BLOG
A VALENTINE’S DAY CELEBRATION OF SEDGWICK’S POETRY
The University of York has announced two events that continue a tradition of celebrations of Eve’s work begun last year with their conference on Tendencies.
“To celebrate Queer History Month, Valentine’s Day, and the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Fat Art, Thin Art, the Centre for Modern Studies is delighted to host an afternoon soirée to discuss Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick as a poet. The afternoon will feature a number of short position papers on different aspects of Sedgwick’s poetry, including A Dialogue on Love.”
The event, titled “Fat Art Thin Art: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick as a Poet,” will be held on
Friday, February 14, from 1:00pm to 5:30pm in The Treehouse, Berrick Saul Building, on The University of York campus.
It will be preceded by an evening of poetry titled “A Lovely Dialogue: Critics and Poets, Friends and Fans” on Thursday, February 13, from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at the same location.
“The evening will include a reading by Mary Baines Campbell, the author of two books of poems, The World, The Flesh and Angels (Beacon, 1989) and Trouble: Poems (Carnegie Mellon, 2003), as well as a leading scholar of Renaissance and Early Modern culture. It will also include a cast reading of Sedgwick’s Dr. Seussian queer bedtime story for children, ‘Pandas in Trees.’”
Both events are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For further information, please contact jason.edwards@york.ac.uk.
Image: Kissing from “Panda Wishes 4U” by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
RELATED - EVENTS
NEWLY PUBLISHED ESSAY BY EVE SEDGWICK
Sarah McCarry’s press, Guillotine, has published a chapbook of a 1990 essay by Eve Sedgwick. In her introduction, Sarah writes: “I found this essay among her papers, which, over the last few years, I’ve been helping … to archive, and the initial thrill of coming across a paper of Eve’s— partially handwritten, cut-and-pasted together in places, a sheaf of papers that felt as alive as if she’d just set them down moments earlier— that had never before been published soon gave way to the even greater joy of realizing what an extraordinary, beautifully-written and still-relevant essay it was.” Sarah is calling the untitled manuscript [Censorship & Homophobia]. Handsomely crafted, the chapbooks have letter-pressed covers, and are hand sewn. A limited special edition includes a two-color, letter-pressed broadsheet with a quotation from the essay. The chapbook and special edition broadside are available from Guillotine.
RELATED - PUBLICATIONS
CALL FOR PAPERS: “QUEER AND NOW” SPECIAL ISSUE
The Writing Instructor is preparing a special issue twenty years after the publication of Sedgwick’s influential essay, “Queer and Now.” The journal “seeks to keep alive the possibilities and tensions of queer by inviting submissions that explore the state of ‘queer and now’….” They are “especially interested in formally queer, experimental, multi-genre, and multimedia submissions.” Further information is here.
RELATED - PUBLICATIONS
TENDENCIES AT TWENTY PAPERS NOW ONLINE
We are delighted that our website is now hosting the papers that were given at Tendencies at Twenty. The symposium, organized by Jason Edwards, was held at the University of York this past Valentine’s Day to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s book Tendencies. Each paper at the symposium discussed one (or in a couple of cases two) of the book’s chapters, including such well-known essays of Sedgwick’s as “How to Bring Your Kids Up Gay,” “Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl,” and “Queer and Now.” The symposium papers, in addition to offering critical readings of the chapters, are often deeply personal, reflecting the impact of Sedgwick’s work on lives of the authors. The symposium papers are available here.
RELATED - EVENTS
HONORING EVE: JANET HALLEY DELIVERS THIRD ANNUAL EVE KOSOFSKY SEDGWICK LECTURE
Professor Halley’s lecture on January 31 was introduced by J. Keith Vincent and Erin Murphy of the Boston University Gender + Sexuality Studies Group, which organized the event. Speaking to a large audience, Halley gave a fascinating account of her concept of “governance feminism” and of Sedgwick’s influence on her thinking. A lively discussion followed. A video of the complete event is available here.