The opening event of the Martha's Vineyard Book Festival features a dialogue between two high-profile journalists: Ta-Nehisi Coates, national correspondent for The Atlantic, and Michele Norris, National Public Radio host and founder of The Race Card Project.

With the release on July 14 of Between the World and Me, Coates has been thrust to the center of the country's new dialogue on race, and the book has become an instant best seller.  It is a bold and personal literary exploration of America's racial history.  Coates is also author of the memoir, The Beautiful Struggle, and writes about cultural, social and political issues for The Atlantic and its website.  His Atlantic article, The Case for Reparations, was the most widely viewed article in the magazine's history.  

A popular host on NPR, Norris leads The Race Card Project,  an initiative to foster a wider conversation about race in America that she created after the publication of her 2010 family memoir, The Grace of Silence. 

Sponsored by the Vineyard Gazette, the discussion will be followed by a reception.