Another author event next week: The University Writing Program presents Conversations with Writers, featuring Maxine Hong Kingston, Feb. 24.

Dateline staff

Tickets are on sale for this year’s installment of the Leslie Campbell Legacy Speaker Series, which is bringing in playwright and author Ntozake Shange for an evening presentation on Tuesday, Feb. 22.

The organizers said Shange will talk about the experiences of women of color, as depicted in her most recent book, Some Sing, Some Cry (co-authored with Ifa Bayeza), and in Shange’s choreopoem, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, the latter of which served as the basis for Tyler Perry’s new film, For Colored Girls.

She also plans to talk about relationships among black men and women.

The program, sponsored by the African Continuum and Campus Unions, comes amid Black History Month. The speaker series’ namesake worked at UC Davis for 30 years, mostly in Undergraduate Admissions. She retired as interim director in 2004 and died the next year of breast cancer.

The organizers of the speaker series had this to say about Campbell: "She was a champion of educational opportunities, touching the lives of many people. Her dedicated service left an indelible mark on the campus community and the Sacramento region."

Shange’s program, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in Freeborn Hall, “will inspire students and community members alike," the organizers said.

“As a substantial contributor to history herself, over the years Ms. Shange’s work has transformed the lives of women and girls of color by providing inspiring visions of themselves moving beyond harrowing circumstances.”

Tickets: $20 ($12 for students) in advance, available at the Freeborn Hall ticket office and through tickets.com (search for "Ntozake Shange"), or $25 ($15 for students) at the door.

Presenters, sponsors and memorial fund

The Leslie Campbell Legacy Speaker Series is presented by the African Continuum and Campus Unions, with these co-sponsors: the African American Faculty and Staff Association, the Office of Campus Community Relations, Counseling and Psychology Services, the Cross Cultural Center, the provost's office, Student Affairs, the Student Recruitment and Retention Center, and the Women's Resources and Research Center, as well as the UC Davis Humanities Institute and the University Writing Program, the Department of Comparative Literature, and the programs of African American and African Studies, and Women and Gender Studies.

The series also receives support from a memorial fund, and contributions are welcome. Send them to the Leslie Campbell Memorial Fund, in care of the UC Davis Foundation, UC Davis, 1 Shields Ave., Davis 95616. Checks should be made payable to the UC Davis Foundation-Leslie Campbell Memorial Fund.