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North Carolina Reads

North Carolina Humanities’ North Carolina Reads program is a statewide book club featuring five books that explore issues of racial, social, and gender equality and the history and culture of North Carolina.  Throughout the fall, we’ll be reading the books and gathering for discussion.  To participate in the program, call us to sign up, pick up a copy of the books, read along, and join our discussion events scheduled over the next few months.

Registration is required to participate in the NC Reads events.  Register here.

2023 NC Reads Books:

August 1

September 5

October 3

November 7

December 5

carolina built

by Kianna Alexander

Historical Fiction. A story based on Josephine N. Leary, a real-life American entrepreneur who was emancipated in 1865. Leary is determined to build a life of her own and a future for her family. When she moves to Edenton, North Carolina, from the plantation where she was born, she is free, newly married, and ready to follow her dreams.

Discussion Session: August 1 • 6:00 pm Rogow Room

Click here to register.  Limited copies of the book are available to borrow from the Library.

Watch NC Humanities’ recorded book event with author Kianna Alexander and Dr. Hilary Green in a conversation moderated by NC Humanities Board Trustee Liliana Wendorff. 

game changers

by Art Chansky

Non-Fiction. Drawn together by college basketball in a time of momentous change, Dean Smith and Charlie Scott helped transform a university, a community, and the racial landscape of sports in the South.

Discussion Session: September 5 • 6:00 pm • Rogow Room

Click here to register.  Limited copies of the book are available to borrow from the Library.

Watch NC Humanities’ recorded book event with author Art Chansky and Dr. Matt Andrews in a conversation moderated by NC Humanities Board Trustee Brian Kahn.

money rock

by Pam Kelley

Non-Fiction. The story of Belton Lamont Platt, nicknamed Money Rock, and of a striving African American family, swept up and transformed by the 1980s cocaine epidemic. This gripping tale, populated with characters both big-hearted and flawed, shows how social forces and public policies—racism, segregation, the War on Drugs, mass incarceration—help shape individual destinies.

Discussion Session: October 3 • 6:00 pm • Rogow Room

Click here to register.  Limited copies of the book are available to borrow from the Library.

Watch NC Humanities’ recorded book event with author Pam Kelley, Dr. Seth Kotch (Associate Professor of American Studies at UNC Chapel Hill), and Dr. Barbara Lash (Department of Geography instructor at UNC Charlotte).

under a gilded moon

by Joy Jordan-Lake

Historical Fiction. Kerry MacGregor’s future is derailed when, after two years in college in New York City, family obligations call her home to the beautiful Appalachians. As Kerry finds herself caught in a war between wealth and poverty, innocence and corruption, she must navigate not only her own pride and desperation to survive but also the temptations of fortune and the men who control it.

Discussion Session: November 7 •          6:00 pm • Rogow Room

Click here to register.  Limited copies of the book are available to borrow from the Library.

Watch NC Humanities’ virtual book event with author Joy Jordan-Lake and Dr. Jennifer Le Zotte in a conversation moderated by NC Humanities Board Trustee Mike Wakeford.

step it up & go    

by David Menconi

Non-Fiction. This book is a love letter to the artists, scenes, and sounds defining North Carolina’s extraordinary contributions to American popular music. Menconi shows how working-class roots and rebellion tie North Carolina’s Piedmont blues, jazz, and bluegrass to beach music, rock, hip-hop, and more.

Discussion Session: December 5 • 6:00 pm • Rogow Room

Click here to register.  Limited copies of the book are available to borrow from the Library.

Watch NC Humanities’ virtual book event  with author David Menconi and founder of Ramseur independent label and North Carolina Music Hall of Fame Trustee Dolphus Ramseur in a conversation moderated by NC Humanities’ Board Trustee Elizabeth Carlson.

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These programs are supported by North Carolina Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, nchumanities.org.

2022 NC Reads Books:

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(828) 884-3151

212 S Gaston St, Brevard, NC 28712