Law & Literature for Alumni - The Nickel Boys

Law & Literature for Alumni

Wednesday, March 10 | 6 p.m. ET | Held Via Zoom

Inspired by Professor Eric Lane’s popular Law and Literature course, the Office of Alumni Relations and Professor Lane invite you to participate in a meaningful discussion of Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times best-selling novel, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.

We encourage you to read or listen to the book in advance of the discussion.

There is no cost to attend, but you must register in advance for the conversation.

There is no charge to attend this virtual event.

RSVP is required.

For more information, contact Allyson Lehrer at Allyson.T.Lehrer@hofstra.edu.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.

Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers and “should further cement Whitehead as one of his generation’s best” (Entertainment Weekly).