Student Life is thrilled to announce that it has partnered with the Illinois Community College Student Activities Association (ICCSAA) to host Clint Smith as its keynote speaker for its 2022 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations. LLCC will join several other community colleges across the state for this event. This online virtual event will be streamed at LLCC on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022, from noon-1 p.m. More information will be released as the date approaches. This event will be open to all.

Clint Smith is an American writer, poet and scholar. He is the author of Counting Descent, a 2017 poetry collection that was a finalist for the NAACP Image Awards and won Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Smith received a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He was a regular contributor to the Pod Save the People podcast, where he discussed the week’s news with a panel of other activists. His latest book, How the Word Is Passed, topped The New York Times Best Seller list in June 2021. He is also the host of the web series Crash Course: Black American History.