Farah Jasmine Griffin — Read Until You Understand Book Publicity Case Study

This book publicity case study outlines the work Coriolis Company performed for Professor Farah Jasmine Griffin’s book, Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, published by W. W. Norton & Company on September 14, 2021. Read Until You Understand imparts the lessons bequeathed by the Black community and its remarkable artists and thinkers.

2022 Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award for Literary Criticism Winner

2022 Lionel Trilling Book Award Winner

Association of American Publishers Category Winner for Literature

A Boston Globe Best Books of 2021

A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice

A PBS NewsHour Best Book of the Year

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year in Nonfiction

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book About Being Black in America

September 14, 2021, Launch Event | In Conversation with Edwidge Danticat, Crowdcast Live hosted by Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books

September 21, 2021, IRAAS Conversations Lecture with Professors Daphne Brooks and Imani Owens, Zoom Webinar hosted by Columbia University

September 22, 2021, Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities, Columbia University, New York City, NY

September 23, 2021, Virtual Event Series: Farah Jasmine Griffin in Conversation with Henry Louis Gates, Youtube Live hosted by Harvard Bookstore and the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University

September 25, 2021, Albany Book Festival Highlight: Farah Jasmine Griffin and Janell Hobson, hosted by the 4th Annual Albany Book Festival, Albany, NY

September 27, 2021, Farah Jasmine Griffin: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, Youtube Live hosted by Town Hall Seattle’s Arts & Culture Series

September 29, 2021, An Evening with the Authors: Farah Jasmine Griffin in Conversation with Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Crowdcast Live hosted by Watchung Bookstore

September 30, 2021, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, hosted by the New York Society Library, New York, NY

October 3, 2021, Driven by the Living Past: Farah Jasmine Griffin in conversation with Tiya Miles and Clint Smith, Crowdcast Live hosted by the Brooklyn Book Festival

October 5, 2021, Farah Jasmine Griffin in Conversation with Robin D.G. Kelley, Youtube Live hosted by City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

October 6, 2021, Book Talk: Read Until You Understand, hosted by UPenn’s Center for Africana Studies and the Department of Africana Studies, co-sponsored by the Department of English, Philadelphia, PA

October 7, 2021, PEN Out Loud x LIVE from NYPL: Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka with Farah Jasmine Griffin, Youtube Live Event hosted by The New York Public Library’s LIVE from NYPL, Strand Book Store, and Scripps Presents

October 15, 2021, A Creative Force: Farah Jasmine Griffin, Bernice McFadden, Kia Corthron, and  Shanta Lee Gander, Zoom Webinar hosted by the Brattleboro Literary Festival

October 19, 2021, The Profound Wisdom of Black Life: A Conversation Between Farah Jasmine Griffin and Obery Hendricks, Zoom Live hosted by The Graduate Center at CUNY’s Intellectual Publics

October 28, 2021, Schomburg Courtyard Salons | Farah Jasmine Griffin, hosted by Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, New York, NY

October 30, 2021, Panel: On Girlhood – Farah Jasmine Griffin, Glory Edim, and Nicole Dennis-Benn,  hosted by the Well-Read Black Girl Festival, Brooklyn, NY

November 1, 2021, NEA Big Read Finale: Friends Author Series – Meet Farah Jasmine Griffin, Author of Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, hosted by the Ferguson Library, Stanford, CT

November 2, 2021, An Intimate & Inspiring Conversation with Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin, hosted by Flowers Bookclub

November 10, 2021, Malcolm Wright in Conversation with Farah Jasmine Griffin: Richard Wright’s Lost Book, Zoom Live hosted by Bookends & Beginnings

February 7, 2022, Freedom Writers: Black Leaders on the Idea of America, Zoom Lecture/Seminar hosted by Smithsonian Associates

February 16, 2022, Authors in Conversation | Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature by Farah Jasmine Griffin in Conversation with Julie Lythcott-Haims, Online Event hosted by the Museum of the African Diaspora

February 24, 2022, Read Until You Understand with Farah Jasmine Griffin, hosted by Athenaeum of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

October 4, 2021, “5 Questions with Farah Jasmine Griffin, Author of Read Until You Understand” with City Lights

