RELEASED: October 29, 2009

By Abby Malik

DANVILLE, KY—James McBride, author of the bestseller The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, will discuss this and other works at a Centre College convocation on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in Newlin Hall. There will also be a discussion held with McBride at 4 p.m. in the Grissom Reading Room of Grace Doherty Library, and a reception in the Evans-Lively Room in Old Carnegie following the convocation. All events are free and open to the public.

McBride's memoir was a two-year fixture on the New York Times bestseller list and has been praised as a new American classic. McBride is also a musician (saxophonist in his own jazz and R&B band); a screenwriter (his debut novel, Miracle at St. Anna, became a Spike Lee-directed, Disney/Touchstone-released film); a successful songwriter; and a former writer for various publications, including The Boston Globe, People magazine, The Washington Post, Essence, Rolling Stone, National Geographic and The New York Times.

McBride's third novel, Song Yet Sung, was released in January 2009.

McBride's visit to Centre is part of a collaboration between Centre's Grace Doherty Library and the Academic Dean's office, which began as a discussion a few years ago and is now funded through the Humana Foundation. Centre receives an endowment from Humana for the purpose of bringing high profile speakers to campus, such as McBride.

The collaborative effort brought its first visitor to campus last year in the person of Chris Bachelder, a young author. During CentreTerm, Bachelder was also involved in a creative writing class on campus. 

Have comments, suggestions, or story ideas? E-mail leigh.ivey@centre.edu with your feedback.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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