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After months of anticipation and an all-school read, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author and, National Book Award Winner, Colson Whitehead was our guest speaker on Friday evening, April 6th. His most recent novel, The Underground Railroad was our Summer 2017 All-School Read. Mr. Whitehead discussed the book and his other writings as well as read passages. A Q&A followed where many students were surprised by his brief responses. The students soon adjusted realizing that it was their job as the reader to interpret and explore the text.
Dean of Teaching and Learning, Elizabeth Roach had this to say about the author: "He wasn’t saying that there was no meaning in his novel or that any interpretation is valid, but instead, we—as active and thoughtful readers— bring meaning to the novel with our own minds and experience and deep engagement with the text. He was, in essence, extending an invitation to us to collaborate with him on and to think with him about his story; he was opening up his novel to us so that it, as a work of art, could inspire thinking and meaning, rather than allowing us to close our books (and our minds) with some pat, certain answers from the author." After the Q&A, Mr. Whitehead stayed to autograph over 400 books. What a great way to wrap up a week of classes, practices and rehearsals, listening and engaging with one of today's most creative authors. It's been reported that Whitehead's The Underground Railroad is soon to become an Amazon drama series.
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