Clint Smith discusses How The Word Is Passed

Join Barnes & Noble - Union Square on Monday, January 23, 2023, as we welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author, Clint Smith, to discuss his book HOW THE WORD IS PASSED: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. This compelling “important and timely” (Drew Faust, Harvard Magazine) award-winner examines the legacy of slavery in America—and how both history and memory continue to shape our everyday lives.

Clint will be in conversation with B&N Editorial Director and host of B&N's Poured Over podcast, Miwa Messer, for this special event.

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**If you are not vaccinated, masks are strongly recommended.**

To make this event safe and enjoyable for all attendees, please read the below guidelines ahead of buying a ticket, so you know what to expect on the day. To avoid disappointment, we must stress that there will be no access to the event for non-ticketholders.

• Barnes & Noble reserves the right to make new rules and orders in its sole discretion with regard to COVID-19 at any time and any person not abiding by the Barnes & Noble directives will be refused entrance or directed to leave the premises.

TICKETING INFORMATION

• General Admission - FREE (Admission): **LIMITED QUANTITY AVAILABLE**: A ticket PER PERSON includes:

• Admission into the event space with Clint Smith and Miwa Messer.

• Socially distanced photos with Clint will be allowed at the event.

• Masks are strongly recommended if you are not vaccinated.

• Following the discussion, Clint will be signing and personalizing, name only, copies of HOW THE WORD IS PASSED. A purchase of the book from Barnes & Noble Union Square is required to join the signing line.

• Any gifts for the author will be collected prior to the signing line.

• Other books by the author will be available for purchase at Barnes & Noble Union Square.

• Due to health and safety and space limitations, those without a ticket will not be permitted into the event space.

• Please arrive by 7PM in order to secure your seat in the event space. Late arrivals may only have access to standing room and may not have the opportunity to meet the author.

GUIDELINES

• No memorabilia will be signed at the event.

• No large bags will be permitted into the event.

• Ticket holders will be admitted into the event beginning at 6:30 PM the day of the event. Please have a copy of your ticket available (either printed out or on your phone) for check in.

• In order to attend this event, ticket holders should:

• Have not had any contact in the last 14 days with a confirmed COVID- 19 patient.
• Not be subject to a quarantine order.
• Not traveled in the past 14 days to any state or country that New York has designated as an area requiring isolation upon returning to the state.
• At the time of the event, have not experienced in the last 72 hours any body temperature above 100 degrees Fahrenheit or any new symptoms associated with COVID-19. People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19: fever or chills; cough; shortness of breath or difficulty breathing; fatigue; muscle or body aches; headache; new loss of taste or smell; sore throat; congestion or runny nose; nausea or vomiting; and/or diarrhea..

• Due to health and safety and space limitations, those without a ticket will not be permitted into the event space.

• All event guidelines are subject to change.

• If you have any additional questions, please call the store directly at: 212-253-0810.

Please note that Eventbrite is the only authorized dealer for this event. Each person must have a ticket to enter.

REFUNDS

Attendees can receive refunds up to 1 day before your event start date.

If you are unable to attend the event, Barnes & Noble - Union Square will hold your book for seven days after the event. Please contact the store to arrange your pickup.

Should this event be canceled due to changing COVID-19 concerns, all customers will be refunded their ticket price to the original method of payment per Eventbrite's refund policy.

Event guidelines are subject to change.

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ABOUT HOW THE WORD IS PASSED:

Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves.

It is the story of the Monticello Plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola, a former plantation-turned-maximum-security prison in Louisiana that is filled with Black men who work across the 18,000-acre land for virtually no pay. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers.

A deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, How the Word Is Passed illustrates how some of our country's most essential stories are hidden in plain view—whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods like downtown Manhattan, where the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women, and children has been deeply imprinted.

Informed by scholarship and brought to life by the story of people living today, Smith's debut work of nonfiction is a landmark of reflection and insight that offers a new understanding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country and how it has come to be.

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction

Winner of the Stowe Prize

Winner of 2022 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism

A New York Times 10 Best Books of 2021