Thursday, October 29Th, 2020 Visiting Writers Series Presents Maaza

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Thursday, October 29th, 2020 Visiting Writers Series Presents Maaza Mengiste for Virtual Reading AMHERST, Mass. — The University of Massachusetts Amherst's MFA for Poets and Writers presents a reading by Maaza Mengiste on Thursday, October 29th at 6:00 p.m. EDT on Zoom. The reading will be followed by a conversation and Q&A with MFA prose faculty member, Sabina Murray. All Fall 2020 readings are virtual, free, and open to the public. To register for this reading visit the UMass Amherst MFA's Visiting Writers Series page. You can RSVP on Facebook here. Maaza Mengiste is the author of the novels, The Shadow King and Beneath the Lion's Gaze. The Shadow King was a New York Times' Notable Book, one of TIME's 100 Must-Read Books, and a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize in Fiction in 2019. It is currently shortlisted for The Booker Prize. Beneath the Lion's Gaze was selected by The Guardian as one of the 10 best contemporary African books. Writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books, Francesca Capossela described Mengiste's The Shadow King as "A beautiful and thoughtful epic, the book celebrates the role of women in the Ethiopian resistance, illuminating how (as Mengiste writes in her author’s note) “[t]he story of war has always been a masculine story, but this was not true for Ethiopia and it has never been that way in any form of struggle.” According to BookPage, "[when] asked what she is most proud of in The Shadow King, Mengiste points to 'the freedom I gave myself. I’m really proud of the structure of the book. People will either like it or hate it, but I was willing to take the risk because I wanted to push myself as a writer—not just as a thinker but as a writer. Some of my favorite writers are those who break form. I wanted to see if I could do that under their tutelage. I’m really proud of being able to combine the stories of the Ethiopians and the Italians, to force questions about both of them, about loyalty, about racism, about being subjugated by the very people who should be protecting you. These were the questions I wanted to bring forward.'” Maaza is the recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, the Premio il ponte/Bridge Prize, and fellowships from the Fulbright Scholar Program, the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Capital, and LiteraturHaus Zurich. Her work can be found in The New Yorker, New York Review of Books, Granta, the Guardian, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and BBC, among other places. The nationally renowned Visiting Writers Series at UMass Amherst presents emerging and established writers of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. The Series is sponsored by the MFA for Poets and Writers and the Juniper Initiative. It is made possible by support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the University of Massachusetts Arts Council, the English Department, and our generous alumni. Contact: Jennifer Jacobson, 413-545-5510, [email protected] .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Girl Rising Teacher’S Guide
GIRL RISING TEACHER’S GUIDE GIRLRISING.COM | 1 INTRODUCTION 01 DISCUSSION GUIDES 04 Build a lesson plan around the full film, any combination of chapters or the issues that a!ect girls getting an education. Find pre- and post- screening questions and additional resources. 01 Full film 02 Chapters 03 Issues CALL TO ACTION 42 Transforming the future starts with small TABLE OF acts today. Find inspiration and information about how students can help change the world. CONTENTS COUNTRY GUIDES 47 Statistics and background information for each of the Girl Rising countries. VIDEO ASSETS 75 Index of supplementary videos found on the DVD, including behind-the-scenes extras. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 76 ENDNOTES 82 GIRLRISING.COM | 2 Educating girls can break cycles of poverty in just one generation. That’s the fact that inspired us to make this film. That’s the message we want to spread through the stories we tell. And that’s the change we hope to e!ect with a grassroots movement that promotes that message. We believe that students, coming INTRODUCTION: of age in an increasingly interdependent world, will be at the vanguard. W H A T I S Around the world, millions of girls face barriers to education that boys do not. GIRL RISING? Removing barriers, such as early and forced marriage, gender-based violence and discrimination, domestic slavery and sex tra"cking means not only a better life for girls, but a safer, healthier, and more prosperous world for all. Girl Rising is a film. Girl Rising is a movement. THE FILM Girl Rising journeys around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and Girl Rising is the future.
