Monday, October 26, 2009: Start of reading the book on WRBH, Radio for the Blind. Don Lewis, a local actor, has been taped and those sessions will begin on Monday, Oct. 26. The readings will occur daily, Monday through Fridays at 2 pm, and they will repeat at 8:30 p.m. Each half-hour segment amounts to about 12-14 pages, meaning that the book will be completed in about 25 installments.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009: Book Discussion with Chris Smith– A discussion of Their Eyes Were Watching God will take place at the Latter Branch of the New Orleans Public Library from 6:30 to 7:30. Racial identity, the role of women, love, and food will all be examined.
Saturday, December 5, 2009: Book Discussion with Chris Smith– A discussion of Their Eyes Were Watching God will take place at the Mid-City branch of the New Orleans Public Library from 12:30 to 1:30. Racial identity, the role of women, love, and food will all be examined.
Dates to be determined:
Book readings, lectures and discussions - The New Orleans Public Library will host discussion groups at most branches during daytime and evening hours.
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art will host a lecture and discussion directed by Kate Barron, curator of education, who will relate the book to specific works in the museum’s current exhibitions.
The Amistad Research Center will host a discussion and hold a special showing of documents or works of art created by members of the Harlem Renaissance. Date to be determined.
Dillard University, Tulane University, Xavier University and the University of New Orleans will be asked to host discussions or lectures regarding Their Eyes Were Watching God.
The Southern Food and Beverage Museum will conduct two cooking contests: a teacake competition in honor of one of the characters; and a sweet potato pie competition.
The New Orleans African American Museum will host a lecture that will focus on folklore and ethnography, and Zora Neale Hurston efforts worked to preserve the language and music of black Americans in rural Florida.
The Southern Food and Beverage Museum will purchase and distribute disposable cameras to be distributed to kids who will be sent out into their neighborhoods to document their local restaurants, markets, food workers, food producers, or anyone connected with the food industry. The photographs will be preserved at the museum. An exhibition of the photography will be displayed at the museum and at various libraries.
