Binghamton Center for Writers

Global Imaginary

Global Imaginary is an international student reading series that focuses on the vital exchange of language and ideas. The series will feature noted translators and welcomes students who have interests in poetry, short form prose, and translation. Students present a poem/short prose in their first language and its English translation. The series fosters creative compassion, opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration, and democratic idea sharing. This new series makes clear that it upholds all experiences and takes actionable steps to stand against systemic racism through the common language of literature.

Rooms of the Tongue: Languages & Realities

Monday November 16th, 7 pm

Zoom link for the Global Imaginary

Alejandro Anreus was born in Havana, Cuba in 1960. He went into exile with his mother, grandmother and aunts in 1970 to the United States. He grew up in Elizabeth, NJ and received a PhD in art history from the Graduate Center, CUNY. He was the curator at the Jersey City Museum (1993-2001) and is the author of over sixty catalogue essays on modern and contemporary art, and five books on Latin American and Latino art. Since 2001 he is a professor of art history at William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ.

He has published the following poetry collections: Memento Mori (2010, with watercolors by Arturo Rodríguez), Los Exiliados Sueñan (2014), Los Vientos de Cuaresma (2017) and Los Golpes de la Historia(2017). His poems have appeared in Bilingual Review, Revista Hispano Cubana de Cultura, Palimpsesto, Sibila and Diario de Cuba.

Mercia Kandukira is a PhD student at SUNY Binghamton where she studies Creative Writing. Her memoir in progress uses the Ovaherero/Nama Genocide which took place in Namibia during the years 1904-1908 as a backdrop and explores the traumatic repercussions of racial violence in modern day Namibia, specifically among the Nama and Herero descendants of those who survived inevitable extermination by the German Second Reich hitmen.  

Coordinators:

Joe Weil is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Binghamton University and author of several collections of poetry. Joe Weil’s latest books, published in 2020, are Helping the Village Idiot Feed the Chickens (Iniquity press/Vendetta books) and his new collection of poetry is called The Backwards Year (NYQ books).

Emily Sheremeta is a senior majoring in English and minoring in linguistics. She’s enrolled in the 4+1 Creative Writing program and is currently the vice president of Ellipsis, a campus literary magazine. She is the treasurer for the Alpha Delta Phi society and has been on their literary committee for the past 2 years to select student works for their publication, EELLS.

For more information on how you can get involved with The Global Imaginary, contact Joe: jweil@binghamton.edu or Emily: esherem1@binghamton.edu.

All readings will be online for the Fall 2020 semester.