Arts & Humanities Dean’s Lecture Series: Edwidge Danticat
Award-winning novelist Edwidge Danticat joins Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Merle Collins for an intimate and informative conversation about their lived experiences as Caribbean Americans. The event combines a reading from Danticat, followed by a discussion and audience Q&A; on themes of storytelling, immigration, advocacy and the challenge of finding home away from home.
A book signing will follow the lecture. This event is free but ticketed.
This event is sponsored in part by a Pepsi Enhancement Fund.
This event is part of UMD’s Year of Immigration. Follow the conversation across social media platforms using hashtags: #ARHUDLS, #YearOfImmigration
About the Speakers:
Edwidge Danticat is the author of numerous books, including "Claire of the Sea Light," a New York Times notable book; "Brother, I’m Dying," a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and National Book Award finalist; "Breath, Eyes, Memory," an Oprah Book Club selection; "Krik? Krak!," a National Book Award finalist; "The Farming of Bones," an American Book Award winner; and "The Dew Breaker," a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and winner of the inaugural Story Prize. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times and elsewhere. She lives in Miami.
Merle Collins is a distinguished scholar-teacher and professor of English at the University of Maryland. As an esteemed scholar, poet, novelist, oral archivist and documentary filmmaker, she is an influential figure in the field of Anglophone Caribbean literature and culture. Her books include "Because the Dawn Breaks,” “Lady in a Boat,” “Angel,” “Rain Darling” and “The Ladies are Upstairs.” In 2000, Collins received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study “Slavery and Emancipation in the Caribbean.” She is currently working on a book about Louise Langdon Little, the mother of Malcolm X.
About the Arts and Humanities Dean’s Lecture Series:
The Arts and Humanities Dean's Lecture Series provides an opportunity for the college faculty, students and staff to join together with colleagues across campus for stimulating conversation about issues that cross our disciplines. Lectures and performances may address either enduring or emerging questions central to the arts and humanities, or questions arising from other disciplines to which the arts and humanities might speak. In addition to presenting a major public event, each lecturer interacts in smaller settings with faculty, graduate students and/or undergraduates. Lectures and performances in the series may be co-sponsored with particular programs, centers, or departments within the college, with other colleges, and with external organizations.
About the Year of Immigration:
The Year of Immigration aims to transform dialogue into impact on urgent issues related to immigration, global migration and refugees, and to foster open conversation and greater connection with the University of Maryland’s large and diverse international community. For more information visit yearofimmigration.umd.edu
