“Soul City” author Touré to speak

Touré, author of “Soul City” (2004) and “Never Drank the Kool Aid” (2006), will speak at two locations of Pellissippi State on October 26:

· In the Goins Auditorium on the Pellissippi Campus at noon.

· In the Community Room at the Magnolia Avenue Campus at 6 p.m.

Touré will read and discuss selections from his books and take questions from the audience.

He has appeared on such TV shows as “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Today.” He has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker and The New York Times, and has been a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine for more than 10 years.

Touré is a correspondent for the Black Entertainment Network and was CNN’s first pop culture correspondent.

In his novel “Soul City,” the protagonist is sent to write a book about the legendary fictional town of the title’s name.

The city is described as “a very peaceful, very funky, and very magical little American town, where kids use their allowance to buy records from the Vinyl Man, roses bloom in the cracks of the sidewalks, and the nastiest gossip queen in town is a mind reader.”

The novel is full of allusions to black writers and literature. In addition, couched throughout the novel in black vernacular, are historical figures and events.

It was those allusions, in part, that prompted Robert Boyd, assistant professor of English at Pellissippi State, to begin using “Soul City” in his African-American Literature classes.

“Using this novel,” said Boyd, “helps students to contrast and compare a contemporary African-American writer’s literary work with early African-American writers and classics. For example, a character in ‘Soul City’ gives a sermon that alludes to a classic African-American folktale, ‘A Flying Fool.’

“African-American Literature is a survey course designed to introduce students not only to the literary classics but also to contemporary authors and their writings.”

Touré’s latest book, “Never Drank the Kool Aid,” is a collection of the author’s journalism. The book, says Boyd, is a warning to young admirers of rap and other contemporary personalities not to “buy into” the lifestyles of cult heroes. The book includes the author’s discussions with and impressions of such celebrities as Jay-Z, Eminem, DMX, Lauryn Hill, Beyoncé and Prince.

The Touré presentation is free and open to the public. The event is sponsored by the English and Liberal Arts departments and other college contributors.

To learn more, please contact Robert Boyd at 329-3123 or rboyd@pstcc.edu.

"Inside Pellissippi" is a bi-monthly electronic publication produced by the Community Relations Office for the faculty and staff of Pellissippi State Technical Community College, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, P.O. Box 22990, Knoxville, Tennessee 37933-0990. All suggestions and comments should be sent to Julia Wood (jwood@pstcc.edu).

For past issues, visit the Inside Pellissippi Archive.