ReadThis! Slate Kicks Off with Killers of the Flower Moon
The University of Ƶ – Fort Smith will host a kickoff event for the 2022 ReadThis! community literacy program, Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 5:30 p.m. in room 122 of the Boreham Library. The event will also be streamed via Zoom (event no longer in session).
The spring kickoff will introduce this year’s novel is Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, the best-selling true crime tale by famed New Yorker staff writer David Grann. Following the introduction, Ƶ professor Tom Wing will present a talk about Osage history in Fort Smith.
“While all of the books in our ReadThis! series have been good, Killers of the Flower Moon has been especially gripping,” said Dr. Ann-Gee Lee, professor of English, composition and rhetoric at Ƶ. “Even students who don't typically like to read have enjoyed the experience and can see the importance of research in action. We all gain a greater awareness of historical injustices that happened, and close to home."
Killers of the Flower Moon chronicles the real-life murder mystery that surrounded the 1920s killings of oil-rich members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma – and the chilling conspiracies that drove them. The Boreham Library at Ƶ has created a with information about the book, the author and the historical context in which the novel is set.
Those interested in the book’s writing may be especially interested in two sessions with author David Grann on Monday, March 14. He will speak at 1:30 in the Windgate theater to members of the Ƶ community, and at 6 p.m. at the Campus Center to the general public.
A $5,000 grant from the Ƶ Humanities Council allowed ReadThis! to buy books for concurrent English Composition students at Ƶ and Composition students at UA Rich Mountain.
The program began in 2010 with the hometown novel True Grit, and in the years since
has featured a plethora of works aimed at creating shared understandings of unique
viewpoints, bringing the campus – and the community together through literature.
These events are open to the public:
Thursday, Feb 10, 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Lecture: Forensic Techniques with Mock Crime Scene
Don Balch, instructor in the Criminal Justice program
101 Baldor Building, 5100 Kinkead Ave.
Saturday, Feb. 12, 4 p.m.
Book Discussion
Literacy Council, 300 S. 11th St.
Saturday, Feb. 19, 2 p.m.
Book Discussion
, 70 S. Seventh St.
Saturday, Feb. 26, 3 p.m.
Film Screening: Osage Murders
Dan Bigbee, Jr., and Lily Shangreaux, producers
107 Windgate Art and Design, 5210 Kinkead Ave.
Saturday, March 5, 4 p.m.
Book Discussion
Literacy Council, 300 S. 11th St.
Saturday, March 12, 2 p.m.
Book Discussion
, 70 S. Seventh St.
Monday, March 14, 1:30 p.m.
Craft Talk
David Grann
107 Windgate Art and Design, 5210 Kinkead Ave.
Monday, March 14, 6 p.m.
An Evening with David Grann
Reynolds Room, Campus Center, 800 N. 50th St.
Monday, April 4, 5:30 p.m.
Mural Reveal
Writing Center, Kinkead Avenue
Wednesday, April 6, noon
Panel: Native American Representation in Area Museums
122 Library, 813 N. Waldron Ave.
- Tags:
- Read This
- English