Toni Morrison to read at C of C

Acclaimed writer Toni Morrison will be taking part in the biennial meeting of the Toni Morrison Society at the College of Charleston on July 24-27. Morrison will hold a reading of her new book, "A Mercy," at 8 p.m. July 25 at the Sottile Theatre.

From the Toni Morrison Society Web site:

On Friday, July 25th, author Toni Morrison will read from her new novel, A Mercy (Knopf) scheduled for publication in November 2008. The reading will be held in the historic Sottile Theater on the campus of the College of Charleston. This program is a featured event of the Fifth Biennial Conference of the Toni Morrison Society hosted by the College of Charleston July 24-27.

A Mercy is Toni Morrison’s 9th novel. Set in the 17th century northeast when the slave trade was in its infancy, the novel provides a detailed look at the social environment of religious persecution and racial hatred, class distinction that allowed the institution of slavery to take root in the US. As in all of her novels, Morrison outlines the broad strokes of history in order to explore the impact that they have on the personal choices of the individuals caught in history’s reach. The reading by Morrison will be an important contribution to the Conference, which focuses in this 200th anniversary year of the ban on legal slave trade in the US, on how Africans came to terms with their fate and created a new life that allowed them to survive slavery and thrive in a New World.

Tickets for the event run $20, and you can reserve them at 843-953-1939 or through the conference's online registration system.

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