Listen to the UVA Today Radio Show report on this story by Anne Bromley:
February 24, 2011 — The creativity and expertise of University of Virginia professors and alumni will be part of the story during the Virginia Festival of the Book, to be held March 16 through 20.
The festival, a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities now in its 17th year, brings together hundreds of authors and thousands of readers for mostly free events at U.Va. and around Charlottesville. Although several ticketed events are sold out, plenty of options remain for book lovers. Peruse the schedule here.
"The work of U.Va. professors adds a great diversity to the topics we can cover at the Virginia Festival of the Book," program director Nancy Damon said. This year, they will discuss everything from habeas corpus to health care issues, civil rights to Latin American literature, Muslim women to 20th-century popular culture, fiction to poetry, she said.
Here are some highlights of events that feature faculty and alumni, plus a list of other U.Va. participants.
• Muslim Women: Perceptions and Self-Perceptions
March 16, 9 a.m., City Council Chambers, 605 E. Main St.
Two professors from U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences – Farzaneh Milani, professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian languages and cultures who also teaches in the Studies in Women & Gender program, and Aziz Sachedina, professor of religious studies – will be joined by two professors from other colleges to explore the line between fact and fiction in Muslim women's lives. Anthropology professor Hanadi Al-Samman will moderate the discussion.
• Lyndon B. Johnson's Presidential Tapes 1964
March 16, 11 a.m., Miller Center of Public Affairs
Miller Center professors David Coleman, Kent Germany and Guian McKee, editors of President Johnson's presidential tapes, discuss the newest volume, the tapes of 1964.
• The Writ of Habeas Corpus and the Injustice of Wrongful Convictions
March 16, noon, City Council Chambers, 605 E. Main St.
History professor Paul Halliday of the College of Arts & Sciences, author of "Habeas Corpus," and law professor Brandon Garrett, author of "Convicting the Innocent," look at justice and injustice in British and American courts from the 16th century to Guantanamo.
• The Future of the Book in a Digital World
March 16, 2 p.m., Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Library
Digital versions of printed books are an increasingly important dimension of reading. Michael Suarez, director of U.Va.'s Rare Book School, answers the question, "What are books for in the digital age?" through art history, medical education, museum studies and literary history.
• Painting the Word, Wording the Paint
March 16, 4 p.m., Campbell Hall, School of Architecture
English professor Gregory Orr of the College of Arts & Sciences, whose most recent book of poetry is "How Beautiful the Beloved," will give a presentation with Trisha Orr, his wife, about a series of collaborations they created merging poetry and paint, immaterial word and aesthetic artifact.
• Breakthroughs That Change Our Medicine, Our Lives
March 17, 10 a.m., City Council Chambers, 605 E. Main St.
Jeff Goldsmith, associate professor of public health sciences, and Dr. Bruce Hillman, radiology professor in the School of Medicine, will discuss their book, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice: How Medical Imaging is Changing Health Care."
• Engaging the Mind: Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Human Rights
March 17, 6 p.m., Alumni Hall
Three U.Va. Arts & Sciences professors discuss the topic: politics professor Lawrie Balfour, author of "Democracy's Reconstruction: Thinking Politically with W.E.B. Du Bois"; Denise Walsh, assistant professor of politics and Studies in Women and Gender, author of "Women's Rights in Democratizing States"; and Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law and professor of history, author of "Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement." Law professor Risa Goluboff will moderate the discussion.
• Health Care in America Today
March 17, 6 p.m., City Council Chambers, 605 E. Main St.
Lois Shepherd, professor of law and associate professor of public health sciences, is the author of "If That Ever Happens to Me: Making Life and Death Decisions After Terry Schiavo."
• U.Va. M.F.A. Graduates Reading
March 18, noon, U.Va. Bookstore
Fiction and poetry readings by recent alumni of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences' M.F.A. program in creative writing, including Jenny Hollowell ("Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe"), Emma Rathbone ("The Patterns of Paper Monsters"), Hannah Pittard ("The Fates Will Find Their Way") and Paul Legault ("The Madeleine Poems").
• Adventures in Translation: Mempo Giardinelli from "Imposible equilibrio" to "An Impossible Balance"
March 18, 4 p.m., Newcomb Hall Commonwealth Room
Meet the Argentinean novelist Mempo Giardinelli and translator Gustavo Pellon for a reading of "An Impossible Balance" and discussion of Giardinelli's work. Giardinelli is a fiction writer and essayist whose novels and short stories have been translated into 20 languages. He is in residence at U.Va. for the spring semester. Gustavo Pellon is associate professor of Spanish in the College of Arts & Sciences. Spanish professor Fernando Operé will moderate the discussion, to be held in Spanish and English.
