LIVE! From City Lights

City Lights LIVE and Liveright Books celebrate the publication of “Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights” by Dylan C Penningroth, published by Liveright Books, with a discussion between Dylan and Richard Thompson Ford. A prize-winning scholar draws on astonishing new research to demonstrate how Black people used the law to their advantage long before the Civil Rights Movement. The familiar story of civil rights goes something like this: Once, the American legal system was dominated by racist officials who shut Black people out and refused to recognize their basic human dignity. Then, starting in the 1940s, a few brave lawyers ventured south, bent on changing the law—and soon, everyday African Americans joined with them to launch the Civil Rights Movement. In "Before the Movement," historian Dylan C. Penningroth overturns this story, demonstrating that Black people had long exercised “the rights of everyday use,” and that this lesser-known private-law tradition paved the way for the modern vision of civil rights. Well-versed in the law, Black people had used it to their advantage for nearly a century to shape how they worked, worshipped, learned, and loved. Based on long-forgotten sources found in the basements of county courthouses, "Before the Movement" recovers a vision of Black life allied with, yet distinct from, “the freedom struggle.” Dylan C. Penningroth is a professor of law and history at the University of California, Berkeley. Recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and author of the award winning "The Claims of Kinfolk," he lives in Kensington, California. Richard Thompson Ford is the George E. Osborne Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. He writes for both scholarly and popular audiences and has published in newspapers and journals such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, and many others. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book “Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History.” You can purchase copies of “Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights” at https://citylights.com/before-the-movement-hidden-hist-of-bla/. This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/.

City Lights LIVE and Beacon Press celebrate the publication of “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (the 10th Anniversary Edition)” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, published by Beacon Press, with a conversation between Roxanne and Manu Karuka Vimalassery. Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire. With growing support for movements, such as the campaign to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and the Dakota Access Pipeline protest led by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” is an essential resource providing historical threads that are crucial for understanding the present. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a New York Times bestselling author, grew up in rural Oklahoma in a tenant farming family. She has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades and is known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues. Dunbar-Ortiz is the winner of the 2017 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize, and is the author or editor of many books, including “Not a Nation of Immigrants, Blood on the Border,” and “Loaded” (published by City Lights), amongst other titles. She lives in San Francisco. Manu Karuka Vimalassery is the author of “Empire’s Tracks: Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad” (2019). He is a co-editor, with Juliana Hu Pegues and Alyosha Goldstein, of “On Colonial Unknowing,” a special issue of “Theory & Event,” and with Vivek Bald, Miabi Chatterji, and Sujani Reddy, he is a co-editor of “The Sun Never Sets: South Asian Migrants in an Age of U.S. Power” (2013). He is a member of the Council for Collaborative Inquiry, and an assistant professor of American Studies at Barnard College. You can purchase copies of “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (the 10th Anniversary Edition)” at https://citylights.com/indigenous-peoples-hist-of-the-u-s/. This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/.

City Lights LIVE presents investigative journalist Justine Barron, in conversation with Rabia Chaudry, Alex Vitale, Kim Brown and Sierria Warren, to celebrate the release of "They Killed Freddie Gray: The Anatomy of a Police Brutality Cover-Up Hardcover," published by Arcade Books. "They Killed Freddie Gray" exposes a conspiracy among Baltimore leaders to cover up what actually happened to Freddie Gray, who was fatally injured in police custody in April 2015. A viral video showed an officer leaning on Gray’s back while he cried out in pain. But the autopsy concluded he was fatally injured later that morning while the van was in motion—during a multi-stop “rough ride”—from sudden impact to his head. None of the officers were convicted of any crimes based on this theory. "They Killed Freddie Gray" solves the mystery of Gray’s death by uncovering new evidence of how he was killed by police and how his cause of death was covered up. This book includes a detailed map with annotations by the author, photographs, and a foreword by Rabia Chaudry. Justine Barron is an investigative journalist whose work focuses on crime, corruption, and media criticism, with a special emphasis on Baltimore. She is also an acclaimed storyteller and four-time winner of the Moth storytelling competition. In 2017, she co-investigated and co-hosted Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray. Justine grew up in Maryland and attended Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English. She holds a master’s degree in English Literature from Duke University. She now lives in Miami, Florida. Kim Brown has been covering national and international politics for over 10 years and has been a sought-after voice on issues on race and culture. She is the host of the Real News show Stir Crazy. Rabia Chaudry is an attorney, advocate, and author of the New York Times bestselling "Adnan’s Story" and the critically acclaimed "Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family". Rabia received her Juris Doctorate from the George Mason School of Law. Alex S. Vitale is a professor of sociology at Brooklyn College. He is also the coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, The Appeal, USA Today, Vice News, and other media outlets. Sierria Warren is a mother, activist, podcaster, and comedian. She witnessed the police van’s stop at Mount and Baker streets during Freddie Gray’s fatal encounter with Baltimore City police. You can purchase copies of “They Killed Freddie Gray: The Anatomy of a Police Brutality Cover-Up Hardcover” at https://citylights.com/they-killed-freddie-gray/ This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/

