SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, Pa. — Charles Cantalupo, distinguished professor, English, comparative literature, and African studies, will launch his new book, “Non-Native Speaker: Selected & Sundry Essays,” at Penn State Schuylkill.
Cantalupo will read a few excerpts from “Non-Native Speaker” that cover a number of wide-ranging topics from Rome to race, dactylics to Kenya, and Conrad to the Congo.
According to Moses Kilolo, managing editor of “Jalada Africa,” Cantalupo’s newest book “is a personal journey that illuminates one of the most critical debates in African literatures, that of African languages. Working to promote their meaning, use and translation, Africa’s new generation of visionaries has a lot to learn from pioneers like Charles Cantalupo.”
The book reading and signing event will take place from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, on the patio of the Health and Wellness building at Penn State Schuylkill. In case of inclement weather, the book reading will take place in Room 201 of the Health and Wellness Building.
In “Non-Native Speaker,” Cantalupo’s 12th book, he addresses his work and travels that took place over the past 25 years, including a Euro-American perspective in a continuum with African literature and languages. The book includes three interviews with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, one of Africa’s greatest writers who was exiled from Kenya. In 2000, the two men collaborated and established a large international conference at Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea, “Against All Odds: African Languages and Literature into the 21st Century,” which resulted in an historic declaration that was translated in many languages.
Books will be available for purchase and author signing at the reading. Stop in for a special course of light lunch, enjoyable company and soulful poetry.
To interview the author prior to the book reading and signing, contact Susan Andrews at 570-385-6103.