May 5 at The Loft Literary Center: Dr. Brittany Lewis to Discuss New Book, Building a New Table: A Community-Centered Handbook for Transformative Social Change

Dr. Brittany Lewis will mark the release of her new book, Building a New Table: A Community-Centered Handbook for Transformative Social Change (University of Minnesota Press; May 5, 2026), with a launch event at The Loft Literary Center. The celebration will be held in the Open Book Performance Hall on May 5 at 6:00 PM.

Dr. Brittany Lewis, founder and CEO of Research in Action, a social benefit corporation, has spent more than fifteen years working in partnership with Twin Cities communities. She served as senior research associate at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs and is featured in the Upper Midwest Emmy Award–winning documentary Jim Crow of the North and the radio documentary A Fiery Unrest: Why Plymouth Avenue Burned. 

Building a New Table guides readers through the steps of the Equity in Action model, developed by Dr. Lewis as a framework for closing the gaps between communities, researchers, and institutions. Demonstrating how to ground solutions in lessons from lived experience, Dr. Lewis teaches how authentic community engagement and community-driven research creates reciprocal, generative relationships that can enact real, systemic change.

Copies of the book will be for sale from Black Garnet Books and Dr. Lewis will be available to sign them after the program. Admission is free but registration is requested: https://z.umn.edu/LewisLaunch