Poet, Essayist, & Cultural Critic Hanif Abdurraqib
WEDNESDAY, August 14 ON THE THURBER HOUSE LAWN
6:00 pm Picnic Social (Optional) | 6:30 pm Main Event
You will have the opportunity to ask the speaker questions after the event, purchase books, and get your books signed. Please bring a lawn chair or blanket with you.
NEW this year:
Kids’ Club: Parents/guardians: drop off your child/teen at Thurber Center (next door to Thurber House) to participate in fun activities while you enjoy the event! For more details, visit the “Kids’ Club” tab below.
New caterers: We’re mixing it up! This year, enjoy boxed meal options from old favorites Freedom a la Cart and Milo’s Catering, as well as new boxed meals from Apple Spice and City Barbeque. The Graeter’s Ice Cream truck will also make an appearance at our July 10 event with Connie Schultz.
-
THERE’S ALWAYS THIS YEAR
Growing up in Columbus, Ohio in the 1990s, Hanif Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron James were forged and countless others weren’t. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tension between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role models, all of which he expertly weaves together with intimate, personal storytelling. “Here is where I would like to tell you about the form on my father’s jump shot,” Abdurraqib writes. “The truth, though, is that I saw my father shoot a basketball only one time.”
There’s Always This Year is a triumph, brimming with joy, pain, solidarity, comfort, outrage, and hope. No matter the subject of his keen focus—whether it’s basketball, or music, or performance—Hanif Abdurraqib’s exquisite writing is always poetry, always profound, and always a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, our country, and ourselves.
HANIF ABDURRAQIB
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. Hanif is a graduate of Beechcroft High School.
Hanif’s first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain't Worth Much, was released in June 2016 from Button Poetry. It was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. With Big Lucks, he released a limited edition chapbook, Vintage Sadness, in summer 2017 (you cannot get it anymore and he is very sorry). His first collection of essays, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was released in winter 2017 by Two Dollar Radio and was named a book of the year by Buzzfeed, Esquire, NPR, Oprah Magazine, Paste, CBC, The Los Angeles Review, Pitchfork, and The Chicago Tribune, among others. He released Go Ahead In The Rain: Notes To A Tribe Called Quest with University of Texas press in February 2019. The book became a New York Times bestseller, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and was longlisted for the National Book Award. His second collection of poems, A Fortune For Your Disaster, was released in 2019 by Tin House, and won the 2020 Lenore Marshall Prize. In 2021, he released the book A Little Devil In America with Random House, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. The book won the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and the Gordon Burn Prize.
-
‣ Picnic Social | 6:00-6:30 pm (Optional)
Enjoy a picnic dinner (ours or yours) and hang out on the lawn during this time frame (optional). Free tours of Thurber House will be available.
‣ Main Program | 6:30-7:30 pm
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the program! You will have the opportunity to ask the author questions after the event.
‣ Book Signing | 7:30 pm
Purchase books and get them signed by the author.
-
‣ Full Summer Subscription for 2 (Event Only) | $210
($200 subscription, $10 Columbus ticket fee)
Perfect for couples and friends, this series subscription admits up to two (2) attendees to each of the six (6) Summer Literary Picnics (a $252 value!). *Does not include dinner, but you can add à la carte dinners using the “Dinner Upgrade” option.*
‣ Adult Admission (Event + Dinner) | $41
($20 ticket, $1 Columbus ticket fee, $20 dinner)
This ticket includes individual admission to the event, plus a catered boxed dinner with an entree, sides, and a drink (regular and vegetarian options are available for this picnic).
‣ Adult Admission (Event Only) | $21
($20 ticket, $1 Columbus ticket fee)
This ticket includes individual admission to the event.
‣ 18 and Under Admission (Event Only) | $5.25
($5 ticket, $0.25 Columbus ticket fee)
This ticket includes individual admission to the event for attendees 18 and under. Note: this is a ticket to attend the event; Kids’ Club is a separate activity and is “pay what you can” (see below).
‣ Dinner Upgrade | $20
Add a boxed dinner to any 18 and Under ticket (or an Event Only ticket, if you change your mind later) for $20 per meal. You do not need to add a Dinner Upgrade if your ticket already comes with a dinner.
This upgrade includes one catered boxed dinner with an entree, sides, and a drink. Regular and vegetarian options are available for this picnic; for menus, visit the “Dinner Menus” tab below.
