The Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library presented writer Lorene Cary with The Royden B. Davis, S.J., Distinguished Author Award at a dinner reception Oct. 13, 2018, in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center.
Cary is the author of the best-selling memoir Black Ice and novels such as If Sons, Then Heirs, The Price of a Child, Pride and FREE! Great Escapes on the Underground Railroad. Cary, who read from her upcoming book, founded Art Sanctuary, which creates unique programs for African-American artists, performers and writers in Philadelphia. Such programs have garnered up to 1,500 participants a year. She has also been a senior lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania.
In a society where the role of the written press is often questioned, Cary said, it is the writer’s role to “observe, listen, report; to investigate; to create beauty; to create order; to ask questions; to challenge; to call out; to study; to have courage.”