A Pair of Wings: A Novel
Henry Holt & Co., 2024

About the book
This novel was inspired by Bessie Coleman, a Black woman who learned to fly at the dawn of aviation and found freedom in the air. Bessie’s fascination with flight began when an airplane buzzed overhead as she worked in a Texas cotton field, a few years after the Wright brothers’ first flight. Moving to Chicago, she won the backing of wealthy, powerful Black men, but her true love remained flying. In 1920, no one in the U.S. would teach a Black woman to fly, so Bessie learned to speak French and set off for Europe. Two years ahead of Amelia Earhart, she earned her pilot’s license.

This event is presented in partnership with Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).

About the author
Carole Hopson is a Boeing 737 captain for United Airlines. After a 20-year career as a journalist and business executive, she followed her dream to become a pilot. Hopson founded the Jet Black Foundation, an organization dedicated to sending 100 Black women to flight school by 2035.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities, and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices | PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2024 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. Our Keynote event is presented by Sally Mott Freeman and John K. Freeman, and our Closing event is presented by Griswold Home Care for Sussex and Kent Counties. Saturday’s Spirited Discussion, our gathering for attendees and presenters to celebrate and discuss their day, is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our Founding Program Partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library, for event promotion and production, and Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Thanks also to: the  Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.

Additional thanks to our community partners: CAMP Rehoboth, Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center,  Historic Lewes Farmers Market, Lewes Historical Society, Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth Beach Film Society, Seaside Jewish Community, and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).