Publishing clearinghouse: Joshua Bennett, Literature Over Lunch and more

Book events

Book launch: “The Future of Tech is Female: How to Achieve Gender Diversity” by Douglas Branson, professor of business law and professor emeritus of law
4:30 p.m. Feb. 18, Barco Law Buildings Alcoa Room

Branson unpacks the plethora of reasons women should hold leadership roles, both in and out of this industry, concluding with a call to reform attitudes toward women in one particular IT branch, the video and computer gaming field, a gateway to many STEM futures.

Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series: Joshua Bennett
7:30 p.m. Feb. 21, Frick Fine Arts auditorium

Bennett is the author of The Sobbing School,” which was a National Poetry Series selection and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work–Poetry.

Literature Over Lunch: Cameron Barnett reads from his poetry collection, “The Drowning Boy's Guide to Water”
Noon-1 p.m. Feb. 21, Cup & Chaucer, Hillman Library

“The Drowning Boy's Guide to Water” (winner of the 2017 Rising Writer Contest) explores the complexity of race and the body for a black man in today's America. Barnett earned his MFA in poetry at Pitt, where he was poetry editor for Hot Metal Bridge literary magazine and co-coordinator of the Pitt Speakeasy Reading Series.

New books

“Understanding Mulk Raj Anand: His Mind and Art” (Vision Books, New Delhi), by K.D. Verma, professor emeritus of English at Pitt–Johnstown

The book examines Anand as a novelist, art critic and thinker in a broad cultural context of the 20th century critical theories of post-modernism, post-colonialism and new historicism.

“Deadly Collections: Accounts of Bioweapons, Laboratories, Terrorists, and the Politics of Ensuring Biosafety” (Outskirts Press, 2019) by Albert Paul Nous, emeritus professor of sciences education in the Department of Instruction and Learning

This book’s objective is to foresee what is ahead to enable and provide a platform for further searches for practical strategies in politics, emergency management and scientific endeavors related to bioterrorism.

“Story of the Kuk UNESCO World Heritage Prehistoric Site and The Melpa, Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea: Pride in Place” (Angkemam Publishing House, 2018), co-authored by Pamela J. Stewart, senior research associate, and Andrew Strathern, professor of anthropology

The book summarizes the work of the authors and an international team of scholars to assist in establishing the first UNESCO World Heritage site in Papua New Guinea. It also details some the most important aspects of local Heritage issues in the Hagen area of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea where Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern have collectively worked for over 50 years. This book is an important resource for today and for future generations.

“Sacred Revenge in Oceania,” (Cambridge University Press, 2019), co-authored by Andrew Strathern, professor of anthropology, and Pamela J. Stewart, senior research associate

Revenge is an important motivation in human affairs relating to conflict and violence, and it is a notable feature in many societies within Oceania, where revenge is traditionally a sacred duty to the dead whose spirits demand it. Revenge instantiates a norm of reciprocity in the cosmos, ensuring a balance between violent and peaceful sequences of ritual action. Revenge further remains an important hidden factor in processes of violence beyond Oceania, revealing deep human propensities for retaliatory acts and the tendency to elevate these into principles of legitimacy. Sacred revenge may also be transcended through practices of wealth exchange.

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.