Kravis Center Announces Virtual Zoom Webinar With Writer Leslie Gray Streeter

A hometown favorite returns by Zoom next month to the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts as Meet the Writer / Women's Book Series presents (virtually, at least) Leslie Gray Streeter, author of the hilarious and revealing memoir Black Widow.

The event takes place on January 21 at 8 pm (Thursday).

Meet The Writer allows participants to discover a behind-the-scenes perspective of Black Widow as told firsthand by Leslie Gray Streeter. Whether you read the book ahead of time or after you've "met" the writer, you'll get an insider's look into the writer's vision, the story behind the story and much more. Streeter will be interviewed by ESPN West Palm's Josh Cohen and questions will be taken from the audience.

Leslie Gray Streeter is not cut out for widowhood. She's not ready for hushed rooms and pitying looks. She is not ready to stand graveside, dabbing her eyes in a classy black hat. If she had her way she'd wear her favorite curve-hugging leopard print dress to Scott's funeral; he loved her in that dress! But, here she is, having lost her soulmate to a sudden heart attack, totally unsure of how to navigate her new widow lifestyle. ("New widow lifestyle." Sounds like something you'd find products for on daytime TV, like comfy track suits and compression socks. Wait, is a widow even allowed to make jokes?)

Looking at widowhood through the prism of race, mixed marriage, and aging, Black Widow redefines the stages of grief, from coffin shopping to day-drinking, to being a grown-ass woman crying for your mommy, to breaking up and making up with God, to facing the fact that life goes on even after the death of the person you were supposed to live it with. While she stumbles toward an uncertain future as a single mother raising a baby with her own widowed mother (plot twist!), Leslie looks back on her love story with Scott, recounting their journey through racism, religious differences, and persistent confusion about what kugel is. Will she find the strength to finish the most important thing that she and Scott started?

Tender, true, and endearingly hilarious, Black Widow is a story about the power of love, and how the only guidebook for recovery is the one you write yourself.

Born in hood-adjacent Baltimore, Leslie Gray Streeter is always looking for new ways to tell stories, both her own and those in her communities. A former entertainment columnist for The Palm Beach Post, she has published her work in the O, The Oprah Magazine, Katie Couric's Wake-Up Call Newsletter, Miami Herald, Modern Loss, and elsewhere. She has been featured in The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Kirkus, NPR's Death, Sex and Money podcast and more. Her speaking engagements include annual appearances at Camp Widow, a national organization reaching nearly 500,000, and a series of book club events for women. Leslie lives in Baltimore, MD. with her mother, Tina, and her son, Brooks.

Tickets may be purchased by going online to www.kravis.org/lstreeter.

To post a comment, you must register and login.