UC Gets On the Same Page With Author Caryl Phillips

Author Caryl Phillips thanked a crowd that numbered close to 300 as he answered questions and read from his book, “Crossing the River.”  Phillips’ May 4 appearance in the Great Hall was featured as part of “On the Same Page 2004,” the community-wide reading program supported by UC, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, CET and the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“I am delighted to see so many members of the Greater Cincinnati community here tonight for this special occasion,” said Mitchel D. Livingston, UC Vice President for Student Affairs and Services, as he opened the program. “The university is pleased to be a part of the ‘On the Same Page’ initiative. The strength of our great university is that we are a diverse learning community and an important part of the Cincinnati community. We welcome the opportunity to be a part of this project and to partner with all of the sponsors to bring you this special event.”

“Mr. Phillips is a craftsman of words. He makes us think and he makes of feel,” said emcee Sheila J. Williams, the local author of “The Shade of My Own Tree.” She said that his awards included the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

As Phillips began his remarks about the book he wrote 12 years ago, he said it was a privilege for an author to be offered such an opportunity to meet with the audience. “I want to thank the people who have read the book. Without that exchange between the author and the reader, the whole thing is pointless.”

Phillips, who was born in the West Indies and raised in England, said that crossing the mighty river, the Atlantic Ocean, had a profound impact on changing both British and American society. When he was asked about what inspired him to write a book that brings together different cultures, he recalled watching films that did not feature African Americans, and he said those films presented a distorted vision of the world. He recalled that he decided to become a writer in 1978 when, as a student, he traveled from England to New York City, took a Greyhound Bus to California, and while visiting Laguna Beach, he picked up a book that featured something he hadn’t recalled seeing before – a photo that featured an author who was an African American young man. “The book was ‘Native Son’ by Richard Wright.”

Phillips concluded his UC visit with a book-signing session in the back of the Great Hall.

As Phillips continues his visit to Cincinnati as part of “On the Same Page 2004,” he will be featured in a live broadcast on CET, Channel 48, from 8-9 p.m. Wednesday, May 5. Phillips will be discussing his book and will take questions from the studio broadcast and from area viewers.

“On the Same Page” is a collaborative project of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, CET and the Cincinnati Enquirer and is made possible in part by support from Cincinnati Magazine, Fifth Third Bank, the Friends of the Public Library, The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Procter & Gamble and the University of Cincinnati.

To view the Webcast of Phillips’ UC visit, go to http://streaming.uc.edu/student_affairs/osp_20040504.php

This Webcast is appropriate for both broadband viewers and those using 56k dialup modems. It requires the Windows Media 9 player, which is freely available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download.

A compatible player is available for Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000 and XP and for MAC OSX. More information may be found at http://streaming.uc.edu/troubleshooting.html.

UC Students Get “On the Same Page”