Event Location: Online through Politics and Prose bookstore

Event Dates: Each Saturday from May 11 - June 15, 2024

Event summary (Abstract): Join us to explore and luxuriate in three works of fiction known as The Homewood Trilogy that cemented John Edgar Wideman’s reputation as a notable voice in American fiction. From his short story collection Damballah (1981) to his novels Hiding Place (1981) and Sent for You Yesterday(1983), Wideman challenges the idea of a homogeneous and downtrodden urban Black working-class folk in the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Much like August Wilson provides a large canvas to portray Black humanity in Pittsburgh riddled with the challenges of what it means to be Black and working class in America, Wideman uses an equally large canvas and varying brushstrokes to demonstrate the resiliency and purposefulness of the varied people who live in, love, rear children, and leave Homewood. Unbeknown to Wideman, he helps to provide voice to Black Appalachians or Afralachians in the tapestry of American and African American literature.

Link to join the event: https://www.politics-prose.com/class/online-class-john-edgar-wideman-s-homewood-trilogy-2457

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