Pulitzer Prize Finalist & Award-Winning NYT Bestselling Author Wil Haygood
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5 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.
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COLORIZATION
From the acclaimed author of The Butler and Showdown comes this unprecedented history of Black cinema. Colorization examines 100 years of Black movies—from Gone with the Wind to Blaxploitation films to Black Panther—using the struggles and triumphs of the artists, and the films themselves, as a prism to explore Black culture, civil rights, and racism in America.
Beginning in 1915 with D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation—which glorified the Ku Klux Klan and became Hollywood’s first blockbuster—Wil Haygood gives us an incisive, fascinating, little-known history, spanning more than a century, of Black artists in the film business, on-screen and behind the scenes.
He makes clear the effects of changing social realities and events on the business of making movies and what was represented on the screen: from Jim Crow and segregation to white flight and interracial relationships, from the assassination of Malcolm X, to the O. J. Simpson trial, to the Black Lives Matter movement. He considers the films themselves—including Imitation of Life, Gone with the Wind, Porgy and Bess, the Blaxploitation films of the seventies, Do The Right Thing, 12 Years a Slave, and Black Panther. And he brings to new light the careers and significance of a wide range of historic and contemporary figures: Hattie McDaniel, Sidney Poitier, Berry Gordy, Alex Haley, Spike Lee, Billy Dee Willliams, Richard Pryor, Halle Berry, Ava DuVernay, and Jordan Peele, among many others.
An important, timely book, Colorization gives us both an unprecedented history of Black cinema and a groundbreaking perspective on racism in modern America.
WIL HAYGOOD
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Wil Haygood has been a Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and a James Thurber Fellow at The Ohio State University, among many other honors. He has worked for both The Washington Post and the Boston Globe—where, as a foreign correspondent, he was taken hostage by Somali rebels.
The 2013 movie Lee Daniels' The Butler was adapted from a story by Haygood in The Washington Post. It starred Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Mariah Carey, and David Oyelowo. That same summer, Haygood's book, The Butler: A Witness to History, landed on The New York Times bestseller list.
Haygood is the author of many other widely acclaimed books: Tigerland, which was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; Showdown, a finalist for an NAACP Image Award; King of the Cats: the Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr., named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; the autobiography The Haygoods of Columbus: A Family Memoir, which was awarded the Great Lakes Book Award and the Ohioana Library Award; and In Black and White: the Life of Sammy Davis Jr., which received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Music Biography Award, the Zora Neale Hurston-Richard Wright Legacy Award, and the Nonfiction Book of the Year Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.
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‣ 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.
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‣ 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, vegetarian, and vegan options are available; for menus, visit the “Dinner Menus” tab below.
‣ 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, vegetarian, and vegan options are available; 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.
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The caterer for this picnic is… Milo’s Catering!
If you’d like a boxed dinner for this event, make sure to select an Event + Dinner ticket when you order. Dinners must be purchased by 10am on June 3rd for this event.
‣ Regular menu:
Smokey turkey sandwich (roasted turkey, smoked gouda, lettuce, tomato, and dijonnaise on sourdough bread)
Fresh fruit salad
Kettle chips
Choice of drink: water, pop, etc.
‣ Vegetarian menu:
Greek hummus wrap (hummus, feta, lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, and olives in spinach wrap)
Fresh fruit salad
Kettle chips
Choice of drink: water, pop, etc.
‣ Vegan menu:
Vegan summer wrap (quinoa, greens, cucumber, tomato, pickled red onion, sweet corn, and hummus in a spinach wrap)
Fresh fruit salad
Kettle chips
Choice of drink: water, pop, etc.
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‣ 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).
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‣ 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.
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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, vegetarian, and vegan meal options are available. 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.
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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.
