Toni in Translation: An International and Interdisciplinary Gathering
11:00 am PT | 2:00 pm ET
Online Event
Registration is required for this event. Use the code international for free registration.
In honor of Toni Morrison Day (Ohio)(opens in a new tab), join us for Toni in Translation, an international and interdisciplinary gathering co-presented by Center for the Art of Translation, Cornell University Library(opens in a new tab) (sponsor of the Toni Morrison Collective(opens in a new tab)), and Mechanics’ Institute(opens in a new tab). This event will delve into how Toni Morrison’s works transcend borders and inspire transformative action in diverse fields. Facilitated by Dr. Nigel Hatton (UC Merced), the program will feature three distinguished panelists: Anne Adams, Bronwyn Lamay, and Astrid Roemer.
Together, our panelists’ voices will illuminate the innovative ways they carry Morrison’s legacy into their creative and professional lives, emphasizing the universal and transformative power of her work. This global celebration of Toni Morrison’s enduring influence will connect audiences worldwide to explore how her vision continues to shape literature, culture, and society.
In 1966, at the age of 19, Astrid Roemer emigrated from Suriname to the Netherlands. She identifies herself as a cosmopolitan writer. Exploring themes of race, gender, family, and identity, her poetic, unconventional prose stands in the tradition of authors such as Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. She was awarded the P.C. Hooft Award in 2016, and the three-yearly Dutch Literature Prize (Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren) in 2021. On a Woman’s Madness, her English-language debut in Lucy Scott’s translation, was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. Her novel DealersDochter (2023) was nominated for the Boon Literature Prize, a prestigious literary award given annually to the best book originally written in Dutch.
Anne Adams, Professor Emerita, specializes in the two areas of continental African women’s writing and Afro-German cultural studies, her publications reflecting both areas. Upon retiring from the Africana Studies Research Center at Cornell University, she served as director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture, in Accra, Ghana, 2005-2010.
Bronwyn Lamay has been a teacher, instructional coach, and administrator for over 20 years in the Bay area. She has taught middle and high school in Oakland, Hayward, East Side Union, East Palo Alto, and Santa Clara.
Nigel Hatton is an associate professor in the Literatures in English section of the Department of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures, and in the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Merced. His research and teaching span the areas of literature and philosophy, human rights and literature, critical refugee studies, and narrative medicine. His scholarship has appeared in The James Baldwin Review, Literatur in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, A-Line: A Journal of Progressive Thought, Globalization in Literature, Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources, and other publications. He is a contributing author to Departures: An Introduction to Critical Refugee Studies (2022) and co-editor of the Critical Refugee Studies Book Series from University of California Press.