Smoketown
 
 
 Back
 Prev Event Smoketown Next Event 
 



Literature

Smoketown by Mark Whitaker

Tuesday, April 3
8:00 PM

Book reading and signing

Mark Whitaker, author of the well-received memoir, My Long Trip Home, has had an illustrious journalistic history. An editor-in-chief at Newsweek from 1998-2006, he was the first African American to run a national newsweekly. More recently, he was a managing editor of CNN Worldwide and the Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News.      
    In Smoketown: The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance, Whitaker tells the little-known tale of a cultural movement that rivals the Harlem Renaissance. Pittsburgh, Pa., a hotbed of creativity, gave birth to not only the nation’s leading black newspaper and baseball teams, but a plethora of talent, including such jazz icons as Billy Strayhorn, Billy Eckstine, Earl Hines, Roy Eldrige, and Mary Lou Williams. Pittsburgh was also the hometown of such legendary figures as playwright August Wilson, artist Romare Bearden, and slugger Josh Gibson. Whitaker brings a personal knowledge of Pittsburgh to his story: his father was born in Pittsburgh and he spent much time there as a child. Kirkus gave Smoketown a starred review, calling it “An expansive, prodigiously researched and masterfully told history.”

Listen to Mark Whitaker as he chats with WNYC's Brian Lehrer.


THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. A RESERVATION IS NOT REQUIRED.






Smoketown
Tuesday, April 3, 2018 8:00 PM
Literature