92NY Presents a Rare Reading of Gwendolyn Brooks’s Novel Maud Martha

Thursday, Feb. 23, 7:30 PM ET, $25

With Actress Roslyn Ruff; Introduction by Margo Jefferson; Conversation with Vinson Cunningham

What she liked was candy buttons, and books, and painted music (deep blue, or delicate silver), and the west sky…

92NY’s Unterberg Poetry Center will present a Feb. 23, 7:30 pm reading of  Gwendolyn Brooks’s first and only novel, Maud Martha—an “exquisite portraiture of black womanhood by one of America’s most foundational writers” (Claudia Rankine). 

The reading, which marks the 70th anniversary of Maud Martha’s publication in 1953, will be delivered by acclaimed actress Roslyn Ruff, “a fantastically talented performer whose great gift is her ability to dissect long speeches, searching them for pleasing rhythms and hidden melodies,” wrote The New Yorker.

Author and cultural critic Margo Jefferson will introduce the reading; following the reading, Ruff will discuss the piece, her relationship to Brooks’s work, and her acting career with The New Yorker’s Vinson Cunningham. 

Tickets are available via 92NY’s website. 

“Maud Martha cherishes her own mind. To her, Brooks gives the sensibility and consciousness of an artist,” wrote Jefferson. “What does Maud Martha want? She wants to give shape to the varied materials of life around and inside her. The daydreams and duties, the nagging habits and treasured rituals, the ‘knots of grief’ and surges of pleasure. Her quest is to become the best possible version of herself.”

*This event will take place at NYPL’s Bruno Walter Auditorium (111 Amsterdam Ave.)

About The 92nd Street Y, New York:  The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a world-class center for the arts and innovation, a convener of ideas, and an incubator for creativity. 92NY offers extensive classes, courses and events online including live concerts, talks and master classes; fitness classes for all ages; 250+ art classes, and parenting workshops for new moms and dads. The 92nd Street Y, New York is transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action all over the world. All of 92NY’s programming is built on a foundation of Jewish values, including the capacity of civil dialogue to change minds; the potential of education and the arts to change lives; and a commitment to welcoming and serving people of all ages, races, religions, and ethnicities. For more information, visit  www.92NY.org.