September 12 & 13 – Festival Events

An exploration of the legacy of slavery in our country and its impact on racial segregation, African-American culture, and the preservation of African traditions and identity, with Steve Luxenberg, author of Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America's Journey from Slavery to Segregation and Melissa Cooper, author of Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race, and the American Imagination.  Moderated by Dionne Ford, editor of the book, Slavery's Descendants: Shared Legacies of Race and Reconciliation.

Eilene Zimmerman’s powerful memoir, Smacked: A Story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy, examines the world of white-collar drug abuse as the author pieces together the mysteries surrounding her ex-husband’s descent into drug addiction, while Dr. Larry Westreich, an addiction expert and author of A Parent's Guide to Teen Addiction: Professional Advice on Signs, Symptoms, What to Say, and How to Help, talks about treatment options. Moderated by Gabrielle Glaser, author of Her Best-Kept Secret: Why Women Drink and How They Can Regain Control. 

MSU Professor and Chair of Sociology, Yasemin Besen-Cassino talks to the authors of three new books about women breaking cultural norms and how their experience reflects on the gender politics of today. Nancy Princenthal’s Unspeakable Acts: Women, Art and Sexual Violence in the 1970s is a groundbreaking exploration of how women artists of the 1970s combined art and protest to make sexual violence visible, creating a new kind of art in the process. Adrienne Miller’s In the Land of Men is a memoir about coming of age in the male-dominated literary world of the nineties, and becoming the first female literary editor of Esquire, while Victoria James’s memoir Wine Girl charts her career as America’s youngest sommelier and addresses repercussions, solutions and inclusion in the hospitality industry after #MeToo. 

From his anti-immigration campaign in 2016 through the Democratic wave of 2018 and impeachment, Donald Trump has been the most polarizing president in modern history. New York Times National Correspondent Kate Zernike leads a discussion about the 2020 presidential election and beyond. Will President Trump's base remain loyal enough to win him re-election, or will the "resistance" his election stirred up result in a landslide for Democrats?  What will be his legacy in the Republican Party, and how is the new generation elected in 2018 changing the Democratic Party?

Panellists: Time correspondent Charlotte Alter, author of The Ones We’ve Been Waiting For: How a New Generation of Leaders Will Transform America, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, New York Times Washington editor and co-author of Border Wars: Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration, and political historian and commentator David Rothkopf, author of the new book Traitor: A History of American Betrayal from Benedict Arnold to Donald Trump.