The bell hooks Book Club will continue meeting in 2026, and the next gathering is at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19, in the bell hooks Legacy Room at the Pennyroyal Area Museum, 217 E. Ninth St.
The book club is an informal group open to anyone interested in learning more about Hopkinsville native bell hooks, who was a prolific writer, cultural critic and feminist icon. She was born Gloria Jean Watkins on Sept. 25, 1952, and took the pen name, bell hooks, in tribute to her great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks.
The group has been discussing bell hooks’ 2000 book, “All About Love: New Visions.” The Jan. 19 meeting will focus on Chapter 11, “Loss: Loving into Life and Death.” Hoptown Chronicle will provide refreshments for the meeting.
Hoptown Chronicle is a sponsor of the book club, along with the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County, the Christian County Literacy Council and the bell hooks Legacy Group.
In “All About Love, hooks explored “what causes a polarized society and how to heal divisions,” the museum said in a press release. “This New York Times bestselling book offers the truth about love in an expansive context and gives inspiration to help us instill caring, compassion, and strength in all our interactions.”
Following her death on Dec. 15, 2021, the bell hooks Legacy Group was formed as a grassroots alliance to support the meaning and impact of the writer’s works in her hometown. The book club is one of the group’s efforts. It meets on the third Monday of each month.
Read more about bell hooks in Hoptown Chronicle’s archives here.
Copies of “All About Love” are available in the The Vault by Planters Bank Museum Shop and online through the museum’s Shopify store for $16.99.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
