If you go
› What: Chattanooga Big Read Kickoff› Where: The Camp House,149 E. M.L. King Blvd.› When: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19› Admission: Free, but reservations are requested from book clubs planning to attend. Register online at www.chattbigread.org› Information: www.chattbigread.org
Chattanooga Big Read Events
* Jan. 19: Chattanooga Big Read kickoff, 6:30-8:30 p.m. The Camp House, 149 E. M.L. King Blvd.; music, cash bar, book reading and book signing by Tayari Jones.* Feb. 28: Paint the Town “Read”: An artistic exploration of “Silver Sparrow,” 6-8 p.m. Townsend Atelier, Arts Building, 301 E. 11th St.; Chattanooga State Community College art professor Joe Helseth leads an exploration of “Silver Sparrow” themes with participants creating their own artwork. Open to adults and youth ages 14-17 if they’re accompanied by an adult. Free, but registration is required due to class limit of 35. To register, go to: http://townsendatelier.com/product/paint-town-read-artistic-exploration-silver-sparrow.* March 23: So Much Drama: Theatrical Interpretations of “Silver Sparrow,” 7-8:30 p.m. Chattanooga State, 4501 Amnicola Highway, 7-8:30 p.m.; Chattanooga State theater professor Evans Jarnefeldt and English professor Rachael Falu lead actors and audience in an interactive theater production of selected scenes from the book. Family therapist Laura Huddleston will run a discussion of the novel’s themes.* April 11: Behind the Writer Interview with Tayari Jones, 7-8:30 p.m. The Camp House, 149 E. M.L. King Blvd.; the author will be interviewed by Chattanooga State English professor Lori Barton, followed by an audience Q&A and book signing.* April 12: A Night At the Museum: Readings from “Silver Sparrow,” 6-8:30 p.m. Hunter Museum of American Art, 10 Bluff View; the author talks and does a reading, followed by a book signing and refreshments.* April 13: Book Signing, 10-11:30 a.m. Star Line Books, 1467 Market St., Suite 106; final chance to get “Silver Sparrow” signed by the author before she leaves town.For more information on any event, check the website at www.chattbigread.com.
About Tayari Jones
* Born in Atlanta in 1970, Jones has drawn from her roots in the city for three novels: “Leaving Atlanta,” “The Untelling” and “Silver Sparrow.” She has just finished her fourth novel, set in Atlanta and Louisiana, about a newlywed arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. It is scheduled for release in February 2018.* She received a bachelor’s degree from Spelman College and master’s degrees from the University of Iowa and Arizona State University.* Her first job in 2003 was writer-in-residence at East Tennessee State University. She has taught at the University of Illinois and George Washington University. She is currently an associate professor of creative writing at Rutgers University-Newark.* In addition to being a National Endowment for the Arts’ Big Read author, she has won the Martindale Foundation Award for Fiction, the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Award for black authors and the Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation scholarship for writers of color.
Tayari Jones was at a girls night out when the girl talk turned to the scandal of a man who died and his “other grieving widow” showed up at the funeral with her children.
That conversation inspired the attention-grabbing opening line of Jones’ third novel: “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist.”