Rainier Valley neighbor, teacher and author Nancy Rawles will discuss her novel My Jim at Columbia Library tonight from 7 to 8:30pm as part of “Seattle Reads” – a program started by Seattle Public Library 11 years ago to get Seattleites reading and discussing the same book.
My Jim is a harrowing account of slavery and a powerful, moving story about the longing for freedom and the love between family members. The novel re-imagines Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the slave’s perspective. Narrated in the voice of Sadie, the wife of Jim, Huck Finn’s enslaved traveling companion, it tells the story of the family left behind when Jim escapes down the river with Huck.
Reading and rereading Twain’s book, Rawles took note of a brief passage where Huck finds Jim crying, longing for and missing his wife and children. This sparked her to create a wife for Jim – Sadie – and write a literary response to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Rawles is an award-winning novelist, playwright and educator, who lives in Seattle’s Mount Baker neighborhood and teaches fifth grade at the New School. She grew up in Los Angeles and her first two books, Love Like Gumbo and Crawfish Dreams, are set there. The books address issues of race, color and sexual identity as seen through the eyes of the fictional Broussard family of Compton Avenue in Watts.
The main Seattle Reads event, “An Evening with Nancy Rawles” will be held Fri., May 22, from 7-8:30 pm at Central Library (1000 Fourth Ave., Microsoft Auditorium, Level 1, 206-386-4636). No tickets required. The Library will close at its regular Friday time of 6 pm & reopen at 4th Avenue entrance at 6:30 pm. Limited parking in the Central Library garage will be available for a $5 special event rate. Nancy Rawles Photo/Ingrid Pape-Sheldon
Loading ...
{ 4 comments }
That’s awesome. I know and love the book “Love Like Gumbo” but never made the connection. I’m so sorry to have missed this.
i’m going!
tlp, you can still make the main Seattle Reads event, “An Evening with Nancy Rawles” Fri., May 22, from 7-8:30 pm at Central Library (1000 Fourth Ave., Microsoft Auditorium, Level 1, 206-386-4636). No tickets required.
She was a guest on Weekday on KUOW yesterday, podcast the interview if you are interested. She was an EXCELLENT speaker.
Before yesterday, I knew nothing about her, now I want to read her books and see her speak again.
Comments on this entry are closed.