Publishing Clearinghouse: Poetry, faculty books, and much more

Book events

An Evening with Claudia Rankine and Carrie Mae Weems
7 p.m. March 21, Carnegie Library Lecture Hall

Poet and scholar Claudia Rankine and photographer Carrie Mae Weems come together for a reading, lecture and discussion. This program is presented in partnership with Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures. Register here.

 

Pitt-Johnstown Poetry Reading featuring Rickey Laurentiis
7 p.m. March 21, John P. Murtha Center for Public Service and National Competitiveness, 450 Schoolhouse Road, Johnstown

Rickey Laurentiis’ first book, “Boy with Thorn,” won the prestigious Cave Canem Poetry Prize as well as the Levis Reading Prize. Laurentiis is finishing up a two-year fellowship with Pitt’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics. The event is sponsored by the Pitt-Johnstown Humanities Division. A book signing will follow. Free

 

Talk by M.O. Grenby, professor of children's literature and 18th-century studies at Newcastle University, director of the Newcastle University Humanities Research Institute, and author of “The Child Reader 1700-1840”
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. March 22, 501 Cathedral of Learning

In his talk, open to the public, Grenby will discuss his research on transnational popular print for children c.1600-1850 — i.e. the cheap, often ephemeral material that was published for children, or that was used by them, across Europe, European colonies and beyond, in the early modern period.

 

Wesley Morris, presented by Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series
7:30-9:30 p.m. March 21, Frick Fine Arts Auditorium

Wesley Morris is a critic at large for The New York Times, where he also is the co-host, with Jenna Wortham, of the podcast “Still Processing.” Morris has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, Grantland and The Boston Globe, where in 2012 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. His essay on black male sexuality, “Last Taboo,” was selected for the Best American Essays 2017.

 

Literature Over Lunch: Barbara Edelman
Noon, March 25, Cup & Chaucer in Hillman Library

“Dream of the Gone-From City” treads the fault lines between worlds: internal and external, natural and constructed, past and present. “Blessed am I when neither here nor there,” Edelman, a senior lecturer in the English department, writes, probing borders between mothers and daughters, lovers tracing words in sand, the living and the dead. These poems travel from Malibu to the Adirondacks to Bordeaux, France, weaving disco, Shakespeare and nursery rhymes into their lyric narratives.

 

Faculty Book Talk: Kirk Savage
4:30 p.m. March 27, Thornburgh Room, Hillman Library

“Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves” explores how the history of slavery and its violent end was told in public spaces — specifically in the sculptural monuments that came to dominate streets, parks, and town squares in nineteenth-century America. Looking at monuments built and unbuilt, Savage, a professor in the History of Art & Architecture, shows how the greatest era of monument building in American history took place amid struggles over race, gender and collective memory. 

 

"Race and Social Equity: Nervousness in Government" by Susan Gooden
Noon, March 28, University Club, Ballroom A

Presented by the Graduate School of Public & International Affairs, this lunch lecture launches a pragmatic, solution-oriented discussion about race and social equity in government through a presentation and facilitated discussion with guest speaker Gooden, the author of “Race and Social Equity: A Nervous Area of Government” and professor of public administration and policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. The book contends that social equity, specifically racial equity, is a nervous area of government, which throughout history has resulted in an inability to seriously advance the reduction of racial inequities in government. Lunch will be provided. RSVP to dbs30@pitt.edu by March 21.

 

Many Worlds, More Voices: Diversity in Fantasy and Science Fiction
1-4 p.m. March 29, 324 Cathedral of Learning

New York Times best-selling author V. E. Schwab will be joining a panel including author Elwin Cotman and Pitt lecturer Dan McMillan to discuss the representation of diversity in fantasy and science fiction media. The panel will be followed by a raffle and book signing.

New books

“Learning for the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Eight Education Competences” (Routledge, 2019) by Alan Lesgold, dean emeritus and professor emeritus of Education, Psychology and Intelligent Systems

“Learning for the Age of Artificial Intelligence” is an argument for curricular change to educate people towards achievement and success as intelligent machine systems proliferate. Describing eight key competences, this comprehensive volume prepares educational leaders, designers, researchers, and policymakers to effectively rethink the knowledge, skills, and environments that students need to thrive and avoid displacement in today’s technology-enhanced culture and workforce. Essential insights into school operations, machine learning, complex training and assessment, and economic challenges round out this cogent, relatable discussion about the imminent evolution of the education sector.

SEND US YOUR INFORMATION

The University Times welcomes information about new books, journals, plays and musical compositions written or edited by faculty and staff.

Newly published works can be submitted through this link. Please keep the book descriptions short and accessible to a general audience.

Journals should be peer-reviewed. Self-published works will not be accepted. The listings also are restricted to complete works, because individual chapters, articles, works of art and poems would be too numerous.

We’ll also be highlighting some books and book talks with connections to Pitt.

If you have any questions, please contact editor Susan Jones at suejones@pitt.edu or 412-648-4294.