Imani Perry, author of Black in Blues and South to America, joined us for our 2025/26 season of Portland Arts & Lectures on February 12, 2026.
We like to ask all of our Portland Arts & Lectures guests to share their reading recommendations with our audience. Here is what Perry had to share:
We Are The Leaders We’ve Been Looking For by Eddie Glaude
Narrated with passion and philosophical intensity, this book is a powerful reminder that if American democracy is to survive, we must step out from under the shadows of past giants to build a better society—one that derives its strength from the pew, not the pulpit.
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
A raw and deeply moving memoir from the legendary author of The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness that traces her complex relationship with her mother, Mary Roy, a fierce and formidable force who shaped Arundhati’s life both as a woman and a writer.
Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein
From an unforgettable new voice in Caribbean literature, a sweeping story of two families colliding in 1940s Trinidad—and a chilling mystery that shows how interconnected their lives truly are.
