The following description comes from the event organizer.

In a global literary and intellectual culture awash in misinformation and at the same time, so seemingly obsessed with the rhetoric of free speech, cancellation, and the supposed dangers of things like "critical race theory," how can we approach the classics—the books often thought of as the cornerstones of Western literature, if not Western civilization full-stop—in ways that are novel, galvanizing, and perhaps even reparative? How do we read, how have we been taught to read, and what does any of that have to do with notions like resistance, or indeed revolution? We’ll talk Homer, Austen, Cinderella, images of the American West as envisioned by people outside of it, the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, translation, dictatorship, and what it can mean to be a reader in the world. Elaine Castillo will be joined in conversation by Jen Soriano.

Word Works craft talks by novelists, essayists, poets, and memoirists focus on writing as process rather than finished product, examining how language works to inspire and provoke new ideas through live close readings of the writer’s own or others’ work. These talks are designed to apply to writers of all genres as well as illuminate well-known works for avid readers. The talks are followed by an interview with a noted editor, writer, or critic.