HU Annual Read-In Event Welcomes Author Leanne Howe

HU Annual Read-In Event Welcomes Author Leanne Howe
Selected novel "The Miko Kings" features scenes set at Hampton Institute

Hampton University’s Department of English welcomes LeAnne Howe, author of “The Miko Kings,” to the campus for the university’s Annual Read-In Event on March 24 at 7 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.

Howe will read excerpts from “The Miko Kings,” provide a brief discussion on federal Indian policy, and also discuss the writing process. The event will also feature a performance by the Four Rivers Inter-Tribal Drum group.

Set during America’s baseball fever of 1907, “The Miko Kings” tells the story of an all-Native American baseball team from Ada, Okla., set to play against the United States’ Seventh Cavalry team for the Twin Territories’ pennant. Howe’s novel shifts continually through several time periods and locations, including scenes set at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University).

Howe is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a professor of English and American Indian studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her first novel, “Shell Shaker,” received an American Book Award in 2002. Visit her blog at http://mikokings.wordpress.com/.