Join us on Facebook Live for an interview between H. David Smith, Distinguished Senior Lecturer of Psychology at Northwestern University, and author Michelle Kuo about Kuo's book, "Reading with Patrick: A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship."

Registration is not necessary and you do not need a Facebook account to join. At the time of the event, click the Facebook icon on the Library's website or visit facebook.com/lakeforestlibrary. You will see "An Evening with Michelle Kuo" available on the Library's Facebook page. If you arrive a little early, you may need to refresh the Library's Facebook page in order to see it. After the event, it will be available to watch on the Library's Facebook page under "Videos" at https://www.facebook.com/LakeForestLibrary/videos/vb.162569504144/470034221004143/?type=2&theater.

Prior to the event, please email any questions you would like to see addressed to reference@lakeforestlibrary.org. You can also leave questions in the comment section during the event.

This program is part of Read Between the Ravines

Lake Bluff Public Library and Lake Forest Library are proud to present their joint nonfiction reading program called Read Between the Ravines. This Two Communities, One Nonfiction Book program brings together Lake Forest and Lake Bluff with the purpose of enhancing nonfiction literacy and inspiring discussion around real-world issues. Learn more at readbetween.org.

Author bio

Michelle Kuo is an Associate Professor, Program Coordinator for History, Law & Society in the History of Politics department of the American University of Paris and author of "Reading with Patrick," a mix of memoir, history, law, and exploration of racial and economic inequality in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta. "Reading with Patrick" was the runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and shortlisted for the Reading Women Nonfiction Prize and the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice, and praised in publications such as The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Christian Science Monitor, and Times Literary Supplement. "Reading with Patrick" has been selected for community reads programs that include the University of Iowa, the Yale Prison Education Initiative, and Washtenaw Reads.

Interviewer bio

David Smith is a Distinguished Senior Lecturer of Psychology at Northwestern University. He conducts research on judgment and decision making and teaches courses in psychology, research design and statistics at NU. Smith has held faculty appointments at NU, Middlebury College, and the University of Michigan. A member of the NPEP (Northwestern Prison Education Program) faculty, he has also taught university level courses in a maximum security prison.

About "Reading with Patrick"

In this stirring memoir, Kuo, the child of Taiwanese immigrants, shares the story of her complicated but rewarding mentorship of one student, Patrick Browning, and his remarkable literary and personal awakening. Fifteen and in the eighth grade, Patrick begins to thrive under Michelle's exacting attention. After two years of teaching, Michelle feels pressure from her parents and the draw of opportunities and leaves Arkansas to attend law school.Then, on the eve of her law-school graduation, Michelle learns that Patrick has been jailed for murder. Feeling that she left the Delta prematurely, Michelle returns to Helena and resumes Patrick's education—even as he sits in a jail cell awaiting trial. Every day for the next seven months they pore over classic novels, poems, and works of history. Little by little, Patrick grows into a confident, expressive writer and a dedicated reader galvanized by the works of Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, Walt Whitman, W. S. Merwin, and others.In her time reading with Patrick, Michelle is herself transformed, contending with the legacy of racism and the questions of what constitutes a "good" life and what the privileged owe to those with bleaker prospects.