The Warmth of Other Suns may be about the Great Migration and how African Americans transformed the urban landscape of America, but there’s a lot in this masterful book that people can learn about and identify with, said River Forest librarian Blaise Dierks, who chose the award-winning book as the community’s first River Forest Reads program.
“As I was listening to the book, I felt it was an important book that every American should read, no matter who they are and where they come from,” she said. “With River Forest being a suburb of Chicago, I felt it would be of interest to everyone because the Great Migration did affect Chicago.”
The narrative epic, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson, who lived in Oak Park during her years as a N.Y. Times bureau chief, focuses on the journey of three Southern blacks, each of whom travels in a different decade and to a different place. One of the characters eventually comes to Chicago.
There will be a lot of opportunities from now until the end of March for residents to be engaged in discussing and learning about this significant period of American history. All of these events will be at the public library, 735 Lathrop Ave.
Twice in February, the library will screen “Making A Way Out of No Way,” part of the PBS documentary The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross. The first showing will be at 7 p.m., Feb. 20; the second at 2 p.m. on Feb. 27.
At 2 p.m., March 16, Chef Andrew Comens will put on a demonstration of Southern cooking. Samples and recipes will be provided.
At 7 p.m., March 26, there will be a community discussion of Wilkerson’s book.
Information and images related to the Great Migration will be on display in the lobby.
The River Forest Reads program coincides with the Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago, which is also reading The Warmth of Other Suns, and will also wrap up in the spring.
In the past, River Forest read A Farewell to Arms when the Oak Park Public Library offered it as the community read in 2007 and it has participated in similar reading programs based on stories by Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe.
“Community reading programs are a great way for libraries to promote a shared reading experience and to encourage the community to engage with each other through literature. Although we have participated in community reading programs in the past, we’ve never done something for just River Forest. We are starting small this time, but we will grow from the experience and keep building on it over time,” Dierks said. “If this goes well, we are hoping it will become an annual event.”
For more information, call the library at 708-366-5205.