October 29, 2021, “Exclusive interview with author Farah Jasmine Griffin” in Writer’s Life Magazine

November 2, 2021, “Black Feminist in Public: Black Life, Literature and the Black Feminist Imagination—a Conversation Between Farah Jasmine Griffin and Janell Hobson” in Ms. Magazine

November 10, 2021, “A New Book Explores Black Life and Literature, and the Struggle for Black Freedom” in Columbia News

October 14, 2021, On-air interview with Lissa Jones-Lofgren, Urban Agenda on KMOJ Radio

November 15, 2021, “358 The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature (with Farah Jasmine Griffin) | Charles Dickens’s Gospel (with Scott Carter),” The History of Literature

December 20, 2021, “Read Until You Understand – Ep 93 with Farah Jasmine Griffin” with Jon Menaster, Read Learn Live

January 18, 2022, “Farah Jasmine Griffin + Mike Errico” with David Fettig, Write On! Radio

January 19, 2022, “A Conversation with Professor Farah Jasmine Griffin, Author, Read Until You Understand, The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature” with Michael Zeldin, That Said

January 24, 2022, “Read Until You Understand: A Conversation with Farah Jasmine Griffin,” This Week in Black History, Society, and Culture with Black and African Diaspora Forum United (BADFU)

February 11, 2022, “033 Challenging Book Bans and Using Stories to Create Change with Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin” with Rorri Geller-Mohamed, Racially Responsible

February 26, 2022, “497 Farah Jasmine Griffin: Autobiography, literary criticism, and the quest for Justice,” The Alain Guillot Podcast

February 28, 2022, “#Holiday Bonus Ep. – Read Until You Understand with Dr. Farah Griffin (@FJasmineG)” with Dom Brightmon, Going North Podcast

March 3, 2022, “Ep. 290: Farah Jasmine Griffin on How to Write Your Full Self Into Your Work” with Rachael Herron, How Do You Write

March 3, 2022, “Censoring the American Canon: Farah Jasmine Griffin on Book Bans Targeting Black Writers” with Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan, Fiction/Non/Fiction

March 4, 2022, “Farah Jasmine Griffin” with Marion Roach Smith, QWERTY

March 15, 2022, “An Offering of Love with Farah Jasmine Griffin” with Nikesha Elise Williams, Black & Published

March 28, 2022, “Farah Jasmine Griffin On Race And Politics & How Literature Illuminates Both” with Mindy McGinnis, Writer Writer Pants on Fire

March 31, 2022, “Episode 28: Farah Jasmine Griffin on If Beale Street Could Talk” with Mychal Denzel Smith, Open Form

April 27, 2022, “Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin–I Love Black People,” the Toure Show

June 1, 2022, “Farah Jasmine Griffin” with Alex Higley and Lindsay Hunter, I’m a Writer But

November 4, 2021, “Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin Discusses Read Until You Understand Book,” with Marc Lamont Hill, Black News Tonight

“Finding your father, and yourself, in the works of Toni Morrison” — Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post

“How literature by Black authors shaped one scholar’s life” — Monica Drake, The New York Times

“A love of Black literature animates every page” — Arielle Gray, Christian Science Monitor

“Read Until You Understand is brought to life through Griffin’s account of the ways in which Black culture was an integral part of her being…Griffin is driven by a belief that the cultivation of aesthetic appreciation―in which the beautiful and the political do not compete―is where real change can be found. It is a book that acknowledges life’s conflicts while still valuing hope and beauty.”
― Douglas Field, Times Literary Supplement

“Author gives readers a gift with interpretations of iconic writers” ― Glenn C. Altschuler, Florida Courier

“The perfect storm of imagination, research, compassion, and intellectual analysis. [Read Until You Understand] soars to a new level of wisdom, community love, and enlightenment for readers and critics alike.” ― Robert Fleming, African American Literature Book Club

“Griffin writes with learned poignance…Perfect for literature lovers, this survey and its moving insights will stick with readers well after the last page is turned.” ― Publishers Weekly

“An impassioned inquiry into the literary roots of Black culture…Insightful, profound, and heartfelt.” ― Kirkus Reviews

20 Amazon reviews, 192 ratings, and 4.7 stars

98 Goodreads reviews, 500 ratings, and 4.35 stars