Acclaimed American novelist Walter Mosley, most widely recognized for his crime fiction, comes to campus Wednesday, April 18, as part of the new, parent-sponsored Minerva Dessert and Discussion series.
He will meet with English department faculty and students and members of the Sorum Book Club before presenting a public lecture, “Bearing Witness,” at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial. A discussion and book signing will follow at 8.
“This is a special treat,” says Sorum House Representative Suzanne Benack, who is hosting the meetings and a dinner at Sorum. The book club is reading “The Man in My Basement,” a novel about race, power and identity that Mosley has described as “a meeting between evil and innocence.” The English Department will focus on Mosley's new book, “This Year You Will Write Your Novel.”
Mosley, who is black and Jewish, is the award-winning author of the best-selling mysteries featuring Easy Rawlins, a black private investigator and World War II veteran living in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. He also has written non-mystery fiction, afrofuturist science fiction and non-fiction politics.
The new Minerva discussion series is designed to encourage creative thinking related to events of the day. Future guests will cover topics ranging from arts and athletics to physics, engineering and classical civilizations.