Featuring Jason Reynolds, Author of The Boy in the Black Suit
(MILWAUKEE) March 14, 2016 – The Delta Memorial Endowment Fund (DMEF), the nonprofit arm of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.-Milwaukee Alumnae Chapter, presents its 40th Annual Literary Luncheon featuring award-winning and best-selling author Jason Reynolds. The event takes place Saturday, April 23, at 11:30 a.m. at the Italian Conference Center, 631 E. Chicago St. Tickets are $60 each and proceeds benefit scholarships to college-bound high school students. To purchase one call (414) 640-2654 or order a ticket by email at dmeftickets@yahoo.com.
According to Reynolds, his master plan is to “not write boring books.” He says there “a lot of young people who hate reading and that many of these book haters are boys. They don’t actually hate the books but rather they hate boredom. Because even though I’m a writer, I hate reading boring books too.” Reynolds books are from the perspective of young African-American males and aimed at readers age 12 and older. His other titles include Ghost, As Brave as You, All American Boys and When I Was the Greatest.
In his newest novel, The Boy in the Black Suit, centers on seventeen-year-old Matt who wears a black suit every day. He wears one not because his mother died (she did) but he wears the suit for his job at the local funeral home that pays more than Cluck Bucket. Plus, Matt needs the income since his dad can’t handle household bills or his life. While he’s earning $15 hour as his Dad snags bottles of whiskey, Matt’s snagging fifteen bucks an hour and that’s not bad. But everything else is not good. Then Matt meets Lovey. She’s been through challenges that have made her tough in the way Matt wishes he could be. He ponders if it’s her toughness that draws him to her and why he can’t seem to shake her. Because there’s nothing more hopeful than finding a person who understands your loneliness—and who can maybe even help take it away. The Boy in the Black Suit is the 2016 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book and continues to receive critical acclaim since its January debut.
The Literary Luncheon is the signature event of the Delta Memorial Endowment Fund (DMEF) and presents a variety of authors each year. Noted authors have included Maya Angelou, Dr. Ian Smith, Octavia Butler, Pearl Cleage, Phyllis Dixon, Nikki Giovanni, Jeff Johnson, Fannie Lou Hamer, Toni Morrison, Alice E. Walker, E. Lynn Harris, Wallace Terry, Victoria Christopher Murray, Edward Kelsey Moore and ReShonda Tate Billingsley. Proceeds from the Literary Luncheon benefit local 501 (c) (3) organizations and provides funding for college scholarships to graduating high school seniors.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded by 22 women on January 13, 1913 at Howard University. Today at 103 years old, it has more than 200,000 members and 900 chapters in the United States, Germany, Korea, Japan and the Virgin Islands. The Sorority provides community service nationally and locally around its five key areas: educational development, economic development, mental and physical health, international awareness and social and political action. Locally, its Milwaukee Alumnae Chapter has been making an impact and transforming lives in the community since January 27, 1945.