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Image for event: Writing Womanhood: Nafissa Thompson-Spires and Monica Youn

Writing Womanhood: Nafissa Thompson-Spires and Monica Youn

National Book Award Program

2019-07-25 19:00:00 2019-07-25 21:00:00 America/New_York Writing Womanhood: Nafissa Thompson-Spires and Monica Youn Fiction writer Nafissa Thompson-Spires and poet Monica Youn will discuss writing diverse female stories, from girlhood to motherhood, that women can actually see themselves in. Free. Main Library - Auditorium

Thursday, July 25
7:00pm - 9:00pm

Add to Calendar 2019-07-25 19:00:00 2019-07-25 21:00:00 America/New_York Writing Womanhood: Nafissa Thompson-Spires and Monica Youn Fiction writer Nafissa Thompson-Spires and poet Monica Youn will discuss writing diverse female stories, from girlhood to motherhood, that women can actually see themselves in. Free. Main Library - Auditorium

Main Library

Auditorium

Fiction writer Nafissa Thompson-Spires and poet Monica Youn will discuss writing diverse female stories, from girlhood to motherhood, that women can actually see themselves in. Free.

This summer, the National Book Foundation hits the road for NBF Presents: Summer with the National Book Awards, bringing National Book Awards-honored authors to libraries across the country.

Join us for a conversation with fiction writer Nafissa Thompson-Spires (Heads of the Colored People, National Book Award Longlister) and poet Monica Youn (Ignatz, Blackacre, National Book Award Longlister & Finalist) on writing diverse female stories, from girlhood to motherhood, that women can actually see themselves in. Free and open to the public.

Nafissa Thompson-Spires earned a PhD in English from Vanderbilt University and an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Paris Review Daily, Dissent, BuzzFeed Books, The White Review, and other publications. She currently works as an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Cornell University. Her first book, Heads of the Colored People, was longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award, and the Aspen Words Literary Prize; was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize; and has won the PEN Open Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and an Audie Award. She is also the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award.

Monica Youn is the author of three books of poems, most recently Blackacre (2016), which won the William Carlos Williams Award of the Poetry Society of America. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Award, was longlisted for the National Book Award, and was named one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, and BuzzFeed. Her book Ignatz (2010) was a finalist for the National Book Award. A 2018 Guggenheim Fellow, she teaches at Princeton and in the MFA programs at NYU and Columbia. She is a former lawyer, a daughter of Korean immigrants, and is a member of the curatorial collective The Racial Imaginary Institute.

    

AGE GROUP: | Teen | Adults |

EVENT TYPE: | Special Events | Books & Writing |

TAGS: | |

Main Library

Phone: 330.643.9000
Branch manager
Michael Bianchi

Hours
Mon, May 12 10:00AM to 8:00PM
Tue, May 13 10:00AM to 8:00PM
Wed, May 14 10:00AM to 8:00PM
Thu, May 15 10:00AM to 8:00PM
Fri, May 16 10:00AM to 6:00PM
Sat, May 17 10:00AM to 5:00PM
Sun, May 18 1:00PM to 5:00PM

About the branch

Main Library, located in the heart of downtown Akron, combines compelling public space with meaningful and relevant public library services for all members of our community. Since opening in 2004, the downtown library welcomes more than one million visitors each year.

Subject divisions include: Business, Government & Science, Culture & AV, Magazines & Newspapers, Special Collections (local history & genealogy), TechZone@Main, Teen, and a 12,000 square feet Children's Library.

Special services available at Main Library include: a Patent & Trademark Resource Center; U.S. Passport and Notary services; a Microbusiness Center; a Maker Space; a resource lab for early childhood educators; and regularly scheduled computer training classes. Also available at Main Library are more than 125 public access computers, color photocopiers/printers, laminating, scanning, faxing, and free Wi-Fi.

Specialized spaces include a 425-seat auditorium, public meeting rooms, and a used bookstore. An interior glass block walkway leads to a 600-space parking garage owned by the City of Akron. An outdoor amphitheater and landscaped park complete the complex.

Upcoming Events

Mon, May 19, 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Tue, May 20, 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Tue, May 20, 1:00pm - 3:00pm
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Wed, May 21, 2:00pm - 3:00pm

Thu, May 22, 10:30am - 11:30am

Thu, May 22, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Computer Lab 2

Thu, May 22, 12:30pm - 3:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center

Thu, May 22, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
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Thu, May 22, 6:15pm - 8:00pm
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Tue, May 27, 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center

Tue, May 27, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
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Wed, May 28, 10:30am - 11:30am
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Wed, May 28, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
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Thu, May 29, 10:00am - 4:00pm
Quiet Study Room 1

Thu, May 29, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Computer Lab 2

Thu, May 29, 10:30am - 11:30am

Thu, May 29, 12:30pm - 3:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center

Thu, May 29, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
TechZone

Thu, May 29, 6:15pm - 8:00pm
Auditorium

Sun, Jun 01, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Auditorium

Mon, Jun 02, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Computer Lab 1

Tue, Jun 03, 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center Space A

Tue, Jun 03, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Computer Lab 1

Wed, Jun 04, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center Space B

Thu, Jun 05, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center Space A

Thu, Jun 05, 12:30pm - 3:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center Space A

Thu, Jun 05, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Computer Lab 1

Thu, Jun 05, 6:15pm - 8:00pm
Auditorium

Thu, Jun 05, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
1 South High St.

Mon, Jun 09, 10:30am - 11:30am
Children's Library Programming Room

Mon, Jun 09, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Computer Lab 1
Registration opens Monday, May 19 2025 at 10:00am

Mon, Jun 09, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Computer Lab 1

Tue, Jun 10, 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center Space A

Tue, Jun 10, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Computer Lab 1

Wed, Jun 11, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center Space A

Wed, Jun 11, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Computer Lab 1
Registration opens Wednesday, May 21 2025 at 10:00am

Wed, Jun 11, 10:30am - 11:30am
Children's Library Programming Room
This event is full

Wed, Jun 11, 1:30pm - 3:30pm
Auditorium

Wed, Jun 11, 6:00pm - 7:30pm
TechZone

Wed, Jun 11, 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Children's Library Programming Room

Thu, Jun 12, 10:30am - 11:30am
Children's Library Programming Room

Thu, Jun 12, 10:30am - 12:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center Space A

Thu, Jun 12, 12:30pm - 3:00pm
Small Business & Nonprofit Resource Center Space A

Thu, Jun 12, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Children's Library Educator Lab,Children's Library Programming Room

Thu, Jun 12, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Computer Lab 1

Thu, Jun 12, 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Thu, Jun 12, 6:15pm - 8:00pm
Auditorium

Fri, Jun 13, 10:30am - 11:30am
Children's Library Programming Room

Fri, Jun 13, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Teen Meeting Room