About this Event
We are thrilled to host Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein for an event celebrating the release of The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie! For this event, Chanda will be joined in conversation by Moya Bailey.
A fresh, charming, socially conscious tour of the mysteries of space-time, from the award-winning author of The Disordered Cosmos
“With this extraordinary book, Prescod-Weinstein cements her status as one of the most accomplished and important science writers of our time” —Ed Yong, author of An Immense World
In her highly acclaimed debut, distinguished cosmologist and particle physicist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein shared with her audience an abiding sense of wonder at the cosmos, while imagining a world without the entrenched injustice that plagues her field. Now, in The Edge of Space-Time, she embraces that cosmic wonder, taking readers on a mind-altering journey to the boundaries of the universe, inviting us to spend time at the edge of what we know about space-time and about ourselves.
Guided by her conviction that for humanity to go forward we must know our cosmic past and drawing on poetry and popular culture—from Langston Hughes, Queen Latifah, and Lewis Carroll, to Big K.R.I.T., Sun Ra, and Star Trek—Prescod-Weinstein renders accessible some of the most abstract concepts of theoretical physics to tell fascinating stories about the history and fundamental nature of our universe. Here we meet the quantum cat that is both dead and alive, learn the difference between dark matter and dark energy, explore the inner workings of black holes, and investigate the possibility of a unified theory of quantum gravity, following our guide out to the far reaches of the cosmic event horizon and down to the tiniest (and queerest) neutrino. Along the way, she calls on us to resist colonial approaches to space exploration and instead imagine a better path forward in our pursuit of humanity’s undeniable connection with the stars.
Through Prescod-Weinstein’s clear-eyed and unique perspective, and informed by her deep knowledge of post-colonial history and Black feminist thought, The Edge of Space-Time argues that physics is an essential way for everyone to look at the universe and presents a compelling case that “the edge” is a powerful vantage point from which to see the big picture.
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an associate professor of physics and astronomy and core faculty in women’s and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. She conducts award-winning theoretical physics research on dark matter, the early universe, and neutron stars, while also researching Black feminist science studies. Her first book, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred, won the 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in science and technology, the 2022 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, and a 2022 Josephine Miles Award from PEN Oakland. A columnist for New Scientist and Physics World, she is originally from East L.A., California, and now divides her time between the New Hampshire Seacoast and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Moya Bailey is a Professor at Northwestern University and is the founder of the Digital Apothecary and co-founder of the Black Feminist Health Science Studies Collective. She is the digital alchemist for the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network and the Board President of Allied Media Projects, a Detroit-based movement media organization that supports an ever-growing network of activists and organizers. She is a co-author of #HashtagActivism: Networks of Race and Gender Justice (MIT Press, 2020) and is the author of Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance (New York University Press, 2021). She is an award winning documentarian after completing the short documentary You Just Watch & See(2025) featuring her late Cousin Dollie, and is completing a docuseries Misogynoir in Medicine.
Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are required. We have one industrial air-purifier, two smaller air-purifiers, and four ceiling fans located throughout the store. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you need a seat reserved for you for accessibility, please email [email protected] To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email [email protected] by no later than 14 days before the event. For scholarship tickets or other access needs please email .
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Women & Children First, 5233 North Clark Street, Chicago, United States
USD 0.00