• Googlization, the New Media: The Present and Future
March 18, 4 p.m., U.Va. Bookstore
Siva Vaidhyanathan, professor of media studies and law, is the author of "The Googlization of Everything – and Why We Should Worry" and "Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity."
He will talk about the impact of Google, which wanted to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible but has now become problematic.
Andrea Press, who chairs Arts & Sciences' media studies department, and Bruce Williams, who, like Press, is a professor of media studies and sociology, will talk about their new book, "The New Media Environment."
Other University participants:
• Nicole Bouché, director of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
• Heather Burns, author of the poetry book, "Between Careen and Caution." She completed her M.F.A. from U.Va. and is now a doctoral student in bioethics finishing her dissertation on medical school literary journals.
• John Casey, Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing. He won the National Book Award for his novel, "Spartina." His newest novel, "Compass Rose," is the sequel.
• Jenny Strauss Clay, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Classics, is the author of "Homer's Trojan Theater," which will be published by Cambridge University Press in late March, and "The Wrath of Athena" and "The Politics of Olympus."
• Benjamin Cohen, a historian of science and environmental studies, and a Science and Technology Studies scholar in the Engineering School. He is the author of "Notes from the Ground: Science, Soil and Society in the American Countryside."
• Vigen Guroian, professor of religious studies and author of "The Melody of Faith: Theology in an Orthodox Key"
• Grace Elizabeth Hale, a history professor who writes about American culture and teaches cultural history and the history of the South. She will talk about her new book, "A Nation of Outsiders: How the White Middle Class Fell in Love with Rebellion in Postwar America," with three other authors.
• J. E. Lendon, history professor and author of "Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins" and "Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity"
• Linda Levokove, author of "Walk on the Heart Side." She teaches poetry and interior design at U.Va.'s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
• Mary McKinley, translator of "Epistle to Marguerite de Navarre and Preface to a Sermon by John Calvin." She is professor of French Medieval and Renaissance literature.
• Daniel Mendelsohn, who received his B.A. in classics from U.Va. He will talk about his new edition of the poems of Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, "Cavafy at the Margins: Geography, History, Desire."
• Historian Sophia Rosenfeld, author of the just-published "Common Sense: A Political History"
• Lucie Stylianopoulos, Byzantine art historian and director of Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library
• Dr. J. Anderson "Andy" Thomson Jr., co-author of "Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith." He is a psychiatrist at Student Health Services and a trustee of The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
February 24, 2011 — The creativity and expertise of University of Virginia professors and alumni will be part of the story during the Virginia Festival of the Book, to be held March 16 through 20.
The festival, a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities now in its 17th year, brings together hundreds of authors and thousands of readers for mostly free events at U.Va. and around Charlottesville. Although several ticketed events are sold out, plenty of options remain for book lovers. Peruse the schedule here.
"The work of U.Va. professors adds a great diversity to the topics we can cover at the Virginia Festival of the Book," program director Nancy Damon said. This year, they will discuss everything from habeas corpus to health care issues, civil rights to Latin American literature, Muslim women to 20th-century popular culture, fiction to poetry, she said.
Here are some highlights of events that feature faculty and alumni, plus a list of other U.Va. participants.
• Muslim Women: Perceptions and Self-Perceptions
March 16, 9 a.m., City Council Chambers, 605 E. Main St.
Two professors from U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences – Farzaneh Milani, professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian languages and cultures who also teaches in the Studies in Women & Gender program, and Aziz Sachedina, professor of religious studies – will be joined by two professors from other colleges to explore the line between fact and fiction in Muslim women's lives. Anthropology professor Hanadi Al-Samman will moderate the discussion.
• Lyndon B. Johnson's Presidential Tapes 1964
March 16, 11 a.m., Miller Center of Public Affairs
Miller Center professors David Coleman, Kent Germany and Guian McKee, editors of President Johnson's presidential tapes, discuss the newest volume, the tapes of 1964.
• The Writ of Habeas Corpus and the Injustice of Wrongful Convictions
March 16, noon, City Council Chambers, 605 E. Main St.
History professor Paul Halliday of the College of Arts & Sciences, author of "Habeas Corpus," and law professor Brandon Garrett, author of "Convicting the Innocent," look at justice and injustice in British and American courts from the 16th century to Guantanamo.
• The Future of the Book in a Digital World
March 16, 2 p.m., Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Library
Digital versions of printed books are an increasingly important dimension of reading. Michael Suarez, director of U.Va.'s Rare Book School, answers the question, "What are books for in the digital age?" through art history, medical education, museum studies and literary history.
• Painting the Word, Wording the Paint
March 16, 4 p.m., Campbell Hall, School of Architecture
English professor Gregory Orr of the College of Arts & Sciences, whose most recent book of poetry is "How Beautiful the Beloved," will give a presentation with Trisha Orr, his wife, about a series of collaborations they created merging poetry and paint, immaterial word and aesthetic artifact.
