College Faculty Featured in This Year's Virginia Festival of the Book
The 23rd annual Virginia Festival of the Book opens next week on March 22 and will feature five days of readings and panel discussions featuring authors ranging from bestselling authors to debut writers as part of an event that has become the largest community-based book event in the mid-Atlantic region. Arts & Sciences faculty will be featured prominently in a series of Festival events this year, both as authors of featured works and as moderators of panel discussions. For more information on the Festival, visit: vabook.org.
A chronological list of Virginia Festival of the Book events featuring A&S faculty is included below. With the exception of a few ticketed events, as noted, all Festival programs are open to the public and free of charge. For more information on the Festival, visit: http://vabook.org
Wednesday, March 22
John Unsworth, Dean of Libraries, English: As the featured speaker for the festival’s opening ceremony, Unsworth will be on hand to recognize students who received top honors in the statewide “Letters About Literature” contest.
Noon-1:30 p.m., March 22, Central JMRL Library
Frederick Damon, Anthropology: The author of Trees, Knots, and Outriggers: Environmental Knowledge in the Northeast Kula Ring, Damon is participating in a panel discussion with author Stan Ulanski (The California Current: A Pacific Ecosystem and Its Fliers, Divers, and Swimmers) about their work on the Pacific environment.
2-3:30 p.m., March 22, Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Auditorium
Andrew Kaufman, Slavic Languages and Literatures: The author of Give War and Peace a Chance: Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times and the creator of Books Behind Bars, Kaufman is moderating a discussion with VCU associate professor David Coogan and three of his formerly incarcerated students who collaborated to write a memoir on mass incarceration.
6-7:30 p.m., March 22, Northside JMRL Library
Thursday, March 23
Elizabeth Varon, History: The Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History, Varon is moderating a discussion titled “Fresh Perspectives on the Civil War,” featuring authors D. H. Dilbeck, Jon Grinspan and Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai.
10-11:30 a.m., March 23, Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Auditorium.
Stephanie Doktor, Center for Teaching Excellence: A Ph.D. candidate in the McIntire Department of Music, Doktor is moderating a discussion with authors Paul Devlin and Brendan Wolfe on their recent work on jazz legends Albert Murray and Bix Beiderbecke.
Noon-1:30 p.m., March 23, Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Auditorium
Claudrena Harold, History/Corinne Field, Women, Gender & Sexuality: The author of The Struggle for Equal Adulthood: Gender, Race, Age, and the Fight for Citizenship in Antebellum America, Field is moderating a discussion titled “Women Making History: Who Gets to Write Which Stories?” featuring Harold, author of New Negro Politics in the Jim Crow South, and historians Catherine Clinton, Dava Sobel and Susan Southard.
2-3:30 p.m., March 23, Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Auditorium
Jane Alison and Christopher Tilghman, Creative Writing: The author of the story collections In a Father’s Place and The Way People Run and three novels, Tilghman is moderating a conversation with colleague Jane Alison, the author of last year’s Nine Island and three other novels, and authors Michael Knight and Laurie Stone discussing their most recent works of fiction depicting sophisticated stories of lives caught in a particular time and place.
2-3:30 p.m., March 23, Central JMRL Library
Stephen Macko, Environmental Sciences: A professor whose research specializes in oceanography, sustainable practices and geochemistry, Macko is moderating a seminar with NASA astrobiologist David Grinspoon, author of Earth in Human Hands: Shaping Our Planet’s Future.
3:30-5 p.m., March 23, Clark Hall, Room 108
Karen Chase, English: The Linden Kent Memorial Professor of English Literature and author of several books about literature and culture in the 19th century, Chase is moderating a discussion (“Shaping Eyre: A Conversation about (Re)reading Brontë”) with Barbara Heritage, the Assistant Director and Curator of Collections for UVA’s Rare Book School and author Patricia Park about how classic literature continues to shape modern-day readers, and how readers themselves shape popular classics.
4-6 p.m., March 23, Rotunda
George Gilliam, History: A historian of the 19th-century South, Gilliam is moderating the “Civil War: The Governors and the Commanders” discussion with authors Stephen D. Engle (Gathering to Save a Nation: Lincoln and the Union’s War Governors), and Wayne Hsieh and Williamson Murray (A Savage War: A Military History of the Civil War).
4-5:30 p.m., March 23, Charlottesville City Council Chambers
Lisa Goff, English/American Studies: The author of Shantytown USA: Forgotten Landscapes of the Working Poor, Goff is participating with authors Brooke Obie (Book of Addis) and Lawrence Ross (Blackballed) in a forum titled, “Race and Class: A Necessary Dialogue.”
