Citywide Summer Reading Initiative Wraps Up with Panel Discussion Led by Renowned Author

The community is invited to the final event of Gloucester Reads 2024, where best-selling author Clint Smith will join a panel discussion virtually on Tuesday, September 10 at the Gloucester Stage Company, located at 267 East Main Street.

Presented by the Sawyer Free Library in partnership with Gloucester Racial Justice Team, and the Gloucester Health Department, Gloucester Reads 2024 is a community-wide book club designed to spark conversations, inspire new ideas, and encourage introspection about racial equity within our community.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the free event, and the program begins at 7:00 p.m. Clint Smith, the award-winning author of “How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America,” will provide an overview of his work, share selected readings from his book—which was the main selection for Gloucester’s summer book read—and answer pre-submitted questions from a panel of local community members. The evening will end at 8:45 p.m.

Following Smith’s appearance, there will be a discussion on how we can apply the lessons learned to Gloucester. The program will be moderated by Michea McCaffrey, co-chair of the Gloucester Racial Justice Team and a member of the Gloucester Human Rights Commission. The panel will include Doug Rich, owner of Susie’s Reads bookstore in Rockport, and Dominique Hurley, Gloucester’s Director of Public Health. The event is free and open to the public to attend, although registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. 

Clint Smith’s “How the Word is Passed” sheds light on some of America’s most essential yet overlooked stories and emphasizes how much we can gain by paying attention to them. In this narrative nonfiction debut, Smith explores eight sites—including his hometown of New Orleans, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, New York City, and Angola Prison—using archival research and contemporary interviews to uncover how slavery has profoundly shaped our nation’s collective history and memory.

The book, which has won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism, the Stowe Prize, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, was featured on numerous “Best Books of 2021” lists, including being named one of former President Barack Obama’s favorite books.

In addition to this work, Smith is the author of two poetry books, Above Ground and Counting Descent, both of which won the Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and were finalists for NAACP Image Awards. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, The Harvard Educational Review, and other publications.

The Gloucester Reads Panel Discussion with Author Clint Smith is free and open to the public. Registration is required at sawyerfreelibrary.org. Gloucester Reads is offering to cover childcare expenses for those attending the author’s talk. Participants can request funds through the registration form.

For more information on the event, including a full list of Gloucester Reads 2024 programs, book suggestions, and resources on racial equity, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org/gloucester-reads. Event registration at: sawyerfreelibrary.org.