Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a self-described Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist. As the first person to do archival research in the papers of Audre Lorde, June Jordan, and Lucille Clifton while achieving her Ph.D. in English, Africana Studies, and Women’s Studies at Duke University, Dr. Gumbs honors the lives and creative works of Black feminist geniuses as sacred texts for all people. Her triptych of experimental works, published by Duke University Press, includes “Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity” (2016), “M Archive: After the End of the World” (2018), and “Dub: Finding Ceremony” (2020). Her poetry and fiction appear in many creative journals and has been honored with inclusion in Best American Experimental Writing, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and honors from the Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize and the Firefly Ridge Women of Color Award. Dr. Gumbs is currently Creative Writing Editor at “Feminist Studies”, as well as in residence as a National Humanities Center Fellow. Find out more at www.alexispauline.com.
Zalaznick Reading Series IV
Event Overview
Triangle Breathing: A Conversation with Hortense Spillers and Alexis Pauline Gumbs, moderated by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
In a special session occuring just one week after Election Day, Hortense Spillers, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon will think through the implications of the election results and reflect upon the racial awakening sparked by the murder of George Floyd. Topics will include the necessity for police reform, the Black Lives Matter movement, and how race relations in the U.S. have become a flash point for global attention. These leading literary minds will also discuss how “law and order” can be assured in a society of such surprising lawlessness.
Hortense Spillers is considered a foundational figure in Black feminist scholarship and is the inspiration behind Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ poetic work “Spill.” This intriguing link between the scholars was the inspiration for bringing them together for this special intimate session, in which they will be joined by moderator and poet Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon.
Don’t miss this topical conversation as we close out our series of bringing renowned writers to the Cornell community to share their work from the intimacy of their homes to ours.
What You'll Learn
- Black feminist dialogue on the current sociopolitical and cultural moments
- A glimpse into the work of these scholars, their intellectual intersections, and the conversation among them
- How to consider various forms of protest
- The art of writing as a political act
- How to direct your work to your audience in a transformative way
Speakers
Hortense Spillers is considered a foundational figure in Black feminist scholarship. A literary critic and brilliant essayist, Dr. Spillers is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. Since receiving her Ph.D. from Brandeis University, she has taught at Wellesley College, Haverford College, Emory University, and Cornell University, among others. Dr. Spillers lectures widely, both at home and abroad, and is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards. Her collection of scholarly essays, “Black, White, and In Color: Essays on American Literature and Culture” (University of Chicago Press, 2003), includes her landmark 1987 article “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book” — one of the most cited essays in African American literary studies today. With Marjorie Pryse, she co-edited “Conjuring: Black Women, Fiction, and Literary Tradition.” Dr. Spillers also edited for the English Institute series a collection of essays entitled “Comparative American Identities: Race, Sex, and Nationality in the Modern Text.” With Tamura Lomax she co-founded The Feminist Wire, an online magazine dedicated to providing sociopolitical and cultural critique of antifeminist, racist, and imperialist politics.
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon is the author of “Open Interval,” a 2009 National Book Award finalist, and “Black Swan,” winner of the 2001 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, as well as “Poems in Conversation and a Conversation,” a chapbook collaboration with Elizabeth Alexander. She is currently at work on “The Coal Tar Colors,” her third poetry collection, and “Purchase,” a collection of essays. She has written plays and lyrics for The Cherry, an Ithaca arts collective. Professor Van Clief-Stefanon was one of ten celebrated poets commissioned to write poems inspired by Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series in conjunction with the 2015 exhibit “One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Works” for MoMA.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a self-described Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist. As the first person to do archival research in the papers of Audre Lorde, June Jordan, and Lucille Clifton while achieving her Ph.D. in English, Africana Studies, and Women’s Studies at Duke University, Dr. Gumbs honors the lives and creative works of Black feminist geniuses as sacred texts for all people. Her triptych of experimental works, published by Duke University Press, includes “Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity” (2016), “M Archive: After the End of the World” (2018), and “Dub: Finding Ceremony” (2020). Her poetry and fiction appear in many creative journals and has been honored with inclusion in Best American Experimental Writing, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and honors from the Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize and the Firefly Ridge Women of Color Award. Dr. Gumbs is currently Creative Writing Editor at “Feminist Studies”, as well as in residence as a National Humanities Center Fellow. Find out more at www.alexispauline.com.
Hortense Spillers is considered a foundational figure in Black feminist scholarship. A literary critic and brilliant essayist, Dr. Spillers is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. Since receiving her Ph.D. from Brandeis University, she has taught at Wellesley College, Haverford College, Emory University, and Cornell University, among others. Dr. Spillers lectures widely, both at home and abroad, and is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards. Her collection of scholarly essays, “Black, White, and In Color: Essays on American Literature and Culture” (University of Chicago Press, 2003), includes her landmark 1987 article “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book” — one of the most cited essays in African American literary studies today. With Marjorie Pryse, she co-edited “Conjuring: Black Women, Fiction, and Literary Tradition.” Dr. Spillers also edited for the English Institute series a collection of essays entitled “Comparative American Identities: Race, Sex, and Nationality in the Modern Text.” With Tamura Lomax she co-founded The Feminist Wire, an online magazine dedicated to providing sociopolitical and cultural critique of antifeminist, racist, and imperialist politics.
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon is the author of “Open Interval,” a 2009 National Book Award finalist, and “Black Swan,” winner of the 2001 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, as well as “Poems in Conversation and a Conversation,” a chapbook collaboration with Elizabeth Alexander. She is currently at work on “The Coal Tar Colors,” her third poetry collection, and “Purchase,” a collection of essays. She has written plays and lyrics for The Cherry, an Ithaca arts collective. Professor Van Clief-Stefanon was one of ten celebrated poets commissioned to write poems inspired by Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series in conjunction with the 2015 exhibit “One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Works” for MoMA.
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