Joynes Literary Series

Current Event

The Silence of Our Friends graphic novel with author Mark Long

Tuesday, Feb. 21, 7 pm
Joynes Reading Room (CRD 007)
Free and open to the public

The Silence of Our Friends recounts the true stories of two families in Houston, one black and one white, at a critical point during the civil rights movement. On Tuesday night, 7 p.m., February 21 in the Joynes Reading Room (CRD 007), author Mark Long will discuss the story and his collaboration with illustrator Nate Powell.

While supplies last, honors students may request (in person) a free copy of The Silence of Our Friends at the front desk of the Joynes Reading Room.

Recent Events

“Neuroscience, Free Will & Moral Responsibility” by Dr. Walter Glannon

The Joynes Reading Room hosted a presentation entitled “Neuroscience, Free Will & Moral Responsibility” by Dr. Walter Glannon of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calgary. Glannon has written extensively on medical ethics. A review of his most recent book, Brain, Body, and Mind: Neuroethics with a Human Face, called it “a tour de force…and required reading for all neuroethicists and anyone interested in the philosophical and social implications of the new neuroscience.”

Bart Parker & Rita DeWitt: Collaborators

The Joynes Reading room hosted “Collaborators,” A slideshow and discussion with the artists Bart Parker and Rita DeWitt.

“One of the longest-lasting teams to consistently challenge the boundaries of contemporary art… Throughout nearly 30 years…they have produced evocative and influential series that have extended notions of collaborative creativity into our modern era.” —Roy Flukinger, Research Curator of Photography Harry Ransom Center

Reading by writer Anthony Doerr

The Joynes Reading Room hosted novelist and short story writer Anthony Doerr, who read from his new story collection, Memory Wall. Doerr is the prize-winning author of two collections of short stories, a novel, and a chronicle of his year in Rome. He is also a science columnist for the Boston Globe.

“These stories come from all over, from South Africa, Germany, Lithuania, China and several parts of the United States, and the local detail is always scrupulously and vividly rendered, but Doerr’s method in every one is to take us away from our usual lives and then slowly, insidiously, bring us back closer to home.” —from Terrence Rafferty’s review of Memory Wall in the New York Times

“Visions of the Family” Photography Panel

The Joynes Reading Room hosted a photography panel on the theme “Visions of Family”. Internationally recognized photographers Julie Blackmon, Dona Schwartz, and Cori Pepelnjak presented slides of their recent work and discuss their documentary and art projects. “Visions of Family” included photographs portraying various experiences of family life, ranging from the comfortable intimacy of a suburban household to a jarring exploration of adolescent substance abuse.

Reading by novelist Chang-rae Lee

The Joynes Reading Room, the Plan II Honors Program, and the Department of English hosted a reading by the award-winning author Chang-rae Lee. A professor of creative writing at Princeton University, Lee is the author of four acclaimed novels, including The Surrendered, a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Lee’s latest novel tells the story of an American soldier and a Korean orphan whose lives intersect in the aftermath of war.

“The Surrendered is epic in scope, masterful in execution, heart stopping at times, and heartbreaking at others. The meticulous narrative unfolds over 52 years and across three continents. Nothing is rushed; nothing is overlooked. We can even feel the buzz of a window pane on our fingertips as rumbling Japanese military vehicles approach along a gravel road…Lee understands that in art and in stories what is perhaps most valuable is not what can be explained but what can be felt.”
—The Boston Globe