WITS Study Hall

WITS Study Hall is a collaborative learning space for adults to actively participate in anti-racist conversation and enjoy the works of writers of color. We focus not just on anti-racist discourse but also on celebrating the range of genres and stories by BIPOC authors.

WITS Study Hall is open to all readers. You can sign up to join our virtual meetings, or use this framework to start your own book club. Whatever your engagement, we hope you join us in this important reading.

Previous Sessions

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About the Author

Percival Everett lives in Los Angeles, where he is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California

He has been nominated for the Booker Prize twice – he was shortlisted for The Trees in 2022 and shortlisted for James in 2024 – and is the author of over 30 published works. A Guggenheim Fellow and Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Everett has won the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, the Academy Award in Literature, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, and the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for Fiction.

His 2001 novel Erasure was adapted into the Oscar-nominated major motion picture, American Fiction. He received the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Book Critics Circle Awards in 2021. Most recently, he was honored by the Chicago Public Library Foundation with the 2025 Carl Sandburg Literary Award.

James

by Percival Everett

Join us on December 4 at 5 p.m. CT to discuss James by Percival Everett, facilitated by award-winning journalist Natalie Y. Moore.

“Using nuance and vulnerability to emphasize Jim’s humanity, [Everett leaves a] stamp on the literary landscape as he dismantles the stereotypes of the enslaved humans depicted in Twain’s classic. . . Percival Everett has accomplished more than humanizing a marginalized voice. He has, once again, delivered a seminal work of literary reparation.”
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Percival Everett [is] our current Great American Novelist. . . [JAMES] is a masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own. . . I almost cannot imagine a future where teachers assign The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn without also assigning James alongside it. . . Everett is one of the most, if not the most interesting writers working today.”
—The Chicago Tribune

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Purchase the book

Learn about the facilitator

Discussion questions

Supplemental resources

James Facilitator: Natalie Y. Moore

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Natalie Y. Moore is an award-winning Chicago journalist whose reporting tackles race, housing, economic development, food injustice, and violence. She is a Senior Lecturer at Northwestern University.

Natalie’s acclaimed book The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation received the 2016 Chicago Review of Books award for nonfiction and was Buzzfeed’s best nonfiction book of 2016. She is also co-author of The Almighty Black P Stone Nation: The Rise, Fall and Resurgence of an American Gang and Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation.

Natalie is a 2021 USA Fellow. The Pulitzer Center named her a 2020 Richard C. Longworth Media Fellow for international reporting. In 2021, University of Chicago Center for Effective Government (CEG), based at the the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, welcomed her in its first cohort of Senior Practitioner Fellows.

In spring 2023, she was playwright-in-residence at Chicago State University in conjunction with Chicago Dramatists (CD). CD named her a playwright-in-residence in 2023 and bestowed her with the inaugural Lydia Diamond award.

Natalie’s work has helped shift the way Chicagoans today think about segregation in the region.

Listen to Natalie Y. Moore interview with Percival Everett on WBEZ RESET.

James

by Percival Everett

December 4  2025

5:00-6:00pm CST

Zoom Link will be emailed

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - jAMES

Keep these discussion questions in mind as you read:

One

How does James' use of code-switching, particularly the 'slave filter,' when interacting with white characters reflect broader themes in the novel and Black history in America?

Two

In what ways does James explore the tension between the identities assigned to us and the identities we claim for ourselves, and how does this theme shape his journey throughout the novel?

Three

Return to Jim’s travels with the minstrel group. What does the novel say about the performance of race? How do blackface minstrelsy and racial passing complicate or undermine racial classification?

Four

What have you learned from this session about being anti-racist, and how will you apply what you have learned to your life?

SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - james

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.

Percival Everett interview: I hope that I have written the novel that Twain did not

Huck Finn Is a Masterpiece. This Retelling Just Might Be, Too.

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Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks
About the Author
Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952 – December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks (stylized in lowercase), was an American author, theorist, educator, and social critic who was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College. She was best known for her writings on race, feminism, and class. The focus of hooks' writing was to explore the intersectionality of race, capitalism, and gender, and what she described as their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination. She published around 40 books, including works that ranged from essays, poetry, and children's books.

Teaching to Transgress

Education as the Practice of Freedom

Join 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?

Purchase the book

Discussion Questions

Supplemental Resources

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Teaching to Transgress Facilitator:
Wayde Grinstead, M.A., M. Ed.
Wayde Grinstead is an educator with over twenty years of experience, spanning roles in the classroom, the education nonprofit sector, district-level leadership, and school-based coaching. Currently, Wayde is the Assistant Director of Civics Education at Big Shoulders Fund and previously worked as a Program Associate at Facing History and Ourselves. He is committed to providing teachers, students, and others with the tools and resources to engage in thoughtful discussions about U.S. history, equity, civic engagement, social-emotional learning, and anti-racist perspectives. In his free time, Wayde enjoys art, music, bicycling, exploring cities, and making connections. Wayde lives on the Northwest side with his partner and cats.

Discussion Questions - Teaching to Transgress

Keep these discussion questions in mind as you read:

One

How does bell hooks define "teaching to transgress"?

Two

What are the challenges in teaching about complex social issues without perpetuating stereotypes?

Three

How can you address potentially sensitive topics in a way that is both educational and respectful?

Four

What have you learned from this session about being anti-racist, and how will you apply what you have learned to your life?

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.

In Praise of bell hooks - New York Times

The Revolutionary Writing of bell hooks - The New Yorker

WHAT'S NEXT?

Every summer, WITS collects votes to help decide on the next five Study Hall books. The twelve books that will be voted on have been featured in numerous must-read lists and include several bestsellers. You can vote using the form below, and let us know what you'd like to read next. We look forward to reading with you this school year!

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Read About Each Title And Author

Step 1 of 2

Which of these books are you books are you most excited to read? (check all that apply)(Required)

WHAT WE ARE READING THIS YEAR

September 2024 - May 2025

The Undocumented Americans Karla Cornejo Villavicencio book cover

Wednesday, September 25

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CT

The 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." - Goodreads

About 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.
All the Sinners Bleed Book Cover

Wednesday, November 20

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CT

All 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." - NPR

About 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.
Teaching to transgress by bell hooks book cover

Tuesday, January 28

5:30 pm - 6:30 pm CT

Teaching 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.
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Wednesday, March 19

5:30 pm - 6:30 pm CT

Chain-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 Review

About 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.
“Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang book cover

Tuesday, May 20

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CT

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang // Novel // 336 pages

"With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, cultural appropriation, and the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable." - Goodreads

About the Author

Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, Yellowface, and Katabasis (forthcoming). Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. She has been named to the 2023 Time100 Next list and the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2024. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies Sinophone literature and Asian American literature.
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