‣ NEW: Kids’ Club | Pay What You Can
Parents/guardians: drop off your child/teen at Thurber Center (next door to Thurber House) to participate in fun activities while you enjoy the event!
Activities are open to kindergartners and up and the cost is “pay what you can.” Drop off time is between 6:00-6:20 pm at Thurber Center (91 Jefferson Ave.). Once the main event concludes, your child(ren) will be escorted over to meet you.
Please note:
This program is only for children of those who have Thurber House event tickets.
A parent/guardian must be on site at the event at all times.
For allergy reasons, no food is permitted at Kids’ Club. Your child(ren) is/are welcome to eat dinner on the Thurber House lawn with you during the picnic social (6:00-6:20 pm).
Note: Some walk-in Event Only tickets will be available at the event (space permitting). However, we strongly encourage you to register in advance. All Event + Dinner tickets and Dinner Upgrades must be purchased at least several business days in advance.
-
The caterer for this picnic is… City Barbeque!
If you’d like a boxed dinner for this event, make sure to select an Event + Dinner ticket when you order. Dinner orders must be purchased by 10am on August 7th for this event.
‣ Regular menu:
Pulled pork sandwich
Mac & cheese
Cornbread
Choice of drink: water, pop, etc.
‣ Vegetarian menu:
Black bean burger
Mac & cheese
Cornbread
Choice of drink: water, pop, etc.
There is no vegan meal option available for this event. We apologize for any inconvenience.
-
‣ NEW: Kids’ Club | Pay What You Can
Parents/guardians: drop off your child/teen at Thurber Center (next door to Thurber House) to participate in fun activities while you enjoy the event!
Activities are open to kindergartners and up and the cost is “pay what you can.” Drop off time is between 6:00-6:20 pm at Thurber Center (91 Jefferson Ave.). Once the main event concludes, your child(ren) will be escorted over to meet you.
Please note:
This program is only for children of those who have Thurber House event tickets.
A parent/guardian must be on site at the event at all times.
For allergy reasons, no food is permitted at Kids’ Club. Your child(ren) is/are welcome to eat dinner on the Thurber House lawn with you during the picnic social (6:00-6:20 pm).
-
‣ Location: All Summer Literary Picnics take place on the Thurber House lawn (77 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215).
‣ Rain site: In the event of rain, Summer Literary Picnics are held at Thurber Center (91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215), the building directly north of Thurber House.
‣ Free parking on Jefferson Avenue: Free street parking is available all along the Jefferson Avenue oval. Note: Only the spots along the one-way oval are free; the spots along the two-way ends of Jefferson Avenue (near Broad Street and Long Street) are not free.
‣ Free parking off N. 11th Street (behind Thurber House): Free visitor parking is also available in the small lot directly behind Thurber House, accessible off N. 11th Street and located here.
-
For any questions that are not answered here, please contact Jess at jcox@thurberhouse.org or 614-412-5955.
‣ How will I receive my tickets? You will receive an email order confirmation containing your ticket(s). You can print or show your ticket(s) on your phone. If you are unable to do so, we will manually check you in.
‣ Can I order tickets by phone? Yes, although online orders are encouraged. To order by phone, call 614-412-5955.
‣ Can I purchase books and get them signed at the event? Yes, books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
‣ How do the picnic dinners work this year? If you order a ticket that includes a dinner or a dinner upgrade, your boxed meal comes with an entree, sides, and a drink. Regular and vegetarian meal options are available for this picnic. At this time, we cannot accommodate allergies.
‣ Is outside food/drink permitted? Yes! You have the option of bringing your own picnic dinner.
‣ Do I need to bring a chair with me? Please plan to bring your own lawn chair or blanket. A limited number of extra chairs will be available.
‣ Is there a bathroom? Yes, bathrooms will be available.
‣ Will Thurber House be open for free tours? Yes, the Thurber House museum will be open for free tours during the picnic social.
‣ What is your refund policy? All ticket sales are final and non-refundable.
‣ What is the Columbus ticket fee? The total ticket price includes the Columbus Arts and Culture Fee as required by the City of Columbus. The Arts and Culture Fee provides public funds to support artists and arts/cultural organizations like Thurber House that educate and engage audiences of all ages. Click here for more information.
—
Disclaimer: Views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by event and program speakers in all mediums are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Thurber House, its affiliates, or its staff/board.
