Department of English

Reconstructing the Black Archive: The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts, the First African American Woman Novelist

Dr. Gregg Hecimovich, 2024-2025 Hutchins Family Fellow and Professor of English at Furman University, will describe his extraordinary research journey to document the life and literary accomplishment of Hannah Bond, who escaped enslavement in North Carolina and subsequently wrote, using the pseudonym “Hannah Crafts,” what scholars consider to be one of the earliest novels written by an African American woman.

Avid Bookshop and The Georgia Review Present Jennine Capó Crucet and Brian Truong

The Georgia Review, Avid Bookshop, and the Athens-Clarke County Library invite the public to a free author event and book signing with Jennine Capó Crucet and Brian Truong. Join us to hear passionate, funny, and thought-provoking work that highlights the difficulties and blessings of living in immigrant communities. 

The Genius of Phillis Wheatley Peters: A Children's Literature and Family Literacy Panel

The Georgia Humanities Council and the Athens-Clarke County Library are proud to present a webinar on representations of Phillis Wheatley Peters in children’s literature, children’s historical texts, and picture books addressing issues pertinent to parents, librarians, and elementary/middle school educators. Speakers featured are Brigitte Fielder, Nicole Cooke, and JoAnn Wood, moderated by Margaret Robbins.

Hargrett Family Day: Medieval Manuscripts

Hear ye, hear ye! Join the Hargrett Library on October 22nd from 1:00PM to 4:00PM for a Medieval Manuscripts Family Day! Watch fencers, paint with traditionally made pigments, view medieval manuscripts, watch historical performances, enjoy story time, and more! Light refreshments will be provided.

This event is free and open to the public and will take place both on the front lawn and inside. Free parking for off-campus visitors is available at the Hull Street Deck. For more information, contact Jess Grant at jess.grant@uga.edu, 706-542-6367.  

Marylyn Tan Reading

In 2020, Marylyn Tan’s debut volume shocked Singapore’s literary world by winning the country’s premier English-language poetry prize, making its then twenty-seven-year-old author the first woman to ever win the award. Moreover, it is not a polite book. It is an instruction book, a grimoire, a call to insurrection to wrest power back from the social structures that serve to restrict, control, and distribute it among those few privileged above the disenfranchised.

Doreen Baingana Reading

Doreen Baingana is a Ugandan writer and arts manager. Her short story collection, Tropical Fish, won a Grace Paley Prize and a Commonwealth Prize, and she has been shortlisted for the Caine Prize three times. Her other awards include fellowships to the Rockefeller Bellagio Residency, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, La Porte Peinte residency, the Hambidge Center, a Tebere Arts Playwright residency, a Miles Morland Scholarship and a Sustainable Arts Foundation grant.

Douglas Kearney: An Experimental Dialogue

Douglas Kearney is a poet, performer, and librettist who has published seven books that bridge thematic concerns such as politics, African-American culture, masks, the Trickster figure, and contemporary music. His most recent book, Sho (Wave Books, 2021), was the winner for the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize, the 2022 Minnesota Book Award for Poetry, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN/Voelcker Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Award.