[Show full text]
Eastern African Women Writers' 'National Epics': a New Force In
Eastern African women writers’ ‘national epics’: A new force in creative fiction? Annie Gagiano Eastern African women writers’ ‘national epics’: A new force in creative fiction? In this article, I bring five recent, substantial novels by Eastern African women writers together for the first time in a study regarding the texts as modern ‘national epics’, analysing some of their shared characteristics in foregrounding local participation in the making of East African ethno- national histories. I trace the novelists’ implicit, open-eyed moral evaluation of their leaders and peoples, neither sentimentalising nor deriding the often terrible struggles of their peoples against both inside and outside powers that seek to keep them in subjugation. The texts eschew traditional heroic portrayal of single, male leaders in national epics and allow us to grasp diverse, communal contributions to the growth of nationhood, while giving larger, often central roles to women. The texts earn the epithet ‘epic’ by authoritatively demonstrating that their embodied, localised histories matter, testifying to the wide human spectrum of the peoples they portray; as novelistic acts they are impressive and moving bids for recognition. As post-colonial endeavours, the texts effectively decentre colonial interventions. While the chosen novels are shown to be relatable, their individual power of portrayal and aesthetic achievements are scrupulously differentiated.Keywords: ‘national epics’, Eastern African women writers, localised histories, authority. In considering noteworthy developments in East African creative writing, one particularly striking phenomenon is the recent publication of novels by women authors depicting these writers’ societies and cultures of origin on a broad spectrum that might be termed ethno-national in scope, with a focus on key moments and periods in the history of these peoples.
[Show full text]
Interview with Maaza Mengiste
Interview with Maaza Mengiste [00:00:09] Kendra Hello, I'm Kendra Winchester, here with Autumn Privett. And this is Reading Women, a podcast inviting you to reclaim half the bookshelf by discussing books written by or about women. And today we're talking to Maaza Mengiste about her book THE SHADOW KING, which is out now from W.W. Norton. [00:00:25] Autumn So we first saw this week at Book Expo way back earlier this year. And the cover, since we're suckers for beautiful covers, the cover is what drew us in. But oh, man, this book is big and beautiful. And it just covers so many things I never even thought about before. [00:00:47] Kendra I never heard of, let alone read, a novel about the Ethiopian-Italian conflict during World War II until this book. And I mean, it's a really fabulous way to enter the topic. [00:01:00] Autumn Like you just said, this is a part of World War II history that I think was literally glossed over in my history books. And so it's. Like, a novel is such a great way to learn about areas of history like this that you might not have known about previously. And this one is a beautiful, sweeping, mesmerizing story that I just couldn't put down, which is always a bonus. [00:01:23] Kendra It's definitely a type of novel where you read it and then you want to go read all of the nonfiction things about it, for sure.
[Show full text]
IAAA Directors
Institute of African American Affairs & Center for Black Visual Culture 50th Anniversary Celebration October 17, 2019 IAAA Directors In 1969, ROSCOE C. In 1946, Dr. Brown was employed as a social investigator BROWN JR. (1922–2016) with the NYC Department of Welfare and as a physical was named founding director education instructor at West Virginia State College until of the Institute of African 1948. Brown attended New York University, where he American Affairs (IAAA) and earned his master’s degree in 1949 and his PhD in served in that position for education in 1951, and became a professor at New York eight years before leaving to University for twenty-seven years. become the president of Bronx Community College in EARL S. DAVIS had a fifty- 1977. During his time at the year career, which began and IAAA, Dr. Brown hosted Soul ended with New York of Reason (SOR), a popular University. He received an radio series produced by MSW in 1957 from the WNYU and WNYC from Graduate School of Public 1971 to 1986. SOR aired on Administration and Social commercial radio station Service, and practiced social Roscoe Brown, Founding Director, WNBC and later on NYU's work in the field until 1972, 1969 – 1977 station WNYU and featured when he joined the Silver interviewees ranging from politicians to professional School of Social Work athletes to medical professionals to contemporary artists. (SSSW) staff as the assistant Dr. Brown focused on building a platform for dean for admissions, financial contemporary academics, thinkers, authors, and aid and student affairs. Davis community leaders who spoke directly to students, faculty, directed NYU’s IAAA from staff, and community members about issues impacting 1979 until 1994, and returned Earl S.
