Critical Grooves Book Lab

November 30, 2023, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm

Book Lab Participants: For this Thursday’s session (11/30) Critical Grooves Book Lab will cancel our meeting in order to support Karen Van Fossan’s talk at Zandbroz Variety in downtown Fargo. A good friend of one of Book Lab’s participants, Van Fossan will be discussing her new memoir, A Fire At the Center: Solidarity, Whiteness, and Becoming a Water Protector. Critical Groove Book Lab shares with Zandbroz the love of reading and talking about the things we read.

https://www.zandbroz.com/events.html

Book Lab will resume next month, Dec. 28th, when we take to task the formidable yet stylish Walter Moseley classic, Devil In a Blue Dress.

Select Thursdays, 6:30-8 PM

  • October 26: Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
  • November 30: Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns
  • December 28: Devil in the Blue Dress by Walter Mosely

For our fourth session (Fall-Winter ’23), we will read four riveting novels by some acclaimed writers. Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater, demands that we strap in and hold on as it embarks on a journey through Igbo ontology—a journey grounded in a series of refusals of both ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity.’ V. M. Burns’ Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder promises a sassy, stylish mystery set in a cozy little Michigan town—the first installment of Burns’s Baker Street Mystery series. Finally, Walter Mosely’s classic Devil in a Blue Dress takes us on a scintillating ride down mean streets, through bedeviling political plots, and right into the unconscious bedrooms of American relationships.

If this assemblage of original and diverse voices sounds compelling, please join us at Plains Art Museum on the select dates below. Light refreshments and beverages will be provided. Feel free to bring your own beverages/snacks, as well. To encourage broad participation, you may acquire the selected texts through convenient means, as per your situation. Also note: Critical Grooves Book Lab selections will also be available for purchase from The Store at Plains Art Museum. Ages 16+ are welcome. We exercise respect among ourselves.

For more information and/or participation contact Dr. Kelvin Monroe at kmonroe@plainsart.org.


Events Calendar

December 2016

Other Exhibitions

A Lazy Love

December 16, 2023 - May 19, 2024

A Lazy Love is a multimedia installation that explores the liminal space between labor and rest, love and loss. After a long day’s work, Omaha-based artist Ella Weber, treats herself to a free 90-minute massage at Nebraska Furniture Mart, America’s largest home furnishing store. While reclining in a massage chair, she records the dialogue of couples shopping for La-Z-Boy chairs. 

View Exhibition