Poet and journalist Clint Smith, author of “How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America,” will discuss his highly acclaimed book at this year’s Go Big Read keynote event on Nov. 1, 7-8:30 p.m., at UW Memorial Union’s Shannon Hall.
Smith’s book illustrates how some of America’s most essential stories hide in plain view and how much we can gain, if only we take the time to notice them. University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank selected Clint Smith’s “How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America” as the 2022-2023 Go Big Read book back in April.
“How the Word is Passed” has been named in numerous Best Book lists for 2021, including those by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Economist, Smithsonian, Esquire, The Christian Science Monitor, TeenVogue, Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, according to a press release from the university, as well as by both the New York and Chicago public libraries. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and was one of former President Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2021.
The Go Big Read program is an initiative of the Office of the Chancellor that engages members of the campus community and beyond in a shared, academically focused reading experience.
No tickets are required for the Nov. 1 event which is free and in-person and will be livestreamed at gobigread.wisc.edu.
