Mary Williams / The Lost Daughter

Born to militant Black Panthers and adopted by Jane Fonda, Mary Williams spent three decades traveling around the world before she was ready to embark on her final journey home.
Mary Williams was born to Black Panther parents and grew up in Oakland, in the '70s -- a vivid childhood during a time of immense political and cultural upheaval, though hardly idyllic. Her father was often absent or in prison, her older sister succumbed to prostitution and teenage pregnancy, and her mother struggled with… Show more alcoholism. For all she knew, Mary was headed down the same path.
But all of that changed radically when she met Jane Fonda at a summer camp run by Fonda and her then husband, Tom Hayden, in 1978. Fonda took notice of the bright young girl, and eventually invited Mary to come and live with her. At age sixteen, Mary left Oakland for star-studded Santa Monica. Overnight, a daughter of the revolution became a daughter of celebrity and privilege, socially conscious and well-educated. Her adult life has been no less unique: Mary's work with the Lost Boys of Sudan inspired Dave Eggers to write What is the What, she hiked the Appalachian Trail (solo), and she spent months working in Antarctica.
But Mary's greatest adventure has been the trip back home, to reconnect with the family she left behind as an adolescent, including reuniting with her birth mother and sister as well as the meeting of Jane and her birthmother. The Lost Daughter is a warm and poignant story of identity, redemption, forgiveness and the definition of family.
"I've known Mary Williams for almost ten years now, and I always hoped she would tell her incredible story. She's a writer of uncommon clarity and humor, and the arrival of her memoir is cause for celebration."
Dave Eggers, author of What is the What and A Hologram for the King
Mary Williams is the author of the children's book Brothers in Hope, and has been published in The Believer, McSweeney's, and O: The Oprah Magazine. She lives in Tucson.
Berkeley Arts & Letters at First Congregational Church of Berkeley (2345 Channing Way at Dana; enter via doors on Channing)
Tickets $12 ($5 students) in advance only, at Brown Paper Tickets online or 800-838-3006; $15 at the door

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