City Lights LIVE presents John Szwed in conversation with Raymond Foye celebrating the publication of “Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith,” published by Farrar, Straus, Giroux. “Cosmic Scholar" follows the life and legacy of Harry Smith, the brilliant eccentric who transformed twentieth century art and culture. He was an anthropologist, filmmaker, painter, folklorist, mystic, and walking encyclopedia. He taught Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe about the occult, swapped drugs with Timothy Leary, sat at the piano with Thelonious Monk, lived with (and tortured) Allen Ginsberg, argued film with Susan Sontag, and received one of the first Guggenheim grants. He was always broke, always intoxicated, compulsively irascible, and unimpeachably authentic. Harry Smith was, in the words of Robert Frank, “the only person I met in my life that transcended everything.” In “Cosmic Scholar”, John Szwed patches together, for the first time, the life of one of the twentieth century’s most overlooked cultural figures. John Szwed is the author or editor of many books, including biographies of Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, and Alan Lomax. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and in 2005 was awarded a Grammy for “Doctor Jazz”, a book included with the album Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings by Alan Lomax. A former Professor of Anthropology, African American Studies, and Film Studies for 26 years at Yale University, he was also a Professor of Music and Jazz Studies at Columbia University, and served as the Chair of the Department of Folklore and Folklife at the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Philadelphia with his family. Raymond Foye is a writer, curator, editor and publisher. From 1978-80 he worked as a literary editor with City Lights Books where he edited “The Unknown Poe” (1980). He also edited two issues (Nos 29 & 30) of Beatitude magazine. His show The Heavenly Tree Grows Downward (James Cohan Gallery, New York) was the first exhibition to feature the artworks of Harry Smith, and was named one of the ten best exhibitions of 2002 by the New York Times (Holland Cotter). He is also currently preparing an edition of “Cosmologies: The Naropa Lectures of Harry Smith”, to be published in October 2023. You can purchase copies of “Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith” at https://citylights.com/cosmic-scholar-life-times-harry-smit/ This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/

City Lights LIVE in conjunction with Princeton University Press presents Joanna Moorhead in conversation with Wendi Norris celebrating the newly published book “Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington” from Princeton University Press. An illustrated biography of the pioneering British artist and writer, Leonara Carrington, tracing her life and work through the many places around the world where she lived. The British-born artist and writer Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) is one of the vanguards in the history of women artists and the history of Surrealism. The interests of this visionary—feminism, ecology, the arcane and the mystical, the interconnectedness of everything—are now shared by many. Challenging the conventions of her time, Carrington abandoned family, society, and England to embrace new experiences and forge a unique artistic style in Europe and the Americas. In this evocative illustrated biography, writer and journalist Joanna Moorhead traces her cousin’s footsteps, exploring the artist’s life, loves, friendships, and work. Joanna Moorhead is a British journalist and author whose critically acclaimed memoir, “The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington,” chronicles her relationship with Carrington, her cousin. Moorhead writes for the Guardian, the Observer, the Times (London), and many other publications. Wendi Norris is the founder and head of Gallery Wendi Norris, a leading international art gallery based in San Francisco. She champions critically acclaimed modern and contemporary artists and artists’ estates, including several associated with the Surrealist movement. Gallery Wendi Norris fosters their artists’ legacies by placing their work in museum exhibitions, building dynamic institutional and private collections, participating in top-tier biennials and art fairs, and educating the public. Since establishing the gallery in 2002, Wendi Norris has curated over 150 solo and thematic exhibitions. You can purchase copies of “Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington” at https://citylights.com/surreal-spaces/ This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/

City Lights LIVE and Verso Books celebrate the publication of “Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination” by Adam Shatz, published by Verso Books. “Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination” dives into the question of what it means to be a politically committed writer. Shatz asks: do writers have an ethical imperative to question justice? Shatz’s work demand that we interrogate the relation of thought and action in the struggle for a more just world. Adam Shatz is the U.S. editor of the London Review of Books and a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and other publications. He is also the host of the podcast “Myself with Others.” E. Tammy Kim is a contributing writer at The New Yorker and a co-host of the podcast “Time to Say Goodbye.” You can purchase copies of "Writers and Missionaries: Essays on the Radical Imagination” at https://citylights.com/commodity-aesthetics/writers-missionaries-essays-on-the-r/. This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/.

