The Indianapolis Public Library will bring celebrated author Ta-Nehisi Coates to Clowes Hall in May.

Coates, whose work includes 2015 National Book Award winner "Between The World And Me," will deliver the 42nd annual Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture.

Admission to the 7 p.m. event on May 8 is free with a ticket. All tickets for the 2,100-capacity venue at Butler University have been distributed, but open seats will be released at 6:45 p.m. to patrons in line who do not have tickets. Lines formed before 4 p.m. will not be honored.

In 2015, Coates was named a MacArthur Fellow for addressing "complex and challenging issues such as racial identity, systemic racial bias and urban policing."

Coates has been credited for launching policy dialogue with "The Case for Reparations," his 2014 essay published in The Atlantic magazine.

The Baltimore native also writes comic books in Marvel's "Black Panther" and "Captain America" series.

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The library's event will be structured as a moderated conversation with Coates.

Past McFadden speakers include John Irving, James Baldwin, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Patricia Cornwell, Neil Gaiman and Khaled Hosseini.

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Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at 317-444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.