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WMRA Books & Brews October 8 & 9 2019

WMRA October Books & Brews features award-winning journalist, Thomas Kapsidelis, discussing his book,  After Virginia Tech: Guns, Safety, and Healing in the Era of Mass Shootings

Tuesday, October 8, 2019 atPale Fire Brewing Company in Harrisonburg at 7pm. 

Wednesday, October  9, 2019 in Crozet at the Pro Re Nata Farm Brewery at 7pm. 

When you present your WMRA Member Card at either event, you'll receive a certificate for a complimentary beer.     

Kapsidelis examines the decade after the Virginia Tech massacre through the experiences of survivors and community members who have advocated for reforms in gun safety, campus security, trauma recovery, and mental health. Undaunted by the expansion of gun rights, they have continued their national leadership despite an often-hostile political environment and repeated mass violence. Kapsidelis also focuses on the trauma suffered by police who responded to the shootings, and the work by chaplains and a longtime police officer to create an organization dedicated to recovery. The stories Kapsidelis tells here show how people and communities affected by profound loss ultimately persevere long after the initial glare and attention inevitably fade. Reaching beyond policy implications, After Virginia Tech illuminates personal accounts of recovery and resilience that can offer a ray of hope to millions of Americans concerned about the consequences of gun violence.

Thomas P. Kapsidelis is a freelance journalist who worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch for twenty-eight years. He supervised the newspaper’s coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings as the on-site editor in Blacksburg on April 16, 2007. In 2016, he was selected as a one-year residential fellow at Virginia Humanities to complete work on After Virginia Tech. Before joining The Times-Dispatch, he worked as an editor and writer for United Press International and The State of Columbia, South Carolina. Kapsidelis is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the master of fine arts creative nonfiction program at Goucher College. He lives in Richmond.

Martin was born and raised in Lenkisem, Kajiado County, Kenya. He moved to the US in 2013 to attend James Madison University where he studied Integrated Science and Technology with a concentration in Information and Knowledge Management.