City Lights LIVE and The New Press celebrate the publication of “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine” by Norman Solomon, published by The New Press. Solomon is joined in conversation with Kris Welch. “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine” exposes the dynamics between media and politics and how the American Military conceals perpetual war. More than twenty years ago, 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan set into motion a hugely consequential shift in America’s foreign policy: a perpetual state of war that is almost entirely invisible to the American public. "War Made Invisible" is an eloquent moral call for counting the true costs of war. Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include “War Made Easy,” “Made Love,” “Got War,” and "War Made Invisible" (The New Press). He lives in the San Francisco area. Kris Welch is a producer/host at KPFA-FM radio in Berkeley, California. You can purchase copies of “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine” at https://citylights.com/muckraking/war-made-visible/. This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/.

City Lights LIVE and Dalkey Archive Press celebrate the publication of “small pieces” by Micheline Aharonian Marcom and Fowzia Karimi, published by Dalkey Archive Press. “small pieces” is a collaboration between novelist Micheline Aharonian Marcom and writer and visual artist Fowzia Karimi, pairing Marcom’s short stories with watercolors done by Karimi. The work is a conversation between two artists in text and image, side by side. Micheline Aharonian Marcom is the author of seven novels. Her novels include "The New American," "The Brick House," and "A Brief History of Yes." She has received fellowships and awards from the Lannan Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, and the US Artists’ Foundation. She is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Virginia. Fowzia Karimi has a background in Visual Arts and Biology. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College, California. Her work explores the correspondence on the page between the written and the visual arts. She is a recipient of The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards (2011). She is the author of "Above Us the Milky Way" (Deep Vellum, 2020). She lives in Denton, Texas. You can purchase copies of “small pieces” at https://citylights.com/new-fiction-in-hardcover/small-pieces/ This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/

City Lights LIVE and Duke University Press celebrate the publication of “The Williamsburg Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Sound on the Brooklyn Waterfront” by Cisco Bradley, published by Duke University Press. In “The Williamsburg Avant-Garde” Cisco Bradley documents the rise and fall of the underground music and art scene in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn between the late 1980s and the early 2010s. Drawing on interviews, archival collections, musical recordings, videos, photos, and other ephemera, Bradley explores the scene’s social, cultural, and economic dynamics. Bradley not only documents some of the most vital music of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries; he helps readers better understand the formation, vibrancy, and life span of experimental music and art scenes everywhere. Cisco Bradley is Associate Professor of History at the Pratt Institute and author of “Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker,” also published by Duke University Press. Lee Ranaldo is a Grammy nominated musician, composer, visual artist, writer, and producer. He is a founding member of Sonic Youth and continues to work on numerous solo projects. His artwork and videos have been on view in galleries and museums across the globe. He is the author of the books “Some Writings on Music and Musicians,” “Against Refusing,” and “How Not To Get Played On The Radio." He makes his home in New York State. You can purchase copies of “The Williamsburg Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Sound on the Brooklyn Waterfront” at https://citylights.com/williamsburg-avant-garde-experimental/ This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/

City Lights LIVE presents Brandon Shimoda and Emily Luan reading from their books,“Hydra Medusa” and “In 回 / Return,” published by Nightboat Books. “Hydra Medusa” by Brandon Simoda takes us through the poet's day-to-day life as he works five jobs and raises his child. His collection of poems and essays touches on the realities of living on the US-Mexico border. Shimoda documents the realities and oftentimes horrors of living in the desert as he encounters his own past and ancestry as a Japanese American individual. Brandon Shimoda is a poet and author of eight books of poetry and prose. He teaches at Colorado College. “In 回 / Return” by Emily Luan is rooted in the classical tradition of the Chinese “reversible” poem. "In 回 / Return” is engaged in the act of looking back—toward an imagined homeland and a childhood of suburban longing, through migratory passages, departures, and etymologies, and into the various holes and voids that appear in the telling and retelling of history. Emily Luan is a former Margins Fellow at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. You can purchase copies of "Hydra Medusa” and “In 回 / Return” at https://citylights.com/.