Author Talk: Detroit Native Bridgett M. Davis

The Author Series Committee at the Detroit Public Library welcomes Bridgett M. Davis for a discussion about her forthcoming memoir Love, Rita: An American Story of Sisterhood, Joy, Loss, and Legacy. Davis tells the story of her beloved older sister, Rita, who knew Bridgett before she knew herself. Rita was a vivacious woman whose life was cut tragically short by lupus when she was just forty-four. This led Bridgett to ask the simple, heartbreaking question: Why Rita?

This moving memoir, full of joy and heartbreak, family history alongside American history, uses Rita’s life as a lens to examine the persistent effects of racism in the lives of Black women—and the men they love. This poignant, deeply resonant portrait of an unforgettable woman and her impact on those she left behind is essential reading.

About Bridgett: Bridgett M. Davis (pronounced Brih-jet) is the author of the memoir, Love, Rita, published by Harper Books in spring 2025.

Her first memoir, The World According To Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life In The Detroit Numbers, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a 2020 Michigan Notable Book, named a Best Book of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews, BuzzFeed, NBC News and Parade Magazine, and featured as a clue on the quiz show Jeopardy! The upcoming film adaptation will be produced by Plan B Entertainment and released by Searchlight Pictures.

She is author of two novels, Into the Go-Slow, named a Best Book of 2014 by The San Francisco Chronicle, and Shifting Through Neutral, shortlisted for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award.

Davis is also writer/director of the 1998 award-winning feature film Naked Acts, newly restored by Milestone Films and released in 2024 to critical acclaim, and screening in theaters across the US as well as international venues.

Davis is Professor Emerita in the Department of Journalism and the Writing Professions at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center, where she taught creative, narrative and film writing.

Her essays have appeared most recently in The New York Times, the LA Times and The Washington Post, among other publications. A graduate of Spelman College and Columbia Journalism School, she lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Copies of Bridgett's books will be available for purchase from Detroit's own Source Booksellers.

Questions? Email [email protected] for help!

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Main | Detroit Public Library, 5201 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, United States