Join us for Speed Reading Book Club, a book discussion inspired by both special exhibitions and artworks in the Speed’s permanent collection! Mention the Speed Reading Book Club at Carmichael’s Bookstore Carmichael’s Bookstore | Louisville’s Oldest Independent Bookstore (or in the comments for online purchases) to get a 20% discount on any Speed Reading Book Club selection.

Speed Reading Book Club is free with admission and will be in person.

August 16, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

Book: The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Poetry Exhibition: The Adele and Leonard Leight Glass Art Award – Victoria Ahmadizadeh Melendez (August 7 – October 19, 2025)

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi’s unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming—both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.