National Geographic Explorer in Residence Tara Roberts in conversation with Tayari Jones - Written in the Waters
For fans of Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild” and Jesmyn Ward’s “Men We Reaped,” this searing memoir by a National Geographic explorer recounts one woman’s epic journey to trace the global slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean—and find her place in the world.
Join Tara Roberts, National Geographic Explorer in Residence, for an unforgettable evening as she discusses her powerful memoir, “Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging.” Roberts will appear in conversation with Atlanta’s own Tayari Jones, award-winning author of “An American Marriage.”
Tickets are $35 for the general public and include a pre-signed book. Tickets are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend the event, your ticket still entitles you to a signed copy of the book; A Cappella Books will hold your book for one month from the event date.
A select number of complimentary tickets are also available for SCAD Card holders, who should email scadshow@scad.edu to reserve their ticket.
About the Book
When Tara Roberts first caught sight of a photograph at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History depicting the scuba and underwater archaeology group Diving With a Purpose, it called out to her. Here were Black women and men strapping on masks, fins, and tanks to explore Atlantic Ocean waters along the coastlines of Africa, North America, and Central America, seeking the wrecks of slave ships long lost in time. Inspired, Roberts joined them—and started on a path of discovery more challenging and personal than she could ever have imagined.
In this lush and lyrical memoir, she tells a story of exploration and reckoning that takes her from her home in Washington, D.C., to an exotic array of locales: Thailand and Sri Lanka, Mozambique, South Africa, Senegal, Benin, Costa Rica, and St. Croix. The journey connects her with other divers, scholars, and archaeologists, offering a unique way of understanding the 12.5 million souls carried away from their African homeland to enslavement on other continents. But for Roberts, the journey is also intensely personal. Inspired by the descendants of those who lost their lives during the Middle Passage, she decides to plumb her own family history and life as a Black woman to help make sense of her own identity.
Complex and unflinchingly authentic, this deeply moving narrative heralds an important new voice in literature that will open minds and hearts everywhere.
About the Author
Tara Roberts is a storyteller, adventurer, and traveler.
Tara spent the last six years following, diving with, and telling stories about Black scuba divers as they searched for and helped document slave shipwrecks around the world. Her journey was turned into an award-winning National Geographic-produced podcast called “Into the Depths” and featured in the March issue of National Geographic magazine. Tara became the first Black female explorer ever to be featured on the cover of Nat Geo. In 2022, Tara was named the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. Currently, she is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. And her book “Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home and Belonging” hits stands in January 2025.
Tara also worked as an editor for magazines like CosmoGirl, Essence, EBONY and Heart & Soul and edited several books for girls. She was a Fellow at the MIT Open Documentary Lab. She founded her own magazine for women who are ‘too bold for boundaries..' And Tara spent an amazing year backpacking around the world to find and tell stories about young women change agents. The journey led to the creation of a nonprofit that supported and funded their big ideas.
About the Conversation Partner
New York Times best-selling author Tayari Jones is the author of four novels, most recently "An American Marriage." Published in 2018, "An American Marriage" is an Oprah's Book Club Selection and also appeared on Barack Obama's summer reading list as well as his year-end roundup. The novel was awarded the Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Orange Prize), Aspen Words Prize and an NAACP Image Award. It has been published in two dozen countries.
Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, University of Iowa, and Arizona State University. She is an Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University and the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing at Emory University.
