Arizona State University welcomes back author, academic and media commentator Michael Eric Dyson [1], author of "Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America" for a virtual visit on October 21 at 7 p.m. Arizona time (7 p.m. PDT / 8 p.m. MDT / 9 p.m. CDT / 10 p.m. EDT).
Last year, Dyson kicked off the popular ASU TomorrowTalks series with his timely observations about U.S. race relations. This year, ASU's Writing Programs has selected Dyson's nonfiction book as its 2021-2022 common read and looks forward to further engaging with the writer. Two ASU faculty members will facilitate the conversation: Professor Mitchell Jackson [2], winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing for his essay about the life and death of Ahmaud Arbery, and Associate Professor Safiya Sinclair [3], poet and winner of the Whiting Award.
About the common read
The goal of a common read program is to encourage students to write about pressing social problems that are relevant to ASU’s mission as a public enterprise. By learning to write about such problems as a community, we increase the probability of finding a solution to them.
About the speaker
One of America’s premier public intellectuals and the author of seven New York Times bestsellers, Michael Eric Dyson is Distinguished University Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies at Vanderbilt University. He is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, a recipient of two NAACP Image awards and the 2020 Langston Hughes Festival Medallion. Former president Barack Obama has noted: “Everybody who speaks after Michael Eric Dyson pales in comparison.”
This event is hosted by the Department of English as part of a university-wide Humanities Week [4] celebration sponsored by The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ASU.