The Institute for Policy Studies, the Wallace Global Fund, and Busboys and Poets invite you to a talk with the author of Altar to an Erupting Sun, the debut novel of campaigner and storyteller Chuck Collins whose previous books include Born on Third Base, The Wealth Hoarders, Wealth and Our Commonwealth (with Bill Gates Sr.), and Economic Apartheid in America. Collins directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org.

In Altar to an Erupting Sun, Rae Kelliher is a veteran environmental activist and pioneer in the death-with-dignity movement. Her husband Reggie calls her “party in a box” and “a weaver of people and movements.” Facing a diagnosis of terminal illness, Rae engages in a shocking suicide-murder, taking the life of an oil company CEO for his complicity in delaying responses to climate catastrophe. Seven years later, Rae’s friends and family gather at her Vermont farm to try to understand her violent exit and the rapid social transformations triggered by her desperate act.

This program is part of a series of book events by the Institute for Policy Studies (directed by Tope Folarin), the Wallace Global Fund, (directed by Ellen Dorsey), and Busboys & Poets (founded and owned by Andy Shallal) to engage authors and social movement leaders on the connections between their writings and social movement’s action and advocacy for peace, justice, and the environment. This event is also co-hosted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center.

A reception and book signing will follow the discussion.

This event will be livestreamed on Busboys & Poets facebook page. To attend live, please RSVP.