This evening features 2 Book Talks and a Reading:
Ed Grazda introduces his latest book, ON THE BOWERY : New York City 1971.
The title is from Lionel Rogosin’s 1956 film: ON THE BOWERY, which inspired the photographs, and the collection is dedicated to Rogosin and his vision. The book is a companion to MEAN STREETS NYC: 1970-1985, published in 2017.
The Bowery is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy and action film about the Lower East Side of Manhattan around the start of the 20th century directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Wallace Beery and George Raft. The supporting cast features Jackie Cooper, Fay Wray, and Pert Kelton.
A set of prints from ON THE BOWERY is held at the New York Public Library, the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Photography Collection.
Link to a Review – Washington Post
Down and out on New York City’s Bowery in the 1970s –
Mathea Morais’ novel THERE YOU ARE (October 8, Amberjack Publishing) is a coming-of-age story about two friends returning to their racially segregated hometown of St. Louis in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death and amid the awakening of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Drawing from her own roots in St. Louis, work as a hip hop culture writer and Noepe Center for Literary Arts director, Mathea powers the book with a phenomenal soundtrack of hip hop, soul and jazz (in the key of High Fidelity, Jesmyn Ward, and Tayari Jones), this book delivers a raw and powerful story that will especially appeal to fans of Zadie Smith’s SWING TIME.
Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s in St. Louis, Octavian Munroe and Mina Rose found a future in music. Between the stacks at Rahsaan’s Records, the two fell in love to the sounds of Prince and A Tribe Called Quest. But in the wake of grief and heartbreak, they drifted apart, ultimately leaving the city for fresh starts.
Decades later, Rahsaan’s Records is closing for good. Seeking closure of their own, Octavian and Mina travel homeward, reckoning with the ghosts of the past they left behind and the uncertain future they must create.
Insightful and nostalgic, There You Are is a novel of love, loss, and the power of community, powered by a phenomenal soundtrack of hip hop, soul, and jazz.
Singer, activist Harry Belafonte says, “Mathea Morais is a really gifted writer. It is a special joy for those of us who are fortunate enough to have read her coming-of-age, personal and intimate story of a time in St. Louis circling the death of Michael Brown.”
The book is a 2019 PEN America Literary Award nominee, and Kirkus called it “a novel that effectively intertwines ruminations on race, music, romance, and history.”
JULIA KIDD, a Pathways regular, has become known for her personal essays.
Often humorous, sometimes biting and always layered with detail, her work takes
us on a ride through family, relationships & cultural history. Tonight she will read
from her collection, The Camaro Diaries.