Augusta University will be welcoming Nic Stone, author of bestselling young adult novel “Dear Martin,” this coming Tuesday for a talk about diversity and inclusivity in literature and what it means to be human.
“A lot of times, we hear about books that are being challenged for whatever reason, and we hear from people from both sides,” said Rebecca Harper, associate professor of language and literacy at AU’s College of Education, who is coordinating the event in partnership with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. “But we don’t always hear from the people who wrote it, to just say, ‘how does it make you feel?’ or ‘what was your thought process going through? What would have it like do you have for teachers?’ And I think that’s what’s going to be powerful too, is hearing her story.”
This will be the second time the Atlanta-based writer will be coming to the CSRA to speak. In November 2019, Stone spoke at the Columbia County Library about “Dear Martin,” in an event hosted by The Book Tavern, one month after the book was removed from the Columbia County School District’s supplemental reading list by then-superintendent Sandra Carroway.
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“Dear Martin,” which was published in 2017, is about an African American high school student who, after a traumatizing encounter with a police officer, begins writing a journal of letters to Martin Luther King Jr. to try to discern what the civil rights leader would think about the current political climate.
Harper is the director of Augusta University Writing Project, which in turn partners with The Book Tavern to conduct the AU Writing Project Author Series, an initiative which hosts interactive speaking events featuring award-winning authors. She conferred with Book Tavern owner David Hutchison to organize a live event.
“I work pretty closely with David, and so he and I are always talking about Who can we get here, because living in a pandemic we’ve had to do so much of this stuff virtually,” said Harper. “We haven’t been able to have an author on campus.”
Amid recent controversies in Columbia County regarding what literature should be allowed in school media centers, Harper says they both decided it would be apt to invite Stone to return to the area.
“What was happening several years ago, that was really just happening where we live, in a small school system,” she said. “We’re seeing textbooks that aren’t getting adopted because they have social emotional learning, we see books getting banned in Texas and librarians worried about getting prosecuted; so it’s everywhere. It’s become this bigger conversation.”
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The speaking engagement will be in two separate sessions, both about an hour long, comprised of a talk and Q&A portion, and will be free and open to students, faculty, staff and the general public.
“One is on ‘Becoming Human,’ which I think is probably going to speak more to celebrating who we are as individuals,” said Harper about the two-part speaking event. “And then ‘Teaching Dangerous Books,’ which is going to be more targeted towards educators and people who are working with school children and maybe specialists and such, about ‘what do you do now? What does the world looks like now and how do you navigate those choppy waters?”
Nic Stone: On Being Human & Conversations About Teaching Dangerous Books will start at 3 p.m., and then 4 p.m., on Tuesday, May 3 at the Maxwell Theatre at the Augusta University Summerville Campus, located at 2500 Walton Way. For more information, or to register for the event, visit https://augusta.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_88lzEe7vtiyWggS.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