[Show full text]
Board of Trustees of the City University of New York
Board of Trustees of The City University of New York RESOLUTION TO Award Maaza Mengiste with Early Tenure at Queens College with an Application of Bylaw 6.2.c(2) June 7, 2021 WHEREAS, Maaza Mengiste, MFA, is a published novelist who joined Queens College as a tenure track assistant professor of creative writing in 2015, following three years as a visiting assistant professor in our MFA program, as well as visiting positions at NYU, Princeton and Northwestern; and WHEREAS, When Professor Mengiste joined the Queens College faculty, she had already published a well-regarded first novel, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, published by WW Norton, in 2010, and her second novel has won wide acclaim, including short listing for the Booker Prize; and WHEREAS, Based on her previous experience and her record of publications, Professor Mengiste was offered the possibility of early tenure consideration at the time of her tenure track hire, and her record since then has more than fulfilled that promise; and WHEREAS, Professor Mengiste teaches a wide range of literature and creative writing courses, from the introductory creative writing workshop to the MFA fiction workshop and while she was hired primarily to teach creative writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the department, her knowledge of African literature and history, partly stemming from the extensive research that she has done to support her fiction writing, also allowed Queens College to once again teach African literature on a regular basis; and WHEREAS, Since her hire at Queens College, Professor. Mengiste has published ten essays in journals and magazines, five essays in anthologies, and edited an anthology of fiction, Addis Ababa Noir.
[Show full text]
2020 the Great Pretender the Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness SUSANNAH CAHALAN
Canongate 2020 The Great Pretender The Undercover Mission that Changed our Understanding of Madness SUSANNAH CAHALAN From ‘one of America’s most courageous young journalists’ (NPR) comes a propulsive narrative history investigating the fifty-year-old mystery behind a dramatic experiment that changed the course of modern medicine For centuries, doctors have struggled to define mental illness – how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is? In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people – sane, normal, well-adjusted members of society – went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry’s labels. Forced to remain inside until they’d ‘proven’ themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment. Rosenhan’s watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, RELEASE DATE: 2 JANUARY 2020 closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis HARDBACK forever. 9781838851415 £16.99 But, as Cahalan’s explosive new research shows, very little in this saga is exactly as it seems. What really happened behind those closed asylum doors, and what does it mean for our understanding of mental illness today? ABOUT THE AUTHOR Susannah Cahalan is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, a memoir about her struggle with a rare autoimmune disease of the brain. She lives in Brooklyn.@scahalan | susannahcahalan.com Canongate 2020 02 The Shadow King MAAZA MENGISTE An utterly captivating novel about female strength.
[Show full text]
Compiled by Ksenia Chmutina Author and Title Brief Description Fiction Bernardine Evaristo 'Girl, Woman, Other' the Lives
Compiled by Ksenia Chmutina Author and title Brief description Fiction Bernardine Evaristo The lives and struggles of twelve very different ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ characters - mostly women, black and British - who tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years. Marilyn French Set in 1950s America, the sotry follows the ‘The Women’s Room’ fortunes of Mira Ward, a conventional and submissive young woman in a traditional marriage, and her gradual feminist awakening. Elizabeth Gilbert The lives of young and older women living in New ‘City of Girls’ York in 1940s. Maaza Mengiste An exploration of female power, and what it ‘The Shadow King’ means to be a woman at war. Rebecca Tamás A thrilling, visceral and totally unexpected ‘Witch’ collection that is part poetry book, part questionnaire, and part spell book. Brit Bennett ‘The A story that is at once a riveting, emotional Vanishing Half’ family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Elena Ferrante Four-part series about female friendship. ‘Neapolital Novels’ series Joanne Ramos A story about women serving as surrogates for ‘The Farm’ wealthy clients. Octavia Butler A book about a society broken into enclaves, all ‘Parable of the Sower’ fighting for their survival. Rachel Kushner A story about what it means to be poor and ‘The Mars Room’ female in America. Compiled by Ksenia Chmutina Megan Hunter A lyrical vision of the strangeness and beauty of ‘The end we start from’ new motherhood, and a tale of endurance in the face of unimaginable change. Zadie Smith The story takes place in London, New York and ‘Swing Time’ West Africa, and focuses on two girls who can tap dance.
