The Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and the University Writing Program will celebrate Maggie Su's debut novel, "BLOB" (Harper Collins), on the day of the official launch, January 28, 2025.  Vi Liu, a struggling 20-something Midwesterner, finds a mysterious blob in an alley and discovers she can mold it into her ideal boyfriend. What could possibly go wrong?Unique, heartfelt, and hilarious, "Blob: A Love Story" is a delightfully inquisitive meditation on relationships and identity. What responsibility do we have in the creation of our relationships? What do we bring and leave behind? And what repercussions exist when we force ourselves into an identity instead of nurturing our real selves? This winsome book pulls off the impossible feat of examining our deepest existential questions with equal parts tenderness and droll. Ling Ling Huang, author of Natural BeautyMaggie Su is a writer and editor. She received a Ph.D. in fiction from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA from Indiana University. Her work has appeared in New England Review, TriQuarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, Juked, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She is a postdoctoral research associate and serves as assistant director of the University Writing Center. Michelle Marvin, associate director of the University Writing Center, will introduce the event. Whitney James, assistant teaching professor of the University Writing Program, will moderate the discussion. Originally published at asia.nd.edu.

On November 24, 2016, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a revised peace accord that marked a political end to more than 50 years of war. The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies has the primary responsibility for technical verification and monitoring of implementation of the accord through the Peace Accords Matrix Barometer Initiative. In this talk, Angela J. Lederach (Ph.D. ’20), assistant professor of peace and justice studies at Chapman University, will draw on a decade of research with grassroots social leaders in Colombia, weaving together campesino theories of time, social relations, and place to develop an ethnographic theory of “slow peace.” Slowing down does not negate the fierce urgency of social leaders’ commitment to disrupt and transform the compounding forces of political and environmental violence that persist in postaccord Colombia. Instead, slow peace offers a relational framework for peacebuilding as a multigenerational, multispecies, and permanent struggle to cultivate a more just and livable world. Lederach will be joined in conversation by Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, professor of the practice and director of the Peace Accords Matrix, and a student and faculty respondent (TBA). Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

Celebrate Lá Fhéile Bríde/St. Brigid's Day 2025 with a reading by visiting poet Victoria Kennefick! Book sales and a reception will follow the reading. Victoria Kennefick's debut collection, Eat or We Both Starve (Carcanet Press, 2021), won the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize and the Dalkey Book Festival Emerging Writer of the Year Award. It was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Costa Poetry Book Award, Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry and the Butler Literary Prize. Her second collection, Egg/Shell (Carcanet Press, 2024), was a Poetry Book Society Choice for Spring 2024 and BBC Poetry Extra Book of the Month for March. Egg/Shell was also a Book of the Year 2024 in The Telegraph, The Sunday Independent and The Poetry Society. This event is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Gender Studies Program. Originally published at irishstudies.nd.edu.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963) Racial justice and anti-Blackness are pressing global challenges that demand our attention. Join us for an engaging and thought-provoking panel discussion with distinguished experts who will delve into these critical issues. They will explore the far-reaching impacts of systemic, institutional, and organizational racism, and uncover the urgent need for change on a worldwide scale. Panelists: Joseph Butler, Assistant Dean for Access, Diversity and Inclusion, Princeton UniversityCarla Goar, Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, Kent State UniversityAmber Hewitt, Racial Equity Practitioner and Counseling Psychologist  Moderated by Gwendolyn Purifoye, Assistant Professor of Racial Justice and Conflict Transformation, University of Notre Dame  Greg Wilson, Assistant Professor of Management and Public Affairs, Ohio State University  Photo credit: "Prayer Changes Things," (c) 2017, courtesy of Eurnice Harris from Good Victory Art Studio. Originally published at kroc.nd.edu.

Sacred Music at Notre Dame presents a showcase concert featuring the faculty and students at SMND in music that includes composers JS Bach, Handel, American spirituals, Hebrew sacred songs, and more. Jerry Blackstone conducts Concordia, the choir that includes the entire cohort of masters and doctoral level students at SMND, Cynthia Katsarelis conducts the SMND Festival Chamber Orchestra, comprised of local professional musicians, with baritone Stephen Lancaster, soprano Anne Slovin, and organist Kola Owolabi. Collaborative pianist, Dror Baitel joins our vocal faculty in sacred songs. Mark Doerries conducts the beloved Notre Dame Children’s Liturgical Choir.   Program Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata No. 49, Dr. Cynthia Katsarelis, conductor, Steven Lancaster, baritone, Ann Slovin, soprano, and Kola Owolabi, organ obligato   NDCC Liturgical Choir, Mark Doerries   Three Hebrew Sacred Songs Anne Slovin, soprano and Dror Baitel, piano   American Negro Spirituals arranged by H. T. Burleigh Stephen Lancaster, Baritone, Dror Baitel, piano   Dieterich Buxtehude Praeludium in g, BuxWV 163 Kola Owolabi, organist,   Concordia, Jerry Blackstone J.D. Zelenka: Miserere Lotti: Crucifixus Sanders: When lilacs last in the dooryard Bloom’d Handel: Sing unto God   For tickets call 574-631-2800 or visit performingarts.nd.edu.  

The AAHD Gallery is excited to present Second Chances, an exhibition showcasing new works by second-year MFA students in Studio Art and Design. Featured artists include Lily Dorian (sculpture), Heidi Dargle (visual communication design), Franceska Alvarado (painting and drawing), Lucy Schultz (industrial design), and Olivia Koziel (photography). The exhibition runs weekdays from January 30 to February 13, 2025, with a special opening reception Thursday, January 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. Join us to celebrate these talented, emerging artists and their inspiring creations. Originally published at artdept.nd.edu.