LINCOLN PARK — Francis W. Parker School will host Colson Whitehead, author of last year's National Book Award-winning "The Underground Railroad," on Tuesday evening.
The two-hour reading and question session starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the auditorium at the school, 330 W. Webster Ave. It's free and open to the public, although registration is requested.
The New York City author wrote five novels, all focusing in some way on the African-American experience, including "John Henry Days," before "The Underground Railroad" became a best seller last year.
It's an allegorical story about a runaway slave in which the Underground Railroad of contacts leading slaves north to freedom is imagined as an actual railway running underground from town to town.
Whitehead's reading at Parker is the last of four Chicago-area appearances Whitehead will make early next week, including stops at Evanston Township High School on Monday night and Loyola University's School of Law Downtown at noon Tuesday.
Whitehead also is a keynote speaker at New Trier High School's All-School Seminar Day on racial civil rights Tuesday in Winnetka.