• Breakthroughs That Change Our Medicine, Our Lives
March 17, 10 a.m., City Council Chambers, 605 E. Main St.
Jeff Goldsmith, associate professor of public health sciences, and Dr. Bruce Hillman, radiology professor in the School of Medicine, will discuss their book, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice: How Medical Imaging is Changing Health Care."
• Engaging the Mind: Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Human Rights
March 17, 6 p.m., Alumni Hall
Three U.Va. Arts & Sciences professors discuss the topic: politics professor Lawrie Balfour, author of "Democracy's Reconstruction: Thinking Politically with W.E.B. Du Bois"; Denise Walsh, assistant professor of politics and Studies in Women and Gender, author of "Women's Rights in Democratizing States"; and Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law and professor of history, author of "Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement." Law professor Risa Goluboff will moderate the discussion.
• Health Care in America Today
March 17, 6 p.m., City Council Chambers, 605 E. Main St.
Lois Shepherd, professor of law and associate professor of public health sciences, is the author of "If That Ever Happens to Me: Making Life and Death Decisions After Terry Schiavo."
• U.Va. M.F.A. Graduates Reading
March 18, noon, U.Va. Bookstore
Fiction and poetry readings by recent alumni of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences' M.F.A. program in creative writing, including Jenny Hollowell ("Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe"), Emma Rathbone ("The Patterns of Paper Monsters"), Hannah Pittard ("The Fates Will Find Their Way") and Paul Legault ("The Madeleine Poems").
• Adventures in Translation: Mempo Giardinelli from "Imposible equilibrio" to "An Impossible Balance"
March 18, 4 p.m., Newcomb Hall Commonwealth Room
Meet the Argentinean novelist Mempo Giardinelli and translator Gustavo Pellon for a reading of "An Impossible Balance" and discussion of Giardinelli's work. Giardinelli is a fiction writer and essayist whose novels and short stories have been translated into 20 languages. He is in residence at U.Va. for the spring semester. Gustavo Pellon is associate professor of Spanish in the College of Arts & Sciences. Spanish professor Fernando Operé will moderate the discussion, to be held in Spanish and English.
• Googlization, the New Media: The Present and Future
March 18, 4 p.m., U.Va. Bookstore
Siva Vaidhyanathan, professor of media studies and law, is the author of "The Googlization of Everything – and Why We Should Worry" and "Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity."
He will talk about the impact of Google, which wanted to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible but has now become problematic.
Andrea Press, who chairs Arts & Sciences' media studies department, and Bruce Williams, who, like Press, is a professor of media studies and sociology, will talk about their new book, "The New Media Environment."
Other University participants:
• Nicole Bouché, director of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
• Heather Burns, author of the poetry book, "Between Careen and Caution." She completed her M.F.A. from U.Va. and is now a doctoral student in bioethics finishing her dissertation on medical school literary journals.
• John Casey, Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing. He won the National Book Award for his novel, "Spartina." His newest novel, "Compass Rose," is the sequel.
• Jenny Strauss Clay, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Classics, is the author of "Homer's Trojan Theater," which will be published by Cambridge University Press in late March, and "The Wrath of Athena" and "The Politics of Olympus."
• Benjamin Cohen, a historian of science and environmental studies, and a Science and Technology Studies scholar in the Engineering School. He is the author of "Notes from the Ground: Science, Soil and Society in the American Countryside."
• Vigen Guroian, professor of religious studies and author of "The Melody of Faith: Theology in an Orthodox Key"
• Grace Elizabeth Hale, a history professor who writes about American culture and teaches cultural history and the history of the South. She will talk about her new book, "A Nation of Outsiders: How the White Middle Class Fell in Love with Rebellion in Postwar America," with three other authors.
• J. E. Lendon, history professor and author of "Song of Wrath: The Peloponnesian War Begins" and "Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity"
• Linda Levokove, author of "Walk on the Heart Side." She teaches poetry and interior design at U.Va.'s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.
• Mary McKinley, translator of "Epistle to Marguerite de Navarre and Preface to a Sermon by John Calvin." She is professor of French Medieval and Renaissance literature.
• Daniel Mendelsohn, who received his B.A. in classics from U.Va. He will talk about his new edition of the poems of Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, "Cavafy at the Margins: Geography, History, Desire."
• Historian Sophia Rosenfeld, author of the just-published "Common Sense: A Political History"
• Lucie Stylianopoulos, Byzantine art historian and director of Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library
• Dr. J. Anderson "Andy" Thomson Jr., co-author of "Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith." He is a psychiatrist at Student Health Services and a trustee of The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
— By Anne Bromley
Media Contact
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February 24, 2011
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