Alexis OkeowoUCSB Arts & Lectures presents An Evening with Alexis Okeowo, journalist and New Yorker staff writer, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14 at UCSB Campbell Hall.
With her new book “Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama,” Okeowo, a child of Nigerian immigrants, brings a singular perspective to her home state.
Okeowo immerses audiences in a landscape dominated today not by cotton fields but by Amazon warehouses, encountering powerful faith-based business leaders lobbying for tribal sovereignty and small-town women questioning conservative politics, according to Arts & Lectures.
Blending personal insight with investigative reporting and relevant historical context, Okeowo explores where race, faith, politics and power collide, revealing systemic inequities and unexpected stories of resilience and change.
Okeowo has written about conflict, human rights and culture for The New Yorker since 2010, reporting from Africa, Mexico and the American South.
Her feature “Tainted Earth” won the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Phillip D. Reed Award in 2022.
Okeowo is the author of the books “A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa,” which received the 2018 PEN Open Book Award; and “Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama.”
Tickets are $20 general public; free for UCSB students with current student ID. For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 805-893-3535 or purchase online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.
An Evening with Alexis Okeowo is part of UCSB Arts & Lectures Justice for All programming initiative.