Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story & the children's book lyrical picture book in verse Born On the Water, joins us for a keynote address and conversation with Martha S. Jones, followed by Q&A.

On Saturday, March 12, this Keynote event is the only event you have to register for if you plan to attend in person. 

The event will be held LIVE at Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Branch on Cathedral Street in the third floor Wheeler Auditorium. Seating is limited. Show-ups are welcome. For those with tickets, please arrive promptly by 1:30 pm or seats will be given away. If you do not have a ticket, the remaining open seats will be available on a first-come, first basis.

Please note: If you cannot obtain a seat, you may watch the live stream of the event on your own device. The Pratt Library offers free wifi. We truly appreciate your grace and your patience as we navigate both a live and virtual experience for all.

ASL interpretation will be available for attendees.

Nikole Hannah-Jones is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. She has spent her career investigating racial inequality and injustice, and her reporting has earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the Genius grant, a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards and the National Magazine Award three times. Hannah-Jones also earned the John Chancellor Award for Distinguished Journalism and was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists and the Newswomen's Club of New York. In 2020 she was inducted into the Society of American Historians and in 2021, into the North Carolina Media Hall of Fame. Nikole was named as one of the Most Influential People in the in 2021 by Time Magazine.

In 2016, Hannah-Jones co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which seeks to increase the number of reporters and editors of color. She holds a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina and earned her Bachelor of Arts in History and African-American studies from the University of Notre Dame.

Hannah-Jones is the Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she has founded the Center for Journalism & Democracy. 

Martha S. Jones is prize-winning author and the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor at Johns Hopkins University. Her most recent book is Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote and Insisted on Equalty for All (Basic, 2020).

You can order the author's books from The Ivy Bookshop.

19th Annual CityLit Festival Partners:

Media Sponsor: BMoreArt Magazine

Enoch Pratt Free Library | Maryland Centers for Creative Classrooms | Arts Education in Maryland Schools

Maryland Humanities | Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance | Motor House | Busboys and Poets -Baltimore

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