ITHACA, N.Y. – The Spring 2020 Barbara & David Zalaznick Creative Writing Reading Series continues with a reading by writer & activist M. Evelina Galang on Thursday, March 12 at 4:30pm in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, 132 Goldwin Smith Hall. The reading is followed by a catered reception and book signing where students, faculty and the public have the opportunity to interact with the author; books are made available for purchase courtesy of Ithaca’s Buffalo Street Books. The series is sponsored by Cornell’s Creative Writing Program and all events are free and open to the public.
M. Evelina Galang is the author of the story collection Her Wild American Self, novels One Tribe and Angel De La Luna and the Fifth Glorious Mystery, the nonfiction work Lolas’ House: Filipino Women Living With War, and the editor of Screaming Monkeys: Critiques of Asian American Images. Galang is the Zalaznick Distinguished Visiting Writer of the Cornell University Department of English for Spring 2020. As a part of this role she is teaching two writing courses. Her view on teaching is student-centric:
“Often it is my students who teach me the art of writing a good story in their fresh irreverent ways, through the lens of their world and in their dedication to literature,” says Galang, adding that her role is “to introduce…students to as many tools, voices, and possibilities as I can so they can find their way to a place where craft, substance and art come together. In workshop, we want to help the author write the best story. We approach the work with respect.”
Galang emphasizes the value of creating art in a noisy, chaotic world where the future is never certain: “Only after sitting with this anxiety do I realize the answer is in the art. Is in the story. In the essay. The way to ground ourselves is to sort through the confusion.” She believes in the power of testimony: “I have had the urge to go silent. We cannot be silenced. Now is the time to be the witness. To document our experiences through language, image, song. These days, I am writing to break through the noise. I will not be silenced.”
Among her numerous awards are the 2004 Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Prize for the Novel, the 2007 Global Filipino Literary Award for One Tribe, the 2004 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards Advancing Human Rights, and a 2002 Senior Research Fellowship from Fulbright. Galang teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at the University of Miami and is core faculty and President of the Board of Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA/Voices).
American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided for this reading.
Worried about parking? TCAT bus route 10 (Commons-Cornell loop) leaves Seneca Street station every 12 minutes on Thursday afternoons until 5:58 p.m. and stops outside Klarman/Goldwin Smith Halls. After that, Route 10 runs every 24 minutes. Last trip from campus to downtown is at 7:30p.m. The cash fare for a single ride is $1.50. For short term parking options, visit cornell.edu/visit/parking or call Transportation Services at 607-255-4600.
For more information, visit english.cornell.edu/zalaznick, email creativewriting@cornell.edu or call 607-255-7847.