Second Annual Oakland Book Festival

May 22, 2016

Oakland City Hall

This year the theme is labor, and I'll be making a presentation at 11:00 with filmmaker Nora Sweeney and moderator Steve Dickison. I'll be talking about Depression and WWII era photographs of the FSA/OWI, now in the public domain at the Library of Congress, and my use of documentary (including WPA oral histories of former slaves) in writing and collages. Come hear about "killed" negatives and the "telepathy of archives" and see "Sweet Oranges," Nora Sweeney's beautiful and understated documentary about workers in an orange grove in Southern California.

Who are you who will read these words and study these photographs, and through what cause, by what chance and for what purpose, and by what right do you qualify to, and what will you do about it.

JAMES AGEE