Latest news with #booktalk
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Delaware beams up Stacey Abrams, 'Star Trek' fan & author, for book tour. What to know
In under two hours, tickets to Stacey Abrams' book talk at Wilmington Public Library — featuring the renowned public figure, author and devoted 'Star Trek' fan — were sold out. Abrams will discuss her new thriller, 'Coded Justice,' when she tours to Wilmington on July 17. The event will be moderated by Jamar Rahming, library executive director. Abrams will join a long list of big names who have stopped by the library since 2020, such as Michael Vick, Common, Keke Palmer, Dennis Rodman and more. Here's what to know about Abrams, who is credited with helping Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election, plus some high-profile guests that the Wilmington Library wanted to bring in over the years, including controversial political commentator, author and social media juggernaut Candace Owens. Abrams has many titles including lawyer, New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur and producer. But most people know Abrams for being a political leader in Georgia. The Democrat served 11 years in the Georgia House of Representatives, seven as minority leader, and was the first Black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in United States history, per her bio. In 2022, Abrams lost a high-profile gubernatorial race to Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. It marked her second defeat by Kemp in a gubernatorial election. Despite falling short of reaching the governor's seat, Abrams is credited for playing a big role in helping to turn Georgia blue in 2020, which helped Joe Biden win the presidential election over Donald Trump that year. Also in 2020, Abrams launched her production company, Sage Works Productions, Inc. She has been nominated for an Emmy Award, and her projects have received the NAACP Image Awards in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Her documentary, "All In: The Fight for Democracy," which focused on voter suppression, was shortlisted for the Academy Awards in 2020, according to her bio. Abrams' website lists her as the Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics at Howard University. The internet was buzzing in 2022 after Abrams made a surprise guest appearance in the season 4 finale of the sci-fi series "Star Trek: Discovery." Her role? She was "President of United Earth." "One of the reasons I love 'Star Trek' is that it is not one thing. It is so many different shows, and its so many different vantage points," Abrams, who is a Trekkie, said in a video interview uploaded to the Paramount+ YouTube channel. She added, "And what has been so remarkable about every iteration of the show is that they take that same construct, but they do it so differently and so well that you never get bored with the journey." One notable guest the Wilmington Library was unable to host in a debate last year was Candace Owens, the Wilmington Public Library director told The News Journal / Delaware Online in April. Owens is a leading conservative political commentator famous for speaking her mind. That includes her 2021 appearance on Fox News' 'The Ingraham Angle,' where she criticized Stacey Abrams, then a Georgia gubernatorial candidate. Fighting for libraries: He turned one Delaware library into celebrity hot spot. Now he's fighting for their future 'I can't imagine why any person, any sane individual, would want her leading their state,' Owens said about Abrams. Owens' self-titled podcast on YouTube has over 4.3 million subscribers, and she commands an even larger following across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and has 6.9 million followers on X alone. The podcaster has earned praise from fans and strong opposition from critics for her critiques of LGBTQ issues and Black Lives Matter, her support for Donald Trump, and her involvement in heated debates. Owens also has upset members of the Jewish community upset and been banned from YouTube. Last September, during election season, Wilmington Library welcomed social justice advocates Angela Rye and Tamika Mallory. Mallory, co-founder of Until Freedom, is known for activism in cases like the killing of Breonna Taylor and Michael Brown. Rahming hoped for a debate among Owens, Rye, and Mallory, but it never materialized because the library director couldn't meet Owens' special request. 'She requires private jet travel because she's been accosted in airports and ... she was pregnant at the time, and she just was afraid because she felt unsafe in mainstream airports,' Rahming said. Other guests Rahming wanted to bring to the Wilmington Library, over the years, include former NFL star turned-activist Colin Kaepernick and NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Rahming wanted to host Kaepernick because he's a children's author and could discuss why he chose to become a social activist while he played in the NFL. 'Some of these people ... they'd don't fly commercial anymore. They require private jets,' Rahming told The News Journal in 2023. Abdul-Jabbar falls into that category. Fun in June: These are the best events at the Delaware beaches this summer 'I think he has an incredible story that would resonate with our community,' Rahming said about the NBA legend this past April. 'But he commands $100,000 honorarium and a private jet. So, there's no way that we could meet those terms.' It's important to bring in notable, diverse people from all different walks of life, whether Republican and Democrat, because Rahming wants to give the Wilmington community, which is over 50% Black, a chance to learn from world-class people, and ask them questions. Rahming said most of the library's high-profile events with celebrities have been free to the public, and many of their guests have charged either a small fee or nothing at all. The library, which has funded these events using only private money and not taxpayer dollars, has landed many of the guests they've reached out to, the director said. The new thriller "Coded Justice" from Abrams follows a former Supreme Court clerk who landed a job at a high-end law firm in D.C. where she gets make big money. She's now a corporate internal investigator. Her new client is a mega-tech firm that's on the forefront of developing a new integrated AI system that might revolutionize the medical industry. But strange things start to happen during the testing of this new tech, including the death of an engineer. Readers will dive down this deep, winding rabbit hole with the corporate investigator in 'Coded Justice.' The book releases on major platforms like Amazon on July 15. If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@ Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Stacey Abrams is coming to Delaware with new thriller. What to know
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
After Biden's diagnosis, Jake Tapper's book tour is business as usual
'You guys want me to sing, right?' quipped CNN's Jake Tapper, as he and his co-author Alex Thompson, of Axios, settled into their seats onstage. It was an unusually rock-and-roll setting for a book talk: 9:30 Club is one of Washington's most storied music halls, with a capacity of 1,200 standing. (This event was seated; as of that morning, Politics and Prose Bookstore had sold a little over 300 tickets, priced at $45.30 each — hardcover not included.) The previous night, the club had hosted a singer-songwriter lab-engineered for Spotify's coffeehouse playlists; the next night, the rows of folding chairs would make way for a sapphic dance party, benefiting a reproductive access fund. All three of the venue's bars were open on this Thursday evening, requiring the P&P crowd — silvering, affluent, graciously suppressing irritation — to be carded at the door.
RNZ News
13-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Book Critic: new (ish) books for children
This month's theme does what it says on the tin! All these books have been published in the last year and are definitely worth talking about according to Catherine Ross, the Director of Library at Auckland Grammar School. More details can be found on Catherine's blog. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
