Stewart to give Big Read keynote

MOUNT VERNON – Associate Professor of History Catherine Stewart has been selected as the African American Museum of Iowa’s keynote speaker for the upcoming Big Read Program featuring Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Stewart will present “”Feast, Flood, and Famine: Zora Neale Hurston’s Search for African American Folk Culture,” at libraries across the state of Iowa as part of The Big Read, a grant-funded initiative from the African American Museum of Iowa intended “to restore reading to the center of American culture.”

Published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God chronicles the fictional life of Janie Mae Crawford. Janie narrates her life story to her best friend, Pheoby Watson. Although this novel is not an autobiography, it is inspired by Hurston’s life, including the hurricane Hurston survived in 1929.

The public is invited to the kick-off event on Wednesday, January 28, at 6:30 p.m., at the Davenport Fairmount Street Library (3000 N. Fairmount Street, Davenport, Iowa), where Stewart will deliver her talk. Other dates included:

Jan. 19: Fort Dodge Public Library 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 20: Waterloo Public Library 6:00 p.m.

Jan. 21: Des Moines Library 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 22: Keokuk Public Library 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 24: Cedar Rapids Westdale Mall Community Room, 2600 Edgewood Rd., SW, 1 p.m.

Jan. 28: Davenport Public Library 6:30 p.m.

Feb. 6: Mount Pleasant Public Library 7 p.m.

For more information about upcoming Big Read programs, visit: www.davenportlibrary.com or www.blackiowa.org.