UTC's Sybil Baker looks at immigration at Star Line Books
For UTC English professor and esteemed author Sybil Baker, her own family’s history and the desire to tell the story of “Chattanooga’s unheard voices” laid the foundation for her latest publication, “Immigration Essays”, which will launch at Star Line Books next Wednesday.
Thanks in part to a MakeWork grant, Baker began work on a novel that would tell the story of the gentrification of Chattanooga and the fact that neighborhoods which were once historically Black are disappearing.
Her essays, which are particularly relevant as of late, are inspired by her childhood in Ferguson, Mo., her travels in Asia and Eastern Europe and even her family’s long-ago slave-owning history. “Immigration Essays” helps to shed light on issues of immigration during these changing times through Baker’s powerful connection with the text and her exquisite use of voice.
Baker has also written “Talismans,” “The Life Plan,” and “Into This World,” which received an Eric Hoffer Award Honorable Mention and was a finalist for Foreword’s Best Book of the Year Award. Baker received her MFA in creative writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and she has taught at universities in both Hong Kong and Singapore.
Be sure to stop by Star Line Books next Wednesday at 7 p.m. to pick up a copy and read Baker’s powerful and inspiring essays on immigration.
Sybil Baker’s “Immigration Essays” Book Release
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Star Line Books
1467 Market St.
(423) 777-5629
starlinebooks.com