TomorrowTalks with Siddharth Kara

Arizona State University welcomes Pulitzer Prize Finalist, two-time PEN America Finalist and New York Times bestselling author Siddharth Kara as a guest in its TomorrowTalks series. Kara will discuss his latest book "The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery" in an online event on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at noon Arizona / MST (noon PDT / 1 p.m. MDT / 2 p.m. CDT / 3 p.m. EDT). 

The conversation will be facilitated by ASU Cedrick Burrows, Associate Professor in ASU's writing, rhetorics and literacies program in the Department of English. 

The event is free of charge and open to the public; please register to attend.

About the book

"The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery" by Siddharth Kara is a book about the 1781 slave ship Zong later called Zorg, where the crew threw 132 enslaved Africans overboard to claim insurance money, sparking a landmark legal case that became a pivotal moment in the abolitionist movement by forcing a public debate on whether enslaved people were cargo or human beings. The book details the horrific event, the subsequent trial and how this tragedy helped galvanize the fight against slavery in Britain and the U.S. 

About the author

Siddharth Kara is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a two-time PEN America Finalist and New York Times bestselling author. He is a former British Academy Global Professor and has held academic positions at Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley and the University of Nottingham. 

About the facilitator

Cedrick Burrows is an Associate Professor in ASU's writing, rhetorics and literacies program in the Department of English. His research focuses on cultural rhetorics, specifically Black rhetoric and its interpretations by mainstream culture. His book "Rhetorical Crossover: The Black Presence in White Culture" earned the 2021 David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English by the National Council of Teachers of English. His current research focuses on the reception of Black history narratives by mainstream audiences.

About the series

TomorrowTalks place thought leaders of today in conversation with the changemakers of tomorrow: our students. Each distinguished speaker explains how they use writing to address our most pressing challenges. TomorrowTalks are a student-engagement initiative led by the Division of Humanities in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ASU and hosted by ASU's Humanities Institute and the Department of English in partnership with Macmillan Publishers.

For a full listing of Humanities Institute events, visit our events page.