WITS Study Hall
WITS Study Hall is a collaborative learning space for adult learners to actively participate in anti-racist conversation and enjoy the works of writers of color. We focus not just on anti-racist discourse, but celebrating the range of genres and stories by BIPOC authors.
WITS Study Hall explores one book every two months and is open to all readers. You can sign up to join our virtual meetings, or use this framework to start your own book club. We’ll provide the book selection, discussion questions, and supplemental resources. Whatever your engagement, we hope you join us in this important reading.
Currently Reading
Yellowface
by R.F. Kuang
Join us on May 20 at 6 p.m. CT to discuss Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, facilitated by Sara Verstynen.
"Every once in a while there is a novel that enters the literary zeitgeist and requires discourse — but it feels like there is nothing that can be written or said that will ever do it justice. This is the feeling R.F. Kuang's new novel Yellowface evokes.
Kuang's first foray outside of fantasy is a well-executed, gripping, fast-paced novel about the nuances of the publishing world when an author is desperate enough to do anything for success. I was consistently at the edge of my seat until the very last page." - Keishel Williams, NPR
Our Next Meeting
May 20 2025
6:00-7:00pm CST
Zoom Link will be emailed
Sign Up to Attend
Please fill out this form to sign up for the next Study Hall meeting
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - Yellowface
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SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - Yellowface
These additional resources will help integrate learning from our Study Hall books with additional interviews, articles, and podcasts. They may be referenced during WITS Study Hall meetings, so check them out.Previously Read
Chain-Gang All-Stars
by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Join us on March 19 at 5:30 p.m. CT to discuss Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, facilitated by De Gray.
“Chain-Gang All-Stars is an alarmingly pertinent dystopian novel set in a dreaded, near-future America, where prisons have been privatized, and prisoners fight to the death for their freedom in televised blood sport death matches. Noting the parallels between incarceration and slavery, it is a deep, dark dive into the American soul, filled with fury and violence, a disquieting, pulse-pounding, brutal takedown of the whole prison-industrial-complex, of capital punishment, of the barbarity and racism of the entire American carceral system.” - Ed Devereaux, Owner of Unabridged Bookstore
Dedrea "De" Gray
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - Chain-Gang All-Stars
One
Two
Three
Four
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - Chain-Gang All-Stars
These additional resources will help integrate learning from our Study Hall books with additional interviews, articles, and podcasts. They may be referenced during WITS Study Hall meetings, so check them out.
Teaching to Transgress
Education as the Practice of FreedomJoin us on January 28 to discuss Teaching to Transgress by Bell Hooks, facilitated by Wayde Grinstead, M.A., M. Ed.
In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks—a writer, teacher, and passionate advocate for Black intellectualism—explores a transformative approach to education, viewing it as the practice of freedom. For hooks, the central goal of a teacher should be to guide students in "transgressing" racial, sexual, and class boundaries in order to attain true freedom.
Teaching to Transgress addresses the pressing issues in contemporary education: How can we redesign teaching practices in an era of multiculturalism? How can we effectively confront racism and sexism within the classroom?
Discussion Questions - Teaching to Transgress
One
Two
Three
Four
Supplemental Resources - Teaching to Transgress
These additional resources will help integrate learning from our Study Hall books with additional interviews, articles, and podcasts. They may be referenced during WITS Study Hall meetings, so check them out.
All the Sinners Bleed
Join us on November 20 to discuss All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby.
"At once a narrative about a serial killer on the loose, a tale of the lingering effects of racism in the South, a contemplation of religious zealotry, an exploration of trauma, and a love story that bubbles under a lot of fear, blood, and tension, S.A. Cosby's All the Sinners Bleed elegantly walks a fine line between horror and the kind of gritty crime fiction that has catapulted Cosby to crime fiction stardom." - NPR
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - All the Sinners Bleed
One
Two
Three
Four
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - All the Sinners Bleed
These additional resources will help integrate learning from our Study Hall books with additional interviews, articles, and podcasts. They may be referenced during WITS Study Hall meetings, so check them out.
The Undocumented Americans
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - The Undocumented Americans
One
Two
Three
Four
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - The Undocumented Americans
These additional resources will help integrate learning from our Study Hall books with additional interviews, articles, and podcasts. They may be referenced during WITS Study Hall meetings, so check them out.
WHAT WE ARE READING THIS YEAR
September 2024 - May 2025
Wednesday, September 25
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CTThe Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio // Memoir // 208 pages
"One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation. The Undocumented Americans combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories, we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American." - GoodreadsAbout the Author
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian-American writer and the author of The Undocumented Americans, a National Book Award finalist. Her work, which focuses on race, culture, and immigration, has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, Elle, n+1, The New Inquiry, Interview, and NPR.
Wednesday, November 20
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CTAll the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby // Novel // 341 pages
"At once a narrative about a serial killer on the loose, a tale of the lingering effects of racism in the South, a contemplation of religious zealotry, an exploration of trauma, and a love story that bubbles under a lot of fear, blood, and tension, S.A. Cosby's All the Sinners Bleed elegantly walks a fine line between horror and the kind of gritty crime fiction that has catapulted Cosby to crime fiction stardom." - NPRAbout the Author
S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.
Tuesday, January 28
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm CTTeaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks // Nonfiction // 216 pages
"In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks—writer, teacher, and insurgent black intellectual—writes about a new kind of education, education as the practice of freedom. Teaching students to "transgress" against racial, sexual, and class boundaries in order to achieve the gift of freedom is, for hooks, the teacher's most important goal.
Full of passion and politics, Teaching to Transgress combines a practical knowledge of the classroom with a deeply felt connection to the world of emotions and feelings. This is the rare book about teachers and students that dares to raise questions about eros and rage, grief and reconciliation, and the future of teaching itself." - Goodreads
About the Author
bell hooks (born Gloria Jean Watkins) was an African-American author, feminist, and social activist. Her writing focused on the interconnectivity of race, class, and gender and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and domination. She published over thirty books and numerous scholarly and mainstream articles, appeared in several documentary films, and participated in various public lectures. Primarily through a postmodern female perspective, she addressed race, class, and gender in education, art, history, sexuality, mass media, and feminism.
Wednesday, March 19
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm CTChain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah // Novel // 367 pages
Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system’s unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country means." - Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book ReviewAbout the Author
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is the New York Times-bestselling author of Friday Black. His work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Esquire, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. He was a National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" honoree, the winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the Saroyan Prize, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Award for Best First Book, along with many other honors. Raised in Spring Valley, New York, he now lives in the Bronx.
