Date Time
Cornell poet’s play “Trap Door” opens an aperture into Ithaca history
“Trap Door,” a “headphone walking play” that opens May 20 in downtown Ithaca, invites audiences to notice the streets they travel, said Cornell poet Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon.
“Meandering these streets, one might happen upon a landmark site or a name easily recognized. But how many stories go untold? Which ones have slipped into gaps in history? What place do such silences hold in shaping a community?” said Van Clief-Stefanon, associate professor of literatures in English and lead writer of the play. “‘Trap Door offers an aperture: one the walking play format encourages us to pass through, allowing us to see our surroundings in a new light.”
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April 12, 2021
National Book Award-winning novelist Susan Choi, MFA ’95, returns to Cornell for a virtual reading on Thursday, April 22 at 7 p.m. Registration is required for this free and open to the public event.
Susan Choi
Susan Choi and her work have been praised by many. Joan Didion describes her as “A natural a writer whose intelligence and historical awareness effortlessly serve a breathtaking narrative ability.” Jennifer Egan says Choi’s work is “Deeply impressive, confident… astute, psychologically persuasive.” Jhumpa Lahiri says Choi writes “with uncompromising grace and mastery.”
Choi plans to read from her short story “Flashlight.” The reading will be followed by conversation and a live Q&A, moderated by Professor and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow Stephanie Vaughn.
Novelist Susan Choi, MFA ’95, whose novel "Trust Fall" won the 2019 National Book Award, will read from her New Yorker story "Flashlight" during a virtual event on April 22.
April 8, 2021
The opening of “Subdivision,” J. Robert Lennon’s new novel, might be familiar to anyone who’s checked into a bed-and-breakfast. Familiar, and yet off a little off.
“At the guesthouse, I was invited to come downstairs anytime and work on the puzzle,” the unnamed protagonist begins, describing a massive jigsaw puzzle that her hosts, Clara and the Judge, seem to be more interested in than her. “The ladies had not yet given me a key or even revealed which room I would be staying in; indeed, showing me the puzzle had been their top priority upon welcoming me at the door.”