Author | Playwright | Lecturer | Advocate
Lorene
Cary
"A thoroughly engaging memoir.… Cary invites readers into a complex extended family.… A distinctly American story."
Martha Anne Toll, NPR
Ladysitting: My Year with Nana at the End of Her Century
Praise & Reviews
"A profoundly moving, evocative work that puts a fully realized human face on the issue of slavery and its consequences.The Price of a Child marks the emergence of a powerful voice in American fiction."
Paula L. Woods, Philadelphia Inquirer
The Price of a Child
“Engaging. . . . Cary creates characters with such full-bodied life that their predicaments remain vivid.”
The New York Times Book Review
If Sons, Then Heirs
Appearances
Tuesday, 3/25/25, from 6:00 - 7:00pm
Sheno's Prize Ceremony
Kelly's Writers House at The University of Pennsylvania
3805 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
This prize honors the legacy and work of Vote That Jawn Youth Leader, writer, and Philadelphian Erinda Sheno. Vote That Jawn, The Philadelphia Citizen, UPenn Creative Writing, and the Kelly Writers House are collaborating through this Sheno Prize to recognize up-and-coming writers in Philadelphia for extraordinary pieces on voting, democracy, immigration, or Philadelphia life.
Event will also be streaming on KWH TV at
​Kelly Writers House - YouTube
Saturday, 3/29/25, from 12:30 - 2:00pm
Sonesta Rittenhouse Square
​Featured Speaker at the College English Association’s 2025 Conference Luncheon, “FREEDOM”
Preregistration is required
“With over 500 active members and more than a dozen regional affiliates, the CEA welcomes teacher-scholars at all levels—from graduate students to emeritus faculty—who share our belief that teaching is central to who we are and what we do.”
Saturday, 2/22/25, at 2:00pm
Charles L. Blockson Speaker Series at Centre Theater
Connecting Charlie Blockson’s legacy of collecting and curating--and his surprising mentorship--to this writer’s journey.
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Friday, 2/7/25, from 6:30-8pm
Live conversation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
and on WURD radio
Dial in - 1-866-361-0900 or 215-634-8065
WURD Radio's Black History Month event: "Phenomenal Black Philly Writers"
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Tuesday, 10/8, from 4-5pm
Podcast conversation on:
Changing the Conversation, Urban Strategy in the Present Tense
(A production of Drexel's Lindy Institute)
A conversation about #VoteThatJawn with Adam Barbanel-Fried, a leader in deep canvassing.
Saturday, 10/5, at 10am
Near my grandmother's beloved house in West Collingswood, where she lived until she was 99 years old, I'll be delighted to read from Ladysitting: My Year with Nana at the End of Her Century!
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Friday, 9/6, Time TBD
National Read a Book Day at Barnes & Noble. They're putting authors in the widow, reading. Happy for a chance to sit still and read!
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Friday, 7/19, at 10am
Rosenbach Museum and Library.
As part of the fascinating citywide Monument Lab, I get to share original Black Ice documents--after we see a first edition Phyllis Wheatley!
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Thursday, 3/21, 6:30 pm
Portland Opera Company
Jubilee! libretto Reading
Culmination of the week's libretto workshop with composer Damien Geter and Portland Opera Company's wonderful young singers who taught me so much as we read, discussed--and I rewrote like jazz!
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