Date / Time
- February 9, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - March 9, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - April 6, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - May 11, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
This program is sponsored by Amy and R. Putnam Coes, III
Registration
- Tuition for this course is $200, $180 Delancey Society and Members.
- Rosenbach members receive a 10% discount on tuition.
- Not a member? We invite you to join upon registration. Click here for more information about membership.
- This course is limited to participants who are 17 years of age or older.
- Before the first meeting, The Rosenbach will send the Zoom link for course meetings.
- Two complimentary tickets to visit The Rosenbach are included with your paid registration for this virtual course. You will receive the discount code in your email confirmation and tickets can be booked here. Please check your spam folder for your email confirmation.
- If you have questions about registration, please call (215) 732-1600 or email [email protected].
- Registration opens for Delancey Society members on November 15, for members on November 22, and for the general public on November 29.
Course Description
The Clearing: The Multidimensional Legacy of Toni Morrison
As a novelist, essayist, and author of children’s books, Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison (1931-2019) unapologetically wrote the Black experience into a tradition of U.S. literature that often rendered Black peoples’ experiences invisible or caricatured. As a book editor and professor, she nurtured the careers and stories of other Black writers. Her 11novels reconstruct and reimagine cultural memory in the face of slavery, violence, poverty, and migration. With skilled lyricism and cinematic understanding , Morrison’s work reveals and transforms the epic stories connected to personal and generational trauma. This course will take a multidimensional approach to Morrison’s legacy, focusing on her pioneering literary work as well as her public advocacy for Black voices and stories through a variety of forms . This course’s texts will include the two novels The Bluest Eye and Beloved, select essays from her collections Playing in the Dark and The Source of Self Regard, poems, and the documentary The Pieces I Am. Alongside spirited and weighty discussion of these texts, students will delve into their own narratives through creative writing.