Three of the most powerful women in the U.S. will appear at the Enoch Pratt Free Library over the next two months to discuss their political careers, their new books and why a woman’s place is in elected office.
Nancy Pelosi, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Stacey Abrams are appearing as part of the Pratt’s “Writers Live” series of free author events at the Central branch on Cathedral Street. Chances are that at least one may be willing to discuss the political future of another powerful American woman — U.S. Vice President and likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Pelosi, a Baltimore native, will appear Aug. 8 to discuss “The Art of Power,” her book about what it’s like to make history as the first female speaker of the U.S. House.
Raised in Baltimore’s Little Italy as the daughter of one mayor (Thomas D’Alesandro Jr.) and brother to another (Thomas D’Alesandro III), Pelosi didn’t make her first run for public office until she was 46. She became speaker for the first time in 2007, and remains a formidable force in national politics.
She’ll be followed six weeks later by Jackson, a Supreme Court justice, who will talk Sept. 21 about her new memoir, “Lovely One.”
Jackson is a former Harvard Law School graduate who worked as a public defender. Her memoir traces her family’s rise from segregation. In 2022, she became the first Black woman to sit on the nation’s highest court.
And on Sept. 25, Abrams, a voting rights pioneer, will read from her new children’s picture book, “Stacey Speaks Out.” Abrams has been credited with getting out the Black vote in the 2020 election and helping Joe Biden become the first Democrat in three decades to win her home state of Georgia — and the presidency.
Abrams’ children’s book tells the story of a student in elementary school who decides to take action after discovering that some classmates can’t afford to buy the taco and pizza lunch that the other kids are enjoying.
Pelosi’s and Abrams’ readings are sold out, but tickets for Jackson’s reading can be reserved starting Thursday at noon at calendar.prattlibrary.org. During her reading at the Pratt, she will be joined in discussion by Loyola University Maryland professor and author Karsonya Wise Whitehead.