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Image for event: CALS Speaker Series and NEA Big Read presents Tommy Orange

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CALS Speaker Series and NEA Big Read presents Tommy Orange

Bestselling author of There There and Wandering Stars

2024-05-16 18:30:00 2024-05-16 19:30:00 America/Chicago CALS Speaker Series and NEA Big Read presents Tommy Orange Join us at the Ron Robinson Theater on Thursday, May 16, for a discussion with Tommy Orange. Moderated by Andrea L. Rogers. This CALS Speakers Series event is honoring Rabbi Ira Sanders. Ron Robinson Theater - Ron Robinson Theater

Thursday, May 16
6:30pm - 7:30pm

Add to Calendar 2024-05-16 18:30:00 2024-05-16 19:30:00 America/Chicago CALS Speaker Series and NEA Big Read presents Tommy Orange Join us at the Ron Robinson Theater on Thursday, May 16, for a discussion with Tommy Orange. Moderated by Andrea L. Rogers. This CALS Speakers Series event is honoring Rabbi Ira Sanders. Ron Robinson Theater - Ron Robinson Theater

Ron Robinson Theater

Ron Robinson Theater

Join us at the Ron Robinson Theater on Thursday, May 16, for a discussion with Tommy Orange. Moderated by Andrea L. Rogers. This CALS Speakers Series event is honoring Rabbi Ira Sanders.


Tommy Orange is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel There There, a multigenerational, relentlessly paced story about a side of America few of us have ever seen: the lives of urban Native Americans. There There was one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year, and won the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and the Pen/Hemingway Award. There There was also longlisted for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His next novel, Wandering Stars, will be released in February 2024. Orange graduated from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and was a 2014 MacDowell Fellow and a 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Oakland, California.

About There There

A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.

“This is the kind of novel you finish and immediately need your book club to read so you can talk about it with other people. . . . It’s also a powerful reminder of the ability of narrative to move minds.” (GOOP)

About Wandering Stars:

“…a masterful follow-up to his already classic first novel. Extending his constellation of narratives into the past and future, Tommy Orange traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family in a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous… Wandering Stars is a novel about epigenetic and generational trauma that has the force and vision of a modern epic, an exceptionally powerful new book from one of the most exciting writers at work today and soaring confirmation of (the author’s) monumental gifts.” (publishers press blurb)

"For the sake of knowing, of understanding, Wandering Stars blew my heart into a thousand pieces and put it all back together again. This is a masterwork that will not be forgotten, a masterwork that will forever be part of you.” (Morgan Talty, bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez)


As part of CALS NEA Big Read 2024 celebration of Tommy Orange’s There There, we will have additional ebook copies available on Overdrive for patrons to check out between May 6 and May 24, 2024. You can download There There through CALS online catalog, the CALS app, or the Libby app.


NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. El Proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperacion con Arts Midwest.

Ron Robinson Theater

Phone: 501.320.5715

Hours

Ron Robinson Theater

Today's hours

We're open 9:00AM to 5:30PM


Address
100 River Market Avenue
Little Rock, AR 72201
Tel: 501.320.5715

About the branch

The Ron Robinson Theater is a 315-seat multi-purpose event venue. Part of the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Main Library campus, it is designed to provide programs for all ages including films, music performances, plays, readings, lectures, speakers, and children’s activities. The theater is equipped with a state-of-the-art DCI-compliant Barco digital cinema projection system and 32′ wide retractable screen; and, a versatile sound system capable of Dolby 5.1 surround audio for movies, with a CL3 digital mixing console with ample inputs for traditional music concerts.

Upcoming Events

Fri, Jun 27, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Join us Friday, June 27th for a special concert with award-winning pianist, composer, band director, and music instructor, Julia Buckingham!Register

Sat, Jun 28, 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Ron Robinson Theater
In partnership with Summer @ CALS (the library's summer reading program), we are pleased to offer family-friendly films each Saturday. Individuals who sign up for the program can earn badges and choose a free movie pass as their prize! Register

Sat, Jun 28, 3:00pm - 6:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Join us for our next screening of National Theatre Live!Register

Sat, Jun 28, 7:00pm - 11:30pm
Ron Robinson Theater
The journey ends, but the legend lives on.Register

Tue, Jul 01, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Join us for our next Terror Tuesday!Register

Sat, Jul 05, 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Ron Robinson Theater
In partnership with Summer @ CALS (the library's summer reading program), we are pleased to offer family-friendly films each Saturday. Individuals who sign up for the program can earn badges and choose a free movie pass as their prize! Register

Sat, Jul 05, 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
He’s a what? He’s a what? He’s a movie musical legend! Register

Sat, Jul 05, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Nothing says Fourth of July like Will Smith punching an alien in the face!Register

Tue, Jul 08, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Join us for our next Terror Tuesday!Register

Thu, Jul 10, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Nobody puts Baby in a corner!Register

Fri, Jul 11, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Join us on the 2nd Friday of each month for Art Night at the Theater during downtown's 2nd Friday Art Night!Register

Sat, Jul 12, 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Ron Robinson Theater
In partnership with Summer @ CALS (the library's summer reading program), we are pleased to offer family-friendly films each Saturday. Individuals who sign up for the program can earn badges and choose a free movie pass as their prize! Register

Sat, Jul 12, 4:00pm - 5:30pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers are some of the most iconic paintings in the world. What many mistake for one masterpiece, are actually five paintings of sunflowers in vases scattered across galleries in Amsterdam, London, Munich, Philadelphia & Tokyo.Register

Sat, Jul 12, 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Let’s do the Time Warp again!Register

Tue, Jul 15, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Join us for our next Terror Tuesday!Register

Fri, Jul 18, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Get ready for one of the wildest nights you’ll ever have at the movies.Register

Sat, Jul 19, 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Ron Robinson Theater
In partnership with Summer @ CALS (the library's summer reading program), we are pleased to offer family-friendly films each Saturday. Individuals who sign up for the program can earn badges and choose a free movie pass as their prize! Register

Sat, Jul 19, 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Featuring Amy Garland Angel, Charlotte Taylor, Emily Fenton, and King Honey!Register

Tue, Jul 22, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Join us for our next Terror Tuesday!Register

Thu, Jul 24, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
The Coen Brothers reimagine Homer’s Odyssey in this hilarious, heartwarming Southern-fried musical journey.Register

Fri, Jul 25, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
As you wish! Whether it’s your first time or your hundredth, there’s no resisting the wit, heart, and swashbuckling fun of The Princess Bride.Register

Sat, Jul 26, 10:00am - 12:30pm
Ron Robinson Theater
Rocktown Naturals is a NANBF sanctioned amateur drug free body building show.

Sat, Jul 26, 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
I'll be right here...Register

Sat, Jul 26, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Ron Robinson Theater
John Carpenter’s legendary sci-fi horror film is paranoia and terror at their most intense.Register