From its origins to this day, the tradition of both international translation and illustration of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland has swung between slavish reverence for the English original and its opposite: a recognition of the revolutionary frame of mind that this classic work represents, one that embodies respect for play and nonsense, of courage in the face of the absurdities of the adult world, and of belief in the dignity of childhood as a period of grace in all of our lives. This will be a romp through several dozen notable and ig-notable Alice interpretations in word and image, from Bulgaria to Japan and from Russia to aboriginal Australia.

About the Speaker: With wife Nina, Jeff co-founded Evanston’s independent bookstore Bookends & Beginnings in 2014. In his earlier life (or lives), he was deputy director of Northwestern University Library, president of the jury that awards the Hans Christian Andersen medals, and a librarian at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and the University of Munich, and has published articles in American Libraries, Library Quarterly, the Times Educational Supplement—and, of course, the Knight Letter, the newsletter of The Lewis Carroll Society of North America.

Northwestern University Summer Writers' Conference is hosting a special literary reading in connection with the Evanston Literary Festival. This amazing lineup will give a glimpse of what's to come in August. You're not going to want to miss this!

6:00pm Doors and snacks
6:15pm Program begins

Lineup to include:
Gint Aras, Susanna Calkins, Krista Franklin, Alex Higley, Nami Mun, Kenyatta Rogers, and Mark Turcotte

Join author Elizabeth Cobbs as she reads from her newest historical novel, The Tubman Command, at Bookends & Beginnings. A book signing will follow the reading.

Please reserve a free ticket for this event (link here).

The Tubman Command tells the story of Harriet Tubman at the moment of her greatest gamble. Recruited as a spy for the Union army, Tubman- code name "Moses"- plots a spectacular plantation raid behind enemy lines, one so large and so daring it will turn the tide of the Civil War. But in order to succeed, Tubman must lead her team of black scouts up the Combahee River, where the dangers of alligators, sharpshooters, and slave catchers lurk. Her mission is complicated further by the hostility and skepticism of other Union soldiers. And yet, Tubman expects these men to underestimate her. It is, after all, why she is the perfect spy.

From the author of The Hamilton Affair, The Tubman Command brings to light the bravery and brilliance of American icon Harriet Tubman during her most daring mission yet.

For more information on The Tubman Command and Elizabeth Cobbs, please visit: www.elizabethcobbs.com

As part of the Northwestern University Spring Writers’ Festival, join writer Lesley Nneka Arimah, whose debut story collection, What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky (Riverhead, 2017), offers a “humanizing portrait of both the Nigerian citizen and first-generation young female immigrant” (Liz von Klemperer). Evocative, wrenching, and subversive, this dazzlingly accomplished collection explores the ties that bind us–parents and children, husbands and wives, lovers and friends–to one another and to the places we call home. This event is held in conjunction with the Northwestern University English Department and the Block Museum.