Kalamazoo College will help explore how art and paper can help us imagine freedom as the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership partners with the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA), Western Michigan University (WMU), and Kalamazoo Valley Community College to welcome Reginald Dwayne Betts for a series of community events in November.
Betts—an author, MacArthur Fellow, Yale Law School graduate and the founder of Freedom Reads—has transformed access to literature in prisons across the country. Since its founding in 2020, Freedom Reads has opened more than 500 Freedom Libraries in 13 states with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The facilities offer spaces for conversation and reflection that connect incarcerated people with the power of books and imagination.
Betts’ Kalamazoo visit will coincide with the KIA exhibition Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper, which explores the expressive potential of Japanese handmade paper through the work of nine contemporary artists. Betts’ solo theatre piece, Felon: An American Washi Tale, similarly draws on the creative and liberatory possibilities of paper, incorporating a set designed from “prison paper” made from the clothing of incarcerated men.
Public events will include the following:
- 7–8:30 p.m. Thursday, November 12: Betts will discuss his latest poetry collection, Doggerel, at WMU’s Multicultural Center in the Adrian Trimpe Building, 1003 Ring Road South. A book signing will follow.
- 7 p.m. Friday, November 13: Betts will deliver a public lecture at the KIA, discussing Felon: An American Washi Tale, and performing an excerpt from the show.
- 2 p.m. Wednesday, November 19: The KIA’s Meader Fine Arts Library will host a discussion of Felon. Please note that Betts will not attend this event.
All programs are free and open to the public; some additional events are offered specifically for college students, including a student meet-and-greet at the Arcus Center before the Friday night discussion of Doggerel and a college tour of Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paperon Thursday, November 13. Learn more and register at kiarts.org/betts.
