St. Lawrence University’s annual Writers Series will kick off its 2020-21 season with author Leila Philip on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 8 p.m. The series, which will be presented virtually for this academic year, is being offered via a Zoom webinar and is free and open to the public.
Philip is the author of The Road Through Miyama, which received the PEN Martha Albrand Special Citation for Nonfiction; and A Family Place: A Hudson Valley Farm, Three Centuries, Five Wars, One Family, which received awards for history and documentation of American life. Philip has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Fluent in Japanese, Philip studied ceramics in Japan and writes often on Japan as well as about art for Art Critical. In addition to publishing essays and poems, Philip is a contributing columnist at The Boston Globe.
Philip’s first theatrical script, “Cardiff,” was staged in New York City and recently in Cardiff, Wales. Her most recent book is Water Rising, a collaboration of art and poetry with the sculptor Garth Evans. The project has led to the creation of a video installation, “Environment, Memory & Things,” which has been shown internationally; 100 percent of the proceeds from the book’s sales are donated to support environmental stewardship.
Philip teaches at the College of the Holy Cross where she is a Professor of Literature and Creative Writing in the English Department and an active member of the Environmental Studies Program.
The Writer Series is sponsored by St. Lawrence University’s Department of English and directed by Associate Professor of English Pedro Ponce. For more information, please contact the English department at 315-229-5125.