News Release

Award-winning Author James McBride Celebrates Arts at Bucks

Lecture and musical performance to be followed by book signing in a rare appearance Saturday, May 2, at the Newtown campus

James McBride, an author, musician, and screenwriter, shares his talents at Bucks County Community College Saturday, May 2, as part of Arts at Bucks celebrations. The event takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the Gateway Auditorium (formerly Library Auditorium) on the Newtown campus.

McBride will lecture on identity, a theme he explored in his best-selling memoir The Color of Water: a Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother. A question-and-answer session will follow. He’s also expected to perform on saxophone with his five-piece jazz and rhythm-and-blues band.

McBride’s debut novel, Miracle at St. Anna, was translated into a major motion picture directed by Spike Lee.  His newest novel, Song Yet Sung, was released in paperback in January 2009. The Brooklyn native is also a former staff writer for the Boston Globe, People magazine and the Washington Post. His work has appeared in Essence, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times.  

McBride’s musical career includes serving as sideman with jazz legend Jimmy Scott, and writing songs for Anita Baker, Grover Washington Jr., and even for the PBS children’s television character Barney.  He received the Stephen Sondheim Award and the Richard Rodgers Foundation Horizon Award for his musical “Bo-Bos,” co-written with playwright Ed Shockley.   

One of 12 children, McBride is a graduate of New York City public schools. He studied composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received his Masters in Journalism from Columbia University in New York at age 22. He holds several honorary doctorates and is currently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University. He is married with three children.  

Tickets for James McBride are $10 and can be purchased at www.bucks.edu/tickets.

McBride’s appearance is part of the college’s annual “Arts at Bucks” celebrations, showcasing the talent and academic excellence available at the public, two-year school. Bucks is one of the few community colleges in the nation that is an accredited institutional member of both the National Association of Schools of Music and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. That means its courses and facilities meet the high standards of the finest music and art schools in the nation. To learn more, call 215-968-8425.