[Show full text]
2013-2014 Annual Report July 1, 2013–June 30, 2014
UCLA Center for the Study of Women 2013-2014 Annual Report July 1, 2013–June 30, 2014 KATHLEEN MCHUGH Director Contents A. MISSION ........................................................................................................................................................................................5 B. SUMMARY OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS 1. Most Important Accomplishment .........................................................................................................................................6 2. CSW’s Impact on UCLA .........................................................................................................................................................7 C. PROGRESS REPORT ON GOALS 1. Complete final year of NEH/Mazer project ..........................................................................................................................8 2. Continue Faculty Manuscript Workshop..............................................................................................................................8 a. Winter Workshop: Louise Hornby ..............................................................................................................................9 b. Spring Workshop: Anurima Banerji ........................................................................................................................11 3. Expand the Life(Un)Ltd. Project ..........................................................................................................................................13 a.
[Show full text]
Akashic Books London Rights List 2020
Akashic Books London Rights List 2020 ADULT FICTION Out of Mesopotamia a novel by Salar abdoh Creatures of Passage a novel by Morowa yejidé The Nicotine Chronicles edited by lee Child (featuring: eriC bogoSian, joyCe Carol oateS, Jonathan aMeS, hannah tinti, and More.) Cutting Edge: New Stories of Mystery and and Crime by Women Writers edited by joyCe Carol oateS (featuring: Margaret atwood, aiMee bender, Edwidge dantiCat, valerie Martin, and More.) HUMOR You Can Keep That to Yourself: A Comprehensive List of What Not to Say to Black People, for Well-Intentioned People of Pallor by adaM SMyer CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK How Did Humans Go Extinct? written by johnny MarCiano; illuStrated by Paul hoppe NONFICTION Little Wonder: The Fabulous Story of Lottie Dod, The World’s First Female Sports Superstar a biograPhy by SaSha abramsky Akashic Books | London 2020 | Featured Titles Out of Mesopotamia a novel by Salar Abdoh Informed by firsthand experience on the battlefronts ofIraq and Syria, Abdoh captures the horror, confusion, and absurdity of combat from a seldom-glimpsed perspective that expands our understanding of the war novel. BOOK DETAILS: 1 September 2020, 256 pages; fiction/literature COMP TITLES: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien; Redeployment by Phil Klay; The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan HIGHLIGHTS: Tehran at Twilight, Salar Abdoh’s previous novel was licensed into: Arabic: Sefsafa Culture & Publishing; Armenian: Antares; Lithuanian: Versus Aureus; Malaysian: Buki Fix; Polish: Sonia Draga; Turkish: Matbuat “Out of Mesopotamia is a brutally realistic look at war and love and fear and everything else that humans do.
