Award-winning author, podcaster and immigration rights activist Sarah Towle will read from the latest edition of her book and lead a panel discussion at the Woods Hole Library on Monday, Oct. 6, at 6 pm.
Towle’s presentation, “How Immigration Became Weaponized to Drive U.S. Democracy into Crisis and What You Can Do to Help Refuse, Resist and Reclaim Human Rights,” will be followed by a discussion on how local residents can get involved to protect immigrants. Through her work as an author and activist, Towle seeks to inspire others to join a broad-based movement to challenge anti-immigrant attitudes and policies. Her book, Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands, was published last year to acclaim, including a Nonfiction Authors Association Gold Award.
In a review accompanying the award, the authors’ association wrote: “…an expertly written, deeply human exposé of the border crisis in the southwestern United States, leaving the reader well informed…from multiple perspectives. With the effect of immigration being felt globally, this should be everyone’s must-read.” Filmmaker Ken Burns also praised the book: “We all deserve a narrative with clarity, and Towle has delivered. Spectacular!”
Towle, an American who lives and works in England, is a Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow and an alumna of the Oxford Refugee Studies Center at Oxford University.
Appearing with Towle on the panel will be Miriam Davidson, a Falmouth-based author and journalist who has published three books about sanctuary and border issues, and Travis Mapp, a school teacher and human rights activist originally from Trinidad & Tobago who serves on the board of Racial Justice Falmouth and as a member of the Barnstable County Human Rights Advisory Commission.
The free event, co-sponsored by the Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition and the Jewel Cobb Action Coalition, will be held at the Woods Hole Public Library from 6 to 7:30 pm.