A celebration of the American innovation of jazz and the cultural creativity it generated throughout the nation and in Ann Petry’s writings. Ann Petry grew up in Old Saybrook and was an award-winning writer. She was the daughter of local pharmacist Anna James.

The speaker will be Farah Jasmine Griffin, a professor of English and comparative literature and African America studies at Columbia University. She received her B.A. from Harvard and her Ph.D. from Yale.

Tickets are $12 ($10 + $2 fee) and are available online at The Kate box office:

Online at www.thekate.org/event/circles-of-sound

or The Kate Box Office, 300 Main Street, Old Saybrook

The lecture is presented in partnership with the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center (The Kate) and the Old Saybrook Historical Society.