2023 Hanna Geldrich-Leffman Colloquium to introduce group of international women poets to the English-speaking world
The 2023 Hanna Geldrich-Leffman Colloquium will feature the theme “Herstory: Global Women Poets,” on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, in the 4th Floor Program Room in the Andrew White Student Center on Loyola’s Evergreen campus. The event is free and open to the public.
This year’s presentations will introduce a group of international women writers and their texts to the English-speaking world, provoke a more diversified picture of world literature, and invite more meaningful conversations about how women’s writing has been constantly transgressing and challenging the conventional concept of the literary canon.
The colloquium's schedule is as follows:
- 11 a.m. "Sound of Autumn: The Soundscape in Women's Poetry in Dynastic China," presented by Haihong Yang, Ph.D., associate professor of Chinese Studies and Asian Studies at the University of Delaware
- 2 p.m. "Of Wombs and Verses: Deepening the Mystery," presented by Sylvie Kandé, Ph.D., associate professor of History and Philosophy at SUNY Old Westbury
- 3 p.m. "Reclaiming Justice: Testimonial Poetry by Latin American Women," presented by Alicia Partnoy, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Modern Languages and Literatures - Spanish at Loyola Marymount University
Speakers will cross geographic nation-state borderlines, covering multiple regions and/or countries, and put an emphasis on past and present women poets across Europe, Africa, East Asia, and Latin America.
About the Annual Colloquium
The Colloquium on Language, Literature, and Society was created in 1986 as a way of
demonstrating an on-going and dynamic basis the vitality and diversity of the cultures
represented by the department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Loyola. In 2007, the colloquium was renamed to honor Hanna Geldrich-Leffman, long-time chair
of the department and, along with Ursula Beitter, one of the co-founders of the colloquium.
Conceived as an interdisciplinary event, the colloquium explores ways in which different
cultures express certain ideas in various genres and media, such as the novel or film.
The aim is to foster discussion and debate on the topics selected by bringing a variety
of varying perspectives to bear on each issue.