The Literature of Bullying-- Replies, Rebuttals, Confessions, and Catharsis

In addition to her work as poet and playwright, Magdalena Gomez (who visits UAlbany tomorrow) is the coeditor of a new anthology written by survivors of being bullied:  Bullying: Replies, Rebuttals, Confessions, and Catharsis (2012, with Maria Luisa Arroyo). The book features a variety of original essays, poetry, plays, and commentary by parents, teachers, children and assorted adult survivors on how bullying has affected their lives.

Gomez will participate in two events on Friday:

Conversations with Diasporican Writers — 2:15 – 3:45 p.m., Assembly Hall, Campus Center, Uptown CampusModerator: Tomás Urayoán Noel, University at Albany
Guest Writers: Magdalena Gómez, Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, and Edwin Torres

Diasporican Café: Performing Voices of the Puerto Rican Diaspora — 5:30 – 7:45 p.m., Campus Center Ballroom
Guest Writers: Giannina Braschi, Magdalena Gómez, Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, Jesús Papoleto Meléndez, and Edwin Torres

Five internationally known U.S. Puerto Rican writer-performers will discuss their work in an afternoon panel discussion and present readings/performances in the evening. Both events are part of the 20th Anniversary Conference of the Puerto Rican Studies Association, which is being held at UAlbany October 24 – 27. For more information on the Conference go to: http://www.puertoricanstudies.org. 

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Hiding from Bullies

Margot Livesey (who visits 3/20) talks with Bookpage about some of the inspirations for her new novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, a Scottish girl's coming-of-age story that pays homage to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Like the author herself, the novel's protagonist is the product of a rough, working class Scottish school for girls....

"....Livesey had no difficulty imagining a crumbling Scottish boarding school. As a girl, she herself was enrolled in one as a day student. Her father taught at the neighboring boys’ school and her mother was the school nurse. "

"'I ended up in a class with girls three years older than me. It was just an enormous gulf,' the author recalls. 'There were long, dark corridors, cloakrooms and stairwells. I was always hiding in some stairway trying to avoid some particularly hefty girl.'"

"The school eventually went bankrupt. 'It was one time I felt my prayers were answered,' she says, laughing at the memory." More.

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