UNL celebrates author Richard Wright, remembers Hurricane Katrina

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will host a series of events Sept. 18-19 to celebrate the centennial of author Richard Wright's birth. All events associated with "The Wor(l)ds of Richard Wright: Native Son and Expatriate" are free and open to the public; the celebration will also honor the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Wright was born Sept. 4, 1908, in Adams County, Miss., and rose to prominence as one of America's great novelists and intellectuals. Two leading Wright experts and African-American literary scholars, James A. Miller of George Washington University and Joyce Ann Joyce of Temple University, will visit UNL as part of the celebration. Their keynote addresses on Friday will be complemented by public lectures from UNL professors Guy Reynolds and Gregory E. Rutledge, a digital technologies presentation by Charlene Maxey-Harris, one of UNL's multicultural reference librarians, and screenings of the acclaimed documentary, "Trouble the Water," and the 1951 version of "Native Son."

A full schedule of events follows.

Thursday, Sept. 18: 1:30 p.m., digital presentation, Maxey-Harris: "New ways of looking and seeing," Richard Wright Digital Resources. (Instruction Room 110, Love Library, 13th and R streets); 3-5 p.m., screening and discussion of the Hurricane Katrina documentary, "Trouble the Water" (Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, 313 N. 13th St.; pre-registration is requested by e-mailing grutledge2@unl.edu or greynolds2@unl.edu, or register on-site).

Friday, Sept. 19: 9:30-10:30 a.m., Reynolds, "A Western Man of Color: Richard Wright and the World" and Rutledge, "Global Warming, Nuclear Winter and Katrina's 'Folk': African Epic and the Ecological Implications of Wright's 'Blue[s]Print'" (Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., room posted); 10:30 a.m., Miller, "Reading Richard Wright in the 21st Century" (Nebraska Union, room posted); 1:30-3 p.m. Joyce, "Richard Wright and George Lamming: Literary Brothers in the Diaspora" (Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St.); 3:30-5:30 p.m. Screening of "Native Son," followed by panel discussion with keynote speakers and Paula Mesquita, a visiting Wright scholar from Portugal (Bailey Library, Andrews Hall, 14th and T streets).