Dear Graduate Students,

I'm behind on email and will be in touch with more updates soon, but in the meantime please note these two awesome, not-to-be-missed events happening this week!

+ TODAY, Tuesday, November 10, from 7:00-8:00pm, as part of the Kupferberg Center's Off the Page series, our department's own brilliant creative-writing professors, Maaza Mengiste and Kimiko Hahn, will be reading from their recent works and in conversation with each other, moderated by our own Prof. Vanessa Pérez Rosario. You can find more info and the links to the YouTube and Facebook pages where the event will be livestreamed at http://kupferbergcenter.org/event/off-the-page-maaza-mengiste-and-kimiko-hahn-in-conversation/.

+ This Thursday, November 12, from 12:15-1:30pm, we're kicking off our department's new seminar series for our students on the topic of "Decolonizing the Curriculum." Thursday's speaker is Prof. Shanna Benjamin, who will be discussing her forthcoming biography of Nellie McKay, a trailblazing scholar of African American literature. McKay also received her BA in English from our department in 1969 (!), and Prof. Benjamin will be sharing some of that history. You can join via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88234573515.

Hope to see you (virtually) at these events, and more updates coming soon!