BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//GayOut//Event Export//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT UID:237182@gayout.com DTSTAMP:20260908T030437Z DTSTART:20260930T193000Z DTEND:20260930T203000Z SUMMARY:The W: A History of the WNBA —\\; Tamryn Spruill in conversa tion with Gavin Godfrey DESCRIPTION:This event takes place on Crowdcast\\, Charis’\\; virtua l event platform. This event is free\\, but registration is required. Reg ister here –\\; https://www.crowdcast.io/c/the-w\\nCharis welcomes T amryn Spruill in conversation with Gavin Godfrey for a celebration of The W: A History of the WNBA: How the WNBA Survived\\, Evolved\\, and Change d Professional Sports\\, a raucous roller-coaster history of the WNBA.\\n The history of the WNBA is an epic one\\, and in The W\\, journalist Tamr yn Spruill tells the full thrilling story. This is a three-decade tale of tenacious athletes\\, devoted fans\\, and a vibrant\\, diverse league th at struggled for years to find a firm footing in the wider sports culture .\\nWhen the WNBA launched to much fanfare in 1996\\, the nascent league was treated like a kid sister with a lot of potential. Eight teams collec tively owned by the NBA played a short schedule during the men’s offsea son. Fans flocked to arenas to see stars Sheryl Swoopes\\, Lisa Leslie\\, and Rebecca Lobo\\, and the Houston Comets won their first of four conse cutive championships.\\nBut television broadcasts were hard to find\\, th e conversation around the league was often blatantly sexist\\, and less t han a decade after their “four peat\\,” the dynastic Comets had been disbanded and ceased to exist.\\nSocial media helped players upend that d ynamic\\, be their authentic selves\\, and engender change inside the lea gue and beyond it. College stars became pros\\, legends broke records\\, and the women of the WNBA became undeniable. Thirty years after its found ing\\, the time has more than come for this comprehensive account of the league\\, and the women whose drive\\, on-court and off\\, built the W.\\ nAbout the Author\\nTamryn Spruill is an award-winning independent journa list and author of The W: A History of the WNBA (Abrams Press\\, Septembe r 2026).\\nFormerly the editor in chief of Swish Appeal\\, she has writte n for The Athletic\\, Harper’s BAZAAR\\, The New York Times\\, The Red Bulletin\\, SLAM\\, and elsewhere. A lifelong lover of basketball\\, Spru ill has followed the WNBA since its inception and began reporting on it i n 2014\\, with the aim of giving the then-neglected league meaningful cov erage.\\nShe has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Goddard C ollege and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Journalism from the Universi ty of South Carolina. As an adjunct professor\\, Spruill is passionate ab out teaching media history/studies\\, world literature\\, and creative wr iting.\\nShe thrives in nature\\, feels most grounded when making music a nd art\\, and lives in Massachusetts with her wife\\, stepson\\, and two cats.\\nAbout the Conversation Partner\\nGavin Godfrey is a senior report er for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution\\, and its Black culture franchis e UATL. He’\\;s an award-winning writer and editor from Atlanta who& #8217\\;s covered everything from OutKast to the World Cup. Before joinin g the AJC\\, Gavin was the editor for Capital B Atlanta. He also held edi torial leadership roles with Creative Loafing\\, Canopy Atlanta\\, and CN N. His freelance work has appeared in NPR\\, Complex\\, The Fader\\, Roll ing Stone and Vice.\\nAbout our Partner\\nJolene Jolene is Atlanta’s fi rst bar dedicated to women’s sports. Learn more at jolenejoleneatl.com. \\nThe event is free and open to all people\\, but we encourage and appre ciate a donation of $5-20 in support of the work of Charis Circle\\, our programming non-profit. Donate on Crowdcast or via our website: www.chari scircle.org/donate.\\nPlease contact us at info@chariscircle.org or 404-5 24-0304 if you would like ASL interpretation at this event. If you would like to watch the event with live AI captions\\, you may do so by watchin g it in Google Chrome and enabling captions: Instructions here. If you ha ve other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in maki ng digital events more accessible please don’\\;t hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org.\\nBy attending our event\\, you agree to ou r Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experienc e for everyone\\, regardless of gender\\, gender identity and expression\ \, age\\, sexual orientation\\, disability\\, physical appearance\\, body size\\, race\\, ethnicity\\, religion (or lack thereof)\\, class\\, or t echnology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Unsolicited sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discr etion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to Charis staff imm ediately or email info@chariscircle.org.\\nhttps://www.gayout.com/usa-can ada/united-states/atlanta/events/the-w-a-history-of-the-wnba-8212-tamryn- spruill-in-conversation-with-gavin-godfrey-2026-09-30 LOCATION:artsatl.org URL:https://www.gayout.com/usa-canada/united-states/atlanta/events/the-w-a-history-of-the-wnba-8212-tamryn-spruill-in-conversation-with-gavin-godfrey-2026-09-30 STATUS:CONFIRMED END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR