Meet the Director of Soul of A People: Writing America’s Story & View the Film at NSU or FIU: Jan. 22 & 23

Documentary explores the Depression-era Federal Writers’ Project and authors including Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, Studs Terkel and Eudora Welty

FT. LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla.— Even against today’s social and economic concerns, the Great Depression of the 1930s stands alone as a time of unparalleled national crisis. But in the darkest of times, new hope still emerged in the form of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal to get Americans back on their feet.

One incredibly successful initiative was the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP), which was responsible for the American Guide Series of travel guides for every state and for interviews with former slaves and citizens across the U.S.

Now, the South Florida community is invited to join an original Florida FWP writer, Stetson Kennedy, and director Andrea Kalin for a FREE screening and discussion about the film that explores this time period and its lasting impact – Soul of A People: Writing America’s Story.

Soul of A People: Writing America’s Story is a major documentary about the FWP produced by Spark Media, Washington, D.C., and originally broadcast on the Smithsonian Channel HD. Many writers from the FWP project later became famous, among them Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, Studs Terkel and Eudora Welty, who are featured in the film.

Upcoming screenings include:

• Film Viewing & Discussion at Florida International University (FIU)
  Friday, Jan. 22 from 7- 9 p.m. at the Wolfsonian, FIU at 1001 Washington Ave. in Miami Beach. Call 305-535-2644. FREE.
• Film Viewing & Discussion at Nova Southeastern University (NSU)
  Saturday, Jan. 23 from 2-4 p.m. at NSU’s Don Taft University Center Performing Arts Theater, 3301 College Ave. in Davie. A reception will follow the screening. Call 954-262-4613. FREE.

These presentations are co-sponsored by NSU’s Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center, along with The Wolfsonian FIU and the FIU School of Arts and Sciences Department of History and Department of English. Both events are FREE and open to the public.

For more information or to RSVP, please call 954-262-4593 or visit http://www.nova.edu/library/soul/.

Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story is a major documentary television program about the Federal Writers’ Project produced by Spark Media, Washington, D.C., and broadcast on the Smithsonian Channel HD. Soul of a People programs in libraries are sponsored by the American Library Association Public Programs Office with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities: great ideas brought to life.

About the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP): The FWP was a small section of President Franklin Roosevelt’s mammoth Works Progress Administration, designed to get America back to work after the Depression. It was responsible for the American Guide Series of travel guides for every state and for interviews with former slaves and thousands of citizens all across the U.S. in the 1930s.

About the Library: The Alvin Sherman Library is a joint-use facility, which is the result of an innovative agreement between NSU and the Broward County Board of County Commissioners. The five-story Library, Research, and Information Technology Center is Florida’s largest library building at 325,000 square feet. It serves the residents of and those who work in Broward County, as well as NSU students, faculty, and staff members. For more information visit www.nova.edu/library/main/. To sign up for a library card, visit www.nova.edu/library/card.

Media Contact:
Andra Liwag, NSU Office of Public Affairs
954-262-5309 (office), 954-873-8494 (cell), andrali@nova.edu