Dr. Laura Passin (Portland/USA): "Nasty Women. Feminist Poetry in the Era of Trump: Poetry Reading & Discussion"

Wednesday, 14.12.2016, 10:15-11:45 a.m., U5/01.18

This event combined poetry reading with lecture with Q&A. Laura Passin, an author and poetry scholar who writes both for traditional literary venues and for online communities of funny, angry feminists, discussed the challenges faced by feminist writers in 2016 America, and how they connect to the struggles of earlier women writers. She discussed how misogyny and harassment connect rape culture and sexist literary criticism, and how women still raise their voices proudly as "nasty women." Laura Passin followed this discussion with a reading of poems from her current book projects.

Laura Passin (Ph.D. Northwestern; M.F.A. University of Oregon) is a writer and scholar specializing in contemporary American poetry and gender studies. She has taught a wide range of literary topics, from Renaissance poetry to 21st-century feminist writing. Laura Passin's poetry and essays have appeared in a wide range of publications, including Prairie Schooner, Adrienne: A Poetry Journal of Queer Women, The Toast, Rolling Stone, and Best New Poets 2013. In 2013, Mark Doty awarded her poem "The Learn'd Astronomer on the Radio" the Marcia and Jan Vilcek Prize for Poetry from the Bellevue Literary Review. Under the pseudonym "Sweet Machine," she has written for major feminist blogs such as Shapely Prose and Captain Awkward. She also writes an email newsletter about feminism, poetry, and pop culture called "Postcards from a One-Woman Army." Laura Passin lives in Portland, Oregon, USA.