Author Events
VIRTUAL EVENT: The Art of Foraging with Alexis Nikole Nelson
Celebrate Earth Month with BlackForager, Alexis Nikole Nelson. A forager, outdoor educator, chef, and influencer based in Ohio, Nelson uses her platforms to yell, sing and celebrate all the edible plants hiding in plain sight. She invites all to come on her foraging journey with her via @alexisnikole (TikTok) and @blackforager (Instagram). Through her search for freely accessible edible plants, she peels back historical layers on African American and Indigenous food traditions that have traditionally been repressed and empowers those living in food deserts with greater self- sufficiency.
Nelson has also cooked up quite a few awards, receiving the James Beard Award for “Best Social Media” 2022, being chosen as a ‘TikTok Tastemaker’ for Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and honored as part of Fortune Magazine’s Creator 25 in 2021. With 5 million followers joining, Alexis takes audiences into the woods and to the oceans in search of edible plants and tasty recipes to enrich their palates and the planet. As Alexis would say, happy snacking, don’t die!
Nelson will be joined in conversation by Natalie Evans, a wild edible foods instructor based in Chicago.
VIRTUAL EVENT: Art and Adventures with Author/Illustrator Dan Santat
Dan Santat is the author and illustrator of over a hundred books for young people. Many of his books are New York Times-bestsellers, including The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend, Are We There Yet?, and After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again). His latest works include the best-selling graphic novels, The Aquanaut and A First Time for Everything.
Santat won the Caldecott Medal for most distinguished picture book in 2015, the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2023 and Golden Kite Award for Middle Grade Fiction in 2024.
VIRTUAL EVENT: Poverty: A Discussion with Matthew Desmond
Join us to close out our fourth season with bestselling author Matthew Desmond in conversation with award-winning journalist, Natalie Moore.
Desmond is a professor of sociology at Princeton University and author of the award-winning book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. The recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, Desmond was named one of “fifty people across the country who are most influencing the national political debate” by Politico 50 in 2016. His research focuses on poverty in the United States, city life, housing insecurity, public policy, racial inequality, and ethnography.
Natalie Moore is an award-winning journalist based in Chicago, whose reporting tackles race, housing, economic development, food injustice and violence. She is the author of the acclaimed The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation and co-author of The Almighty Black P Stone Nation: The Rise, Fall and Resurgence of an American Gang. Moore is the recipient of Chicago Library Foundation’s 21st Century Award and a Studs Terkel Community Media Award among many others. Her work has helped shift the way Chicagoans today think about segregation in the region.
These events are made possible by Illinois Libraries Present, a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premier events. ILP is funded in part by a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). ILP is committed to inclusion and accessibility.
To request accommodations, please email illinoislibrariespresent@gmail.com