[Show full text]
Black Portraiture[S]
Black Portraiture[s]: The Black Body in the West Représentation du corps Noir en occident 17–20 January/Janvier 2013 Paris Black Portraiture[s]: Conference Sponsors The Black Body in the West Partenaires de la conférence Représentation du corps Noir Centre d’études africaines École des hautes études en sciences en occident sociales/Institut de recherche pour le Développement (EHESS/IRD) Cornell University, Department of History of Art and Visual Studies École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts Fondation de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH) Ford Foundation Goethe Institut Angola Goethe Institut South Africa Harvard University, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research Institut Français South Africa K’a Yéléma Productions musée du quai Branly New York University, Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music New York University New York University, Department of Photography & Imaging Tisch School of the Arts and Institute of African American Affairs New York University, Department of Social and Cultural Analysis New York University, Global Research Initiatives, Office of the Provost Harvard University New York University Paris W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research Standard Bank in South Africa École des hautes études en sciences Studio Museum in Harlem sociales/Institut de recherche Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 pour le développement United States Embassy Paris Centre d’études africaines Front cover: The Merchant of Venice, 2010 Musée du quai Branly Kiluanji Kia Henda Table
[Show full text]
Violence and Memory in the Ethiopian Novel: Maaza Mengiste's Beneath
VIOLENCE AND MEMORY IN THE ETHIOPIAN NOVEL: MAAZA MENGISTE’S BENEATH THE LION’S GAZE AND DINAW MENGESTU’S CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION JULIUS KANYARI MWANGI A Project Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Literature, University of Nairobi 2013 DECLARATION This project is my original work and has not been presented for the award of any de- gree in any other university Signed……………………………..Date:………………………………. Julius Kanyari Mwangi C50/65491/2010 This project has been submitted for examination with our permission as University Supervisors Signed……………………………….Date:………………………………... Dr. Godwin Siundu Signed………………………………Date:………………………………. Dr. Alina Rinkanya ii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to Mami Guka and Cucu iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful for the academic and spiritual guidance offered to me by my super- visors Dr. Godwin Siundu and Dr. Alina Rinkanya. I would also like to thank Mr. Kimingichi Wabende and Dr. Waigwa Wachira for offering me moral guidance in the course of my studies at the University of Nairobi. I am also grateful for the support extended to me in the course of my course work by the following lecturers: Prof. Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira, Prof. Ciarunji Chesaina, Dr. Tom Odhiambo, Dr. Masumi Odari, Dr. Jennifer Muchiri, Dr. Joseph Muleka, Mr. Mumia Osaaji, Prof. Chris Wan- jala, Dr. Alex Wanjala, Prof. Henry Indangasi, Prof. Peter Wasamba, and Prof. D. H. Kiiru. Most importantly, I would like to thank my family and friends for standing by me throughout my studies. Special thanks go to Elizabeth Muringi, Wanjiru, Martin, John Nyaga, Robert Kimotho, Cyrus Kanyari, Esther Wangari, Mercy Karimi, Agnes Wangui, Wycliffe Macharia, Milkah Wambui, Elizabeth Wanjiku and Grace Muthoni.
[Show full text]
Ethiopian Novelist and Booker Prize Finalist, Maaza Mengiste to Deliver
Ethiopian Novelist and Booker Prize Finalist, Maaza Mengiste to Deliver 8th Annual Pluralism Lecture Mengiste’s virtual lecture to address ways of reckoning with difficult histories of war and colonization to help build a more inclusive future Ottawa, ON May 11, 2021 – As societies worldwide grapple with racism and inequality rooted in the legacies of imperialism and colonization, award-winning author of The Shadow King, Ethiopian author, Maaza Mengiste, will deliver the 8th Annual Pluralism Lecture via livestream on May 19, 2021, addressing how to approach difficult history in ways that can promote belonging over division. Following the Lecture, she will be interviewed by CBC Ideas host and producer, Nahlah Ayed. The livestream can be viewed at: https://www.pluralism.ca/event/maaza-mengiste-8th- annual-pluralism-lecture/ Co-presented by the Global Centre for Pluralism and the University of British Columbia, this year’s Annual Pluralism Lecture features an introduction by Princess Zahra Aga Khan, Global Centre for Pluralism Board Member, reflecting on how the pandemic has created an urgency for conversations and actions centered on building respect, empathy, and a more equitable, just and prosperous future for all. Now in its 8th year, the Annual Pluralism Lecture series presents an opportunity to learn from extraordinary individuals whose work exemplifies pluralism in action. Past lecturers have included South African freedom fighter Justice Albie Sachs; then Chief Justice of Canada Beverley McLachlin; and current UN Secretary-General António Guterres, among others. “We are thrilled to have Maaza Mengiste delivering this year’s Annual Pluralism Lecture. Her writing tackles issues at the very heart of pluralism – collective memory, historical narratives and identity — and offers us the opportunity to learn about how to build and strengthen societies where everyone belongs.
[Show full text]