Pulitzer Prize finalist Howard French comes to Brussels at the invitation of Jonathan Holslag and VUB

Author of Born in Blackness

Renowned author and professor Howard French will give a lecture in the prestigious Gothic Hall of Brussels City Hall on Monday 30 May. French is the author of the renowned book Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War. In this work, described by the New York Times as “moving, humbling, and essential reading”, French brilliantly argues the case for the recognition of Africa’s immense contribution to modernity. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A with the author, moderated by VUB professor of international politics Jonathan Holslag. #TheWorldNeedsYou #TWNY

Programme

- 18.30-19.00: Guests arrive

- 19.00-19.10: Welcome by the mayor of Brussels

- 19.10-20.00: Lecture

- 20.20-20.50: Q&A moderated by Jonathan Holslag

- 20.50-21.00: Closing speech by Pascal Smet, Brussels minister of foreign affairs

Please register here.

Howard W French is an author and professor of journalism at Columbia University. He was the New York Times bureau chief in the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo and Shanghai. He has been nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize and has written five books.

This is the first in a prestigious VUB lecture series on the current state of the world. Great contemporary thinkers and academic experts will be invited to shed light on the global social and economic shift taking place. Through debates, discussions and Q&As, they will comment on the existential challenges of our time and suggest possible solutions.

The series is part of the VUB project The World Needs You, through which VUBers are committed to making the world a better place.

More information

For questions and interview requests, please contact the VUB press office.

Sicco Wittermans

Sicco Wittermans

Spokesperson Vrije Universiteit Brussel

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About Press - Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Vrije Universiteit Brussel is an internationally oriented university in Brussels, the heart of Europe. By providing excellent research and education on a human scale, VUB wants to make an active and committed contribution to a better society.

The World Needs You

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel assumes its scientific and social responsibility with love and decisiveness. That’s why VUB launched the platform De Wereld Heeft Je Nodig – The World Needs You, which brings together ideas, actions and projects based on six Ps. The first P stands for People, because that’s what it’s all about: giving people equal opportunities, prosperity, welfare, respect. Peace is about fighting injustice, big and small, in the world. Prosperity combats poverty and inequality. Planet stands for actions on biodiversity, climate, air quality, animal rights... With Partnership, VUB is looking for joint actions to make the world a better place. The sixth and last P is for Poincaré, the French philosopher Henri Poincaré, from whom VUB derives its motto that thinking should submit to nothing except the facts themselves. VUB is an ‘urban engaged university’, strongly anchored in Brussels and Europe and working according to the principles of free research.

www.vub.be/dewereldheeftjenodig

 


Contact

Pleinlaan 2 1050 Brussel

0473 96 73 51

tineke.sonck@vub.be

www.vub.ac.be