Paumanok Lecture on American Studies

This year's Paumanok Lecture, entitled

"The Importance of Africana Studies Programs"

will be given by Dr. Yvonne Seon.

When & Where:

Tuesday, April 15, from 6-8 pm, in Library Learning Center, Room 124
.

Dr. Yvonne Seon is a renowned and respected innovator and administrator of Africana studies programs. She earned a B.A. degree from Allegheny University and an M.A. degree in American government and politics as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at American University. After living and working in the Congo shortly after its independence in 1961, Dr. Seon continued her studies at Union Institute, where she earned perhaps the first doctorate in African and African-American studies, a program she helped design. Dr. Seon is the founding director of the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center at Wright State University, where she returned in 2005 to serve as Distinguished Visiting Director. She was again appointed to direct the program in 2006, the same year she retired as Professor of African-American Studies in the History Department at Prince George’s Community College, Largo, Maryland. Dr. Seon has also taught black studies at University of Maryland at College Park, Wilberforce University, and Howard University. While raising three children, she earned an M.Div. from Howard University Divinity School and was the first African-American woman ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister. Deeply committed to others, Dr. Seon is on the Board of Directors of Africare, a private voluntary organization specializing in African development. She recently wrote Totem Games, a poetic exploration of her search for African identity.
Voices of the Rainbow: Next Reading: Elizabeth Nunez

Elizabeth Nunez, a native of Trinidad, is a CUNY Distinguished Professor. She is author of six novels, including Prospero's Daughter, which was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice; and Bruised Hibiscus, which was an American Book Award winner.

Monday, February 4, 12 noon
Humanities Building, Room 206

Voices of the Rainbow Reading Series, Spring 2008

The following are the readings scheduled for this semester. More detailed announcements will appear right before each event, but mark your calendars now!

Elizabeth Nunez
Monday, February 4, 12 noon
Humanities Building, Room 206

Elizabeth Nunez, a native of Trinidad, is a CUNY Distinguished Professor. She is author of six novels, including Prospero's Daughter, a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, and Bruised Hibiscus, and American Book Award winner.

This reading is co-sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.


Sandra Maria Esteves & Cheryl Boyce Taylor
Wednesday, February 20, 6pm
Humanities Building, Fourth Floor Lounge

Sandra Maria Esteves, of Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage, is one of the founders of the Nuyorican poetry movement. She is the author of several volumes of poetry including Bluestone Mockingbird Mambo.

Cheryl Boyce Talor, a native of Trinidad, has performed in Europe, Arica, and the Caribbean as well as throughout the U.S. She has written three collections of poetry, most recently Convincing the Body.

This reading is co-sponsored by the African Studies Program and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program.


Gregory Pardlo & Jennifer Knox
Tuesday, March 4, 10am
Health Sciences Building, Room 119

Greg Pardlo is a graduate fellow of the Cave Canem poets workshop. His work has been published in Callaloo and Ploughshares.

Jennifer Knox has been published in The Iowa Review and the American Poetry Review. She has taught poetry writing at Hunter and NYU.


Major Jackson & Kwame Dawes
Monday, March 24, 11am
Health Sciences Building, Room 119

Major Jackson is the author of two poetry collections, Hoops and Leaving Saturn. He is the 2000 winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize.

Kwame Dawes was born in Ghana and grew up in Jamaica. He is the author of numerous collections of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, including A Far Cry from Plymouth Rock, Impossible Flying, and Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius.

This reading is co-sponsored by the Africana Studies Program.


Ishle Yi Park
Tuesday, April 1, 12 noon
Library Learning Center, Room 124

Ishle Yi Park, former Poet Laureate of Queens, is the author of the poetry collection The Temperature of This Water. She is a regular on Def Poetry Jam.

This reading is co-sponsored by the Asian Studies Program.


The Annual Adjuncts & Graduate Students Reading: Pamela Sneed, Lara Stapleton & Margot Marie Nasti

Wednesday, April 9, 1:00 PM
Humanities Building, 4th Floor Lounge

Pamela Sneed, who teaches in the Speech and Theatre Department, has been featured in many venues, including the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, the Source, and Time Out. She has performed her work internationally and is the author of Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery.

Lara Stapleton, who teaches in the English Department, is the author of The Lowest Blue Flame Before Nothing (a PEN Open Book Award winner), Juncture, and recently The Thirdest World: Stories and Essays by Three Filipino Writers (with Gina Apostol and Eric Gamalinda).

Margot Marie Nasti is a graduate student in the English Department's MFA program in creative writing. She has read her poetry in various locations and has published in the chapbook Buttons -n- Boots. She is the editor of Blue Leaf Press.

Please come and support your teachers, students, and colleagues. Light refreshments will be served.

Funding provided by the Provost's Office; the English Department; and the Department of Communication Studies, Performance Studies and Theatre.
Welcome, Jessica Hagedorn!

The Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University is celebrating the launch of our new MFA in Creative Writing.

Help us welcome Jessica Hagedorn--novelist, playwright, screenwriter, poet--who joins us as the Parsons Family Professor of Creative Writing.

Professor Hagedorn will be introduced by Lewis Warsh, Director of the MFA Program, and she will read from her recent works. A reception will follow.

Please join us for this important celebration.

Thursday, February 7th, 6-8 PM
Health Sciences Building, Room 107.