4-5:30 p.m., March 23, Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Auditorium
Debra Nystrom and Lisa Russ Spaar, English: Nystrom (Night Sky Frequencies: New and Selected Poems) and Spaar (Orexia) join Virginia poet laureate Tim Seibles to read from and discuss their most recent collections of work.
8-9:30 p.m., March 23, Meade Hall, Christ Episcopal Church
Friday, March 24
Gary Gallagher, History: The author and editor of more than 40 books on the Civil War era and the director of UVA’s Nau Civil War Center, Gallagher is moderating a panel with authors Catherine Clinton (Stepdaughters of History: Southern Women and the American Civil War), Douglas Egerton (Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America), and Jonathan W. White (Midnight in America: Darkness, Sleep, and Dreams during the Civil War) discussing their new works.
10-11:30 a.m., March 24, Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Auditorium
Jeb Livingood, English: The associate director of the Department of English’s Creative Writing Program, Livingood is moderating a panel featuring Creative Writing alumni Kim Brooks (The Houseguest), Lee Clay Johnson (Nitro Mountain), Sjohnna McCray (Rapture), and Sarah Schweig (Take Nothing With You) reading from their work.
Noon-1:30 p.m., March 24, UVA Bookstore
Jennifer Rubenstein, Politics: The author of Between Samaritans and States: The Political Ethics of Humanitarian INGOs, Rubenstein joins the Frank Batten School of Leadership & Public Policy’s Christine Mahoney in a discussion of their work related to the global refugee crisis, international humanitarian aid, the ethical conflicts NGOs face, who is responsible for addressing international issues, and how we can more effectively respond to the global refugee crisis.
2-3:30 p.m., March 24, Charlottesville City Council Chambers
Claudrena Harold, History: The author of New Negro Politics in the Jim Crow South, and The Rise and Fall of the Garvey Movement in the Urban South, 1918-1942, Harold is participating in a panel discussion with authors Richard Rosen, Joseph Mosnier and Elizabeth Downing Taylor titled, “Activism Y& Leadership: African Americans During Jim Crow.”
2-3:30 p.m., March 24, Jefferson School African American Heritage Center
Jeffery Renard Allen, English: The author of five books, including the PEN/Faulkner finalist Song of the Shank, Allen is moderating a discussion with writers Okey Ndibe (Never Look an American in the Eye), Roye Okupe (E.X.O. – The Legend of Wale Williams), and Yewande Omotoso (The Woman Next Door) discussing how Africa influences the unique perspectives that they bring to their writing and creative work.
2-3:30 p.m., March 24, CitySpace (100 5th St. NE)
Fernando Operé, Spanish: A poet and director of the UVA in Valencia program, Operé is moderating a discussion with Peruvian poet and Hofstra University professor Miguel Angel Zapata (Hoy Día es Otro Mundo).
4-5:30 p.m., March 24, UVA Bookstore
Benjamin Ray, Religious Studies: Director of the award-winning Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and author of Satan and Salem, Emeritus Professor Ray is participating on panel titled “Witches, Patriots, and Partisanship: Early American History” with Robert McDonald (Confounding Father) and John Ragosta (Patrick Henry).
4-5:30 p.m., March 24, CitySpace (100 5th St. NE)
Jack Hamilton, Media Studies/American Studies: The author of Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination and the pop critic for Slate, Hamilton is discussing his work with Stereogum writer Tom Breihan, followed by a live DJ set by Grits and Gravy’s Robin Tomlin until (just around) midnight.
9:30 p.m.-midnight, March 24, The Ante Room (219 Water St.)
Saturday, March 25
Jack Hamilton, Media Studies/American Studies: The author of Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination, Hamilton joins Camilla Fojas (Zombies, Migrants, and Queers) and Glenn Frankel (High Noon) on a panel to discuss different elements of pop culture and how they help define social and political beliefs.
Noon-1:30 p.m., March 25, UVA Bookstore
Kelsey Johnson, Astronomy: The founding director of the “Dark Skies, Bright Kids” program and astronomer who researches ancient star formation and galaxy evolution, Johnson is moderating a sold-out discussion with authors Margot Lee Shetterly (Hidden Figures) and Dava Sobel (The Glass Universe) about their books and careers as female historians.
8-9:30 p.m., March 25, Paramount Theater, SOLD OUT