Cecilia Vicuña is a poet, artist, filmmaker, and activist. Her work addresses pressing concerns of the modern world, including ecological destruction, human rights, and cultural homogenization. Born and raised in Santiago de Chile, she went into exile in the early 1970s, after the military coup against elected president Salvador Allende. Vicuña began creating "precarious works" and quipus in the mid 1960s in Chile, as a way of "hearing an ancient silence waiting to be heard."

Her multi...

Lecture by artist Cecilia Vicuña, 2019 Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor

Cecilia Vicuña is a poet, artist, filmmaker, and activist. Her work addresses pressing concerns of the modern world, including ecological destruction, human rights, and cultural homogenization. Born and raised in Santiago de Chile, she has been in exile since the early 1970s, after the military coup against elected president Salvador Allende. Vicuña began creating "precarious works" and quipus in the mid...

The Nonfiction Writing Program's Bedell Distinguished Visiting Professor, Susan Steinberg, will read from her work. Her most recent book, Spectacle, was hailed by The New Yorker for its "bold risks and exploration of the boundaries of narrative and the possibilities of language and syntax." Steinberg is the author of The End of Free Love, Hydroplane, and Spectacle. The recipient of the Pushcart Prize, the National Magazine Award, and the prestigious United States Artist Fellowship, Steinberg...

The award-winning and beloved author Elizabeth McCracken will read from her new novel, Bowlaway.  "Elizabeth McCracken's Bowlaway is so deliciously weird and wise and alive. It's a page-turner set in a bowling alley, a grief-haunted and hope-raddled book, and a gloriously fresh paean to the 'perversity of love.' I loved it —what a generous pour of humor and sorrow and wonder." —Karen Russell

Elizabeth McCracken is a Writers’ Workshop graduate and former instructor. She is the author of Here's...