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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2019)
M Artin l uther K ing J r . January 16, 2019 Page 33 2019 special edition Arts & ENTERTAINMENT Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has won acclaim as an author, poet, playwright and speaker. Her books are the focus of Multnomah County Library’s 17th annual community reading project Everybody Reads. About Our Culture and Ourselves Library’s community reading project kicks off Multnomah County Library’s community reading project Every- body Reads 2019 began this month with the distribution of free copies of two books by award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adi- chie, Americanah (for adults) and We Should All Be Feminists (for high school students). The goal of the 17th annual project is to engage deeply around the themes of a book, and convene meaningful conversations around difficult issues. Thanks to The Library Founda- tion, 4,500 copies of Americanah are available to pick up at librar- ies across Multnomah County. An additional 4,900 copies of We Should All Be Feminists are being distributed to high school students who are studying Adichie’s essay in the winter term. The library encourages read- ers to pass those copies along to friends and neighbors once they’ve finished the book. For the first time, readers can instantly access unlimited downloadable audiobook copies of Americanah through the RBdigital platform. E-book copies are available through Overdrive. Community members are invit- ed to attend the many Everybody Reads discussions and related pro- grams taking place at libraries and elsewhere in the county, including a talk on the history of black fem- inism, an overview on how to run for office and many others. Adichie will speak on Thurs- day, March 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. The event is sold out. A Nigerian-born artist whose influence spans continents and genres, Adichie has received ac- Stock up on Books Thousands of books of all shapes, sizes, and genres will be up for sale at bargain pric- es during the “Bookapalooza” book sale in Vancouver this week hosted by and benefiting the Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation. From art, biographies, chil- dren’s picture books, classics, graphic novels, health, history, humor, craft and more, books will be bargain priced at just $1 for most hardbacks and paper- backs, 50 cents for mass-mar- ket adult fiction paperbacks, and $1 for CDs and DVDs. The event will begin Thurs- day, Jan. 17 and continue through Saturday, Jan. 19, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., each day, downstairs from Library Hall, the library district’s operations center at 1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd. You’re asked to bring your own box or bag. claim as an author, poet, play- wright and speaker. She was a recipient of a MacArthur Founda- tion Fellowship and her work has been recognized with the O. Hen- ry Prize, the National Book Crit- ics Circle Award (fiction) and the PEN Pinter Prize, among many other distinctions. “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s writing is simply beautiful, but it also plumbs deep truths within and around us,” said Director of Libraries Vailey Oehlke. “With these two works, she offers us vehicles for important and con- structive conversations about our culture and ourselves.” Everybody Reads, a communi- ty reading project of Multnomah County Library, is made possible in part by gifts to The Library Foundation with the author ap- pearance made possible by Liter- ary Arts. Programming support is also made possible in part by Port- land State University and Portland Community College. Before Oprah and before Arsenio, there was show Mr. Soul! The Northwest Film Center kicks off its annual Reel Music film festival on Friday, Jan. 18 with ‘Mr. Soul,’ a new documentary about the now legendary public television show that aired from 1968 to 1973 centering on black life in America. Mr. Soul Opens Reel Music Fest The now legendary public television show “Mr. Soul!” which centered on black life in America and aired from 1968 to 1973 on PBS, is the subject of a new documenta- ry of the same title and will be screening this week when the Northwest Film Center’s kicks off its 36th annual “Reel Music” film festival. Mr. Soul! was named in hon- or of the show’s producer Ellis Haizlip and featured a myriad of incendiary interviews with and performances by the likes of Wilson Pickett, Donny Ha- thaway, Al Green, Maya Ange- lou, Sidney Poitier, Harry Be- lafonte, James Baldwin, Stevie Wonder, and Muhammad Ali, among many others ‘Mr. Soul” will screen on Fri- day, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. in Whit- sell Auditorium at the Portland Art Museum, the first of the month long series of “Reel Mu- sic” films celebrating great art- ists, sound and image, connect- ing music and culture through Feb. 16. Admission is $10. For a com- plete “Reel Music” film festival lineup, visit nwfilm.org.
