Author Talk — ‘White Wife/Blue Baby’ (In-Person)

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How long does it take a white wife to unlearn racism? How do Black people keep rage from eating into their hearts?

Redding author Gail Howard pursues these questions and more in her new memoir, White Wife/Blue Baby.  Set within the racial and political turmoil of the 1960s, and reflective of our current national divide, Gail’s memoir interweaves two personal stories about marrying across the color line and nurturing a dangerously ill baby girl.

Gail describes her experience:

“From our first date, hate came at us fast…. I got the news about racism — one sucker punch at a time. When our daughter Carolyn was born with heart disease, she spent a month in intensive care…  Chicago’s rage had brought us down, but her joy inspired our escape. DC’s racism was less virulent, but Carolyn’s life still hung by a thread. With 50 years of hindsight, my memoir pursues these questions: ‘How did I survive this experience as a parent? Why is racism invisible to the very people who are defined by it?’

A book sale and signing will be held after the program.

About the Author

With an MFA from UMass/Amherst, Gail Howard taught at area colleges and held private memoir workshops before retiring to write her own personal story. A survivor of childhood clergy sex abuse, she is a leader of SNAP CT (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), and has lived in Redding for 12 years.