Best-selling author, Metcalfe Chair to speak at Raynor Memorial Libraries fundraiser April 29

April 26, 2021

Tayari JonesMILWAUKEE — Tayari Jones, best-selling author of “An American Marriage” and the 2021 Marquette University Ralph H. Metcalfe, Sr. Chair, will speak at a virtual fundraising event hosted by Marquette Raynor Memorial Libraries on Thursday, April 29, at 6 p.m.

At the event, Jones will discuss “An American Marriage,” as well as her other novels. Tickets for the event are available online, with proceeds supporting the Raynor Library Digital Scholarship Lab.

Jones is a member of Black Artists for Freedom and is currently a Charles Howard Candler Professor at Emory University and A.D. White Professor At Large at Cornell University. An Oprah’s Book Club Selection, “An American Marriage” was named a notable book by The New York Times and The Washington Post and was included on former President Barrack Obama’s Best of 2018 roundup, in addition to being awarded the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Orange Prize), the Aspen Words Prize, and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Fiction.

The Metcalfe Chair is a non-residential visiting scholar of African American, Latinx or Native American heritage. In 1981, Marquette established this program to honor the legacy of Ralph H. Metcalfe, Sr., an alumnus who graduated from the College of Liberal Arts in 1936. After a distinguished Olympic career, which included gold and silver medals at the 1932 and 1936 Olympic Games, Metcalfe served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Upon returning to his native Chicago, he held a series of political posts before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He died on Oct. 10, 1978; however, his legacy lives on at Marquette through this program.

Raynor Memorial Libraries’ digital scholarship services transform the way faculty and students create and share knowledge by helping them explore new digital tools and methodologies. The Digital Scholarship Lab space also gives students a dedicated environment for experimenting, collaborating, and creating in digital video, graphics, web publishing, and other media. Services available include consulting, equipment, software, studio space and large-format printing.

About Kevin Conway

Kevin Conway

Kevin is the associate director for university communication in the Office of University Relations. Contact Kevin at (414) 288-4745 or kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu.