Name: "Ralph Ellison: More Than Invisible" Book Launch
Start: 2025-10-16T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-10-16T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Thomas K. McKeon Center for Creativity

"Ralph Ellison: More Than Invisible" Book Launch

The release of Quraysh Ali Lansana's biography for children celebrates Ellison as a towering figure in Oklahoma and beyond.
About this Event

Join author and professor as he celebrates the release of his most recent book Ralph Ellison: More Than Invisible. This biography is being released as part of the "I Am Oklahoma Children's Series" by Oklahoma Hall of Fame Publishing. Accompanying Lansana as he presents his work will be , presented by the Taylor Entertainment Group LLC.

The author of over 20 books, Lansana--like Ellison--is a native Oklahoman who has produced meaningful and important contributions to the American body of literature. During his lifetime, Ellison published celebrated fiction and essays, and received universal acclaim for his novel Invisible Man. Born in Oklahoma City in 1914, Ellison won the National Book Award in 1953 and received two presidential medals.

Because Ellison was a profound lover of jazz, Lansana's reading will be paired with a live musical performance of the Tulsa Jazz Quartet.

This unique event is sponsored by the Center for Poets and Writers' "Writers on Greenwood" reading series. The event is also supported by OSU Tulsa and the TCC Thomas K. McKeon Center for Creativity.

Don't miss this opportunity to hear Lansana read from his new work, mingle with fellow book lovers, and enjoy an evening of history, literature, and live music.

This event is free and open to the public.

Quraysh Ali Lansana is author of over twenty books in poetry, nonfiction and children’s literature. Lansana is applied associate professor of media studies, English and creative writing at The University of Tulsa and an alumnus of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. He was formerly a lecturer in Africana studies at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, where he also served as director of the Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation. Lansana is executive producer of KOSU/NPR’s “Focus: Black Oklahoma” monthly radio program, which is a recipient of a 2022 duPont-Columbia Award, a 2022 NAACP Image Award, a 2022 Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists Award and was a Peabody Award nominee. Lansana is also the recipient of a 2022 Emmy Award, a 2022 Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters Award and a 2022 National Educational Telecommunications Association Public Media Award for his roles as host and consultant for the OETA (PBS) documentary film “Tulsa Race Massacre: 100 Years Later.”