KWAME ALEXANDER discusses his new book SWING, with NIKKI GIOVANNI and WENDY CALHOUN

Swing (Blink)

When America is not so beautiful, or right, or just, it can be hard to know what to do. Best friends Walt and Noah decide to use their voices to grow more good in the world, but first they've got to find cool.

Walt is convinced junior year is their year, and he has a plan to help them woo the girls of their dreams and become amazing athletes. Never mind that he and Noah failed to make the high school baseball team yet again, and Noah's love interest since third grade, Sam, has him firmly in the friend zone. Noah soon finds himself navigating the worlds of jazz, batting cages, the strange advice of Walt's Dairy Queen-employed cousin, as well as Walt's own perceptions of what is actually cool. Status quo seems inevitable until Noah stumbles on a stash of old love letters. Each page contains the words he's always wanted to say to Sam, and he begins secretly creating artwork using the lines that speak his heart. But when his private artwork becomes public, Noah has a decision to make: continue his life in the dugout and possibly lose the girl forever, or take a swing and make his voice heard?

At the same time, numerous American flags are being left around town. While some think it's a harmless prank and others see it as a form of peaceful protest, Noah can't shake the feeling something bigger is happening to his community. Especially after he witnesses events that hint divides and prejudices run deeper than he realized. As the personal and social tensions increase around them, Noah and Walt must decide what is really true when it comes to love, friendship, sacrifice, and fate.

New York Times bestselling authors Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess (Solo) tell a lyrical story about hope, courage, and love that will speak to anyone who's struggled to find their voice.

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and the New York Times Bestselling author of 28 books, including Swing, Solo, and Rebound, the follow-up to his, Newbery-medal winning middle grade novel, The Crossover. Some of his other works include Booked, a National Book Award Nominee, The Playbook: 52 Rules To Help You Aim, Shoot, and Score In This Game of Life, and the picture books, Out of Wonder, Surf's Up, and The Undefeated. The 2018 NEA Read Across America Ambassador, Kwame is also the host and producer of the literary variety/talk show, Bookish, which airs on Facebook Watch, the co-founding director of the LEAP for Ghana initiative, and the Founding Editor of VERSIFY, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers.

Nikki Giovanni, poet, activist, mother, and professor, is a seven-time NAACP Image Award winner and the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, and holds the Langston Hughes Medal for Outstanding Poetry, among many other honors. The author of twenty-eight books and a Grammy nominee for The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection, she is the University Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Her latest book is A Good Cry.

Wendy Calhoun is a writer and executive producer with an overall deal at Warner Bros. Television Studios where she’s currently developing Lean on Me for the CW and Strong Justice for NBC. She has developed new series pilots with Netflix, FX, 20th TV Studios, and ABC Signature. Her past credits include Co-Executive Producing and writing the historic first season of Fox’s megahit series Empire. In addition, she’s written and produced for ABC’s Station 19, Nashville, and Revenge, and FX’s Justified. Calhoun wrote and directed the virtual reality short, Left Behind, sponsored by Google, and honored as “Best in VR” at Digital Hollywood. She served as the Narrative Consultant for Electronic Arts’ Battlefield Hardline video game. Calhoun received a 2010 Peabody Award for Justified. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Calhoun is an alumna of Booker T. Washington High School of the Visual and Performing Arts (originally known as Arts Magnet High School). She studied film and television at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Tonight's event will feature a very special musical performance by Randy Preston.