Dr. Craig Yorke Author Visit – Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon's Journey

Name: Dr. Craig Yorke Author Visit – Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon's Journey
Start: 2025-08-27T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-08-27T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

Schedule

Wed Aug 27 2025 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library | Topeka, KS

Dr. Yorke discusses his history as a Black neurosurgeon who practiced in Topeka. His story is about the price of success rather than the weight of bigotry - a story of resilience and self-discovery.
Following the moderated discussion, Yorke will be available to answer questions. The publisher of Steep, Flint Hills Publishing, will be onsite with books available for purchase.
Steep: A Black Neurosurgeon's Journey is a memoir that traces Dr. Yorke's life from a poor Boston neighborhood to a neurosurgical practice in Middle America. It’s a story about the price of success rather than the weight of bigotry – a story of resilience and self-discovery that will resonate with anyone who has wrestled with their past as they chased the American Dream.
Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Yorke received a Bachelor's of Arts from Harvard College in 1970 and a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School in 1974. After neurosurgical residency at the University of California, San Francisco, Yorke and his wife Mary found their way to Kansas and raised two boys, Zack and Chris. Yorke practiced in Topeka for 25 years and now enjoys a retirement where he plays violin and stays active with tennis. Steep, his first book, began as a letter to his sons in response to a moment in a bookstore where he faced the shelves of books on Black Studies and wondered where his history could find shelf space.