An Evening with Wilmot Collins & Author Daniel Blake Smith

Country Bookshelf is thrilled to welcome former Helena mayor Wilmot Collins and Daniel Blake Smith, author of the new biography .

Tickets are not required but RSVPs are always appreciated! Please RSVP by reserving a free general admission ticket on this page.

The event at a glance:

• On October 8, please arrive early to secure your seat. Seating is general admission, first come, first served.
• At 6pm, the event will begin. Daniel & Wilmot will take audience questions following the program.
• After the talk, Daniel & Wilmot will sign books.
• Can't attend in person? Order signed copies on our websiteor by calling (406) 587-0166. Signing requests must be placed 24 hours before the event and can only be taken for books we currently have on our shelves.

ABOUT RUN: THE WILMOT COLLINS STORY

tells the inspiring story of Wilmot Collins, who fled the brutal and bloody Liberian Civil War in the early 1990s—where over 250,000 Liberians were killed, including two of Collins’s brothers—and managed to make it to Helena, Montana, one of the whitest places on the planet. Enduring and overcoming racism and xenophobia, he joined the Montana National Guard, became an active member of the Helena community, and in 2017 rose to become mayor of the capital city and the first Black mayor in Montana’s history.

Collins garnered a national reputation not only as a beloved Democratic politician in a ruby red state but also as a shining example of how being a racial and political outsider in a highly partisan society can be transformed into an effective and engaging form of political leadership.

Wilmot’s story highlights the tragic decision to abandon one’s homeland when it turns on its people. Collins came from a highly educated family and, when civil war erupted, he was fresh out of college working as a middle school teacher at Monrovia’s SOS Children’s Village School. He had recently found a great companion, Maddie Muna, whom he met after college graduation. They became fast friends and soon life partners in marriage. But they first had to negotiate forces threatening their very lives.

Through extensive interviews and his masterful command of storytelling, award-winning author and filmmaker Daniel Blake Smith tells how Wilmot and Maddie, through great perseverance, plenty of ingenuity, and inspiring displays of generosity, journeyed to the United States and have made their new home a better place for everyone. Run offers an emotional, inspiring, and deeply personal story of survival, racial injustice, political hope, and the challenges one family faced to realize the American dream.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Blake Smith is the award-winning author of six books and a prize-winning filmmaker. Most recently, he is the writer and producer of the film Mr. Wonderful, adapted from his novel of the same name.