Reading Hemingway’s Mail
Thursday, November 4 | 7 p.m.
Free, advance registration required
Never intended for publication, Ernest Hemingway's letters track his life story, record experiences that inspired his art, afford insight into his creative process, and reveal a more interesting and complex person than his "tough guy" public persona would suggest. Sandra Spanier, Penn State Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English and general editor of the Hemingway Letters Project, will talk about the project to publish Hemingway’s 6,000 surviving letters and will discuss some of the adventures involved in pursuing Hemingway's trail, which led around the world.
Angel at Philadelphia: William Still and the Eastern Line of the Underground Railroad
Wednesday, November 17 | 7 p.m.
Free, advance registration required
Based in Philadelphia, free black abolitionist William Still built a reputation as a courageous leader, writer, philanthropist, and guide for fugitive slaves. William C. Kashatus—author of William Still: The Underground Railroad and the Angel at Philadelphia, the first major biography of Still— will discuss the operation of the Underground Railroad and Still's role as the primary agent of that secret route to freedom.