Peasant Jean Valjean (Jean Gabin) suffered through decades in French prison for stealing a loaf of bread, but once released, life doesn't automatically become easier. Not only does the community shun him as an ex-convict, but a policeman named Javert (Bernard Blier) refuses to believe he's a good man. Wherever Valjean goes, Javert follows, intent
Despite efforts that have been made in the last few decades, gender and racioethnic equity still hasn't been achieved. What's worse, Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latina women are being held back more than their White counterparts. According to authors Beth A. Livingston and Tina Opie, we need to change how we strive for equity. We
Angie Cruz is a novelist and editor. Her fourth novel, How Not To Drown in A Glass of Water is forthcoming Fall 2022. Her novel, Dominicana was the inaugural book pick for GMA book club and chosen as the 2019/2020 Wordup Uptown Reads. It was shortlisted for The Women’s Prize, longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in
The International Writing Program (IWP) is a unique conduit for the world’s literatures, connecting well-established writers from around the globe, bringing international literature into classrooms, introducing American writers to other cultures through reading tours, and serving as a clearinghouse for literary news and a wealth of archival and pedagogical materials. Since 1967, over fifteen hundred
Project Guttenberg, Audible, Facebook, and Zoom in the Afterlife of The Decameron, Paradise Lost, War and Peace, Brothers Karamazov, and Les Misérables. A session with Professor Anna Barker. This event is live and in-person, and will be streamed live at: https://www.youtube.com/thelibrarychannel
Curtis Bauer and María Sánchez will discuss Sánchez's new memoir, Land of Women. Sánchez, who will appear via Zoom, is a third-generation Spanish veterinarian whose memoir looks at how we view women and rural life. Iowa native Bauer translated the book into English. He appears in partnership with the UI MFA in Literary Translation program.
One Community, One Book Author Keynote with Alex Kotlowski The UI Center for Human Rights 2022 One Community, One Book selection is An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago by best-selling author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker Alex Kotlowitz. This is a captivating collection of stories that will transform the way readers think about gun violence in
From renowned scholar Dr. Victor Ray, On Critical Race Theory explains the centrality of race in American history and politics, and how the often mischaracterized intellectual movement became a political necessity. Ray draws upon the radical thinking of giants such as Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to clearly trace the foundations
In They Knew, New York Times bestselling author Sarah Kendzior explores the United States’ “culture of conspiracy,” putting forth a timely and unflinching argument: uncritical faith in broken institutions is as dangerous as false narratives peddled by propagandists. Conspiracy theories are on the rise because officials refuse to enforce accountability for real conspiracies. They Knew discusses
A rich, meditative new collection of poetry from John Koethe, the "necessary and great poet" (Hyperallergic). "It’s presumptuous, but if you’re reading this you Probably know my usual obsessions and preoccupations: The “world”—both the word and what it stands for—and time, Which is or isn’t real, depending on my mood. I’ve always Hated poems about
One minute Elizabeth Crane and her husband of fifteen years are fixing up their old house in Upstate New York, finally setting down roots after stints in Chicago, Texas, and Brooklyn, when his unexpected admission—I’m not happy—changes everything. Suddenly she finds herself separated and in couples therapy, living in an apartment in the city with
The poems in Jennifer Knox’s darkly imaginative collection, Crushing It, unearth epiphanies in an unbounded landscape of forms, voices and subjects―from history to true crime to epidemiology―while exploring our tenuous connections and disconnections. From Merle Haggard lifting his head from a pile of cocaine to absurdist romps through an apocalypse where mushrooms learn to sing, this versatile
