The Great Migration of the early twentieth century saw millions of blacks moving, a subject which Wilkerson tackles in her book.
Wolverton said that Wilkerson’s book fits well within the criteria of a Community Reading Project.
“The import thing is picking books that engage complex issues,” Wolverton said. “We look for books with cultural relevance and this book is important in that regard.”
Wilkerson will make two appearances this week at GVSU. Tuesday she will appear at the Herrick District Library in Holland. Wednesday she will visit the Kirkhof Center at the Allendale Campus.
Both events start at 7 p.m. and are free and open to the public. Book signings will be available after both events.
For more information on the Community Reading Project go to www.gvsu.edu/read.