The Friends of SMU Libraries will host this year’s annual Tables of Content fundraiser, Saturday, March 19, 2022. The Tables of Content features round tables of engaging discussion with a range of fascinating table hosts on a variety of topics. The event begins with a cocktail reception showcasing 10 featured authors from the Dallas Literary Festival. The authors will speak with guests about their writing experience, their books, and will be available to for book signing. Proceeds from this event with benefit the Friends of SMI Libraries annual grants program.
This year at the Tables of Content fundraiser, Friends of SMU Libraries will honor Adrian Miller with the 12th Annual Literati Award. The Literati Award honors individuals who have used the written word to advance the ideals of creativity, conviction, innovation and scholarship and who have had a significant impact on culture and the community through their work.
This award was established by the Friends of SMU Libraries in 2010 in honor of the 40th anniversary of its founding.
About Adrian Miller
Culinary historian, author and James Beard Award winner, Adrian Miller is this year’s Literati Award honoree. Adrian is the author of three books, his latest, Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbeque; The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, From the Washingtons to the Obamas; and Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time.
Miller received an A.B in International Relations from Stanford University in 1991, and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1995. From 1999 to 2001, Miller served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton with his Initiative for One America – the first free-standing office in the White House to address issues of racial, religious and ethnic reconciliation. Her went on to serve as a senior policy analyst for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr. From 2004 to 2010, he served on the board for the Southern Foodways Alliance. In June 2019, Adrian lectured in the Masters of Gastronomy program at the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche n Pollenzo, Italy.
To learn more about Adrian Miller and our past recipients visit the Friends of SMU Libraries Literari Award.