Read, Listen, Learn, and Dialogue Together
SPEAK is a lecture and discussion series that aims to bring in authors, thought leaders, and speakers each year.
Through the SPEAK initiative, EVPL hopes to further our vision of communities united through shared exploration and understanding by supporting and encouraging conversation. Empathy and compassion are grown through words, whether spoken or written. SPEAK encourages our community to speak up and speak together.
To financially support SPEAK, you can donate to the EVPL Foundation.
2023 Speakers
The Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library’s SPEAK: An Explorative Lecture Series will feature three authors in 2023 who touch on our theme of Read, Connect, Explore.
DJ Savarese
DJ Savarese is an award-winning writer, public speaker, and activist who works to make literacy-based education, communication, and inclusive lives a reality for all non-traditionally speaking people. He is the author of A Doorknob for the Eye and his work has been published in several periodicals. He is the writer and co-producer of the Peabody-award-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary film Deej, which follows his inclusion journey.
He will discuss his history, work, and advocacy on Thursday, April 20, at 6:30 pm in the Browning Rooms of EVPL Central.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Mother, scientist, professor, and author Robin Wall Kimmerer will present on Thursday, July 13, at 7:00 pm at the Victory Theatre.
The author of the New York Times bestselling Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and Teachings of Plants, she is also the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability. In 2022, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.
Brad Meltzer
The last presenter of 2023’s SPEAK: An Explorative Lecture Series is author Brad Meltzer. He is a #1 New York Times bestselling author with works for all ages. His titles include The Lightning Rod, The Escape Artist, and I am Dolly Parton. He is also the host of History Channel’s Brad Meltzer’s Lost History and Brad Meltzer’s Decoded.
Brad will discuss his works and research on Thursday, September 21, at 7:00 pm in the Ballroom of the Old National Events Plaza.
—–
Prior to the SPEAK event, we will host several programs for library users of all ages to explore our theme of Read. Connect. Explore.
EVPL Programs
National Poet-Tree Month
All April at EVPL Red Bank
Everyone can share their own poetic skills by helping our tree of poems bloom. They will take a paper leaf, write a poem (maybe even include some artwork if you’d like), then turn it into a library staff member for it to be added to the tree for all our visitors to view.
Deej | Documentary Screening
Wednesday, April 5 at 6:00 pm at EVPL McCollough
Join us for a screening of Deej prior to DJ Savarese’s SPEAK: An Explorative Lecture Series presentation on Thursday, April 20.
“Abandoned by his birth parents and presumed incompetent, DJ Savarese (“Deej”) found not only a loving family but also a life in words, which he types on a text-to-voice synthesizer. As he makes his way through high school and dreams of college, he confronts the terrors of his past, society’s obstacles to inclusion, and the sometimes paralyzing beauty of his own senses. In his advocacy on behalf of other nonspeaking autistics, he embraces filmmaking and poetry, and discovers what having a voice can truly mean.”
