Sat 2/18 @ 7-8:30PM
In 2020, Ohio passed a bill, sponsored by northeast Ohio legislators Joe Miller and Stephanie Howse, which designated the February 18th birthday of Lorain-born author Toni Morrison, who died in 2019 at the age of 88, as Toni Morrison Day in Ohio.
It recognized literary legacy of the author of such acclaimed works as The Bluest Eye, Beloved, Sula and Song of Solomon. She was widely celebrated in her lifetime, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
She has also been at the center of the recent ramped-up wave of censorship efforts coming from the right for her powerful depictions of the challenges facing Black women, which is nothing new for her. As the New York Public Library’s website said, in observation of Banned Book Week 2022, “Through all her renown, Morrison’s books are a regular fixture on the American Library Association’s Frequently Challenged Books list, with her novels Beloved and The Bluest Eye consistently challenged in schools and libraries. Morrison’s novels, which explore the Black experience from slavery and Reconstruction to the Great Depression to the Korean War, have been challenged for their unflinching exposition of racism, violence, and sexism.”
Literary Cleveland and ThirdSpace Action Lab (1464 E. 105th Street) are once again celebrating Toni Morrison Day with a reading of her work. The program will open with featured readers offering tributes. Then there’ll be an open mic where anyone can share a favorite passage from a Morrison book or an original work influenced by Morrison. Her books will also be available for sale. Ron DeSantis wouldn’t be happy but he’s in Florida and you’re here.
Doors open at 6:30 and there’s parking available on next door at Studio 105 and on the street. The event is free and open to all, but reservations are requested. Go here.