Poet & Macarthur Genius Claudia Rankine On Campus For Reading And Conversation At Umd
September 26, 2016
This event is a reading and timely discussion on the role of race, public education, art and citizenship.
The College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park presents award-winning poet and recent MacArthur fellowship recipient Claudia Rankine in conversation with Sheri Parks on the role of public education, specifically art, in the making of American democracy. The event combines a poetry reading from Rankine's New York Times bestseller "Citizen: An American Lyric," and a discussion in which the two engage audience members on themes related to race, art and citizen making.
Who: Poet Claudia Rankine is the author of five collections of poetry and last week received a MacArthur fellowship. Her acclaimed 2014 book “Citizen: An American Lyric,” explores everyday racism in the lives of black Americans and is the first poetry collection to become a New York Times best-seller for nonfiction. "Citizen" won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for poetry, the PEN Open Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and the 2015 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Rankine is the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University.
What: Reading from Rankine’s New York Times bestseller “Citizen: An American Lyric,” and conversation on race, public education, art and citizenship.
When: Thursday, September 29, 2016, 5:30 PM
Where: Gildenhorn Recital Hall. Located at the base of the grand staircase off the main lobby of The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
3800 The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
8270 Alumni Drive
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-1625
Why: This reading and conversation is part of the WORLDWISE: Arts and Humanities Dean’s Lecture Series, and is the keynote event in “Democracy Then and Now: Citizenship and Public Education,” a campus-wide initiative on the intersection of public education, American democracy and civic engagement.
How: The event is free but tickets are required. Members of the press should contact Nicky Everette, Director of Communications and Marketing at meve@umd.edu or 301-405-6714 to RSVP.
ABOUT THE SERIES:
The WORLDWISE Arts and Humanities Dean's Lecture Series provides an opportunity for the college faculty, students and staff to join together with colleagues across campus for stimulating conversation about issues that cross our disciplines. Lectures and performances may address either enduring or emerging questions central to the arts and humanities, or questions arising from other disciplines to which the arts and humanities might speak.
ABOUT DEMOCRACY THEN AND NOW:
“Democracy Then & Now: Citizenship and Public Education,” is a campus-wide initiative on the intersection of public education, American democracy and civic engagement. Through a series of conversations, lectures, student projects and voter registration drives, the initiative will engage UMD students, faculty and staff on the historical and contemporary relationship between public education and citizenship.
ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES:
The College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland is home to nearly 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 14 academic departments, eight independent research centers and nearly 300 tenured and tenure-track faculty. The college connects students with expert scholars who teach how to investigate, reflect and analyze the world around them, past and present. Through interdisciplinary approaches to the arts and humanities, students develop into global visionaries and creative problem solvers who thrive in a world of rapidly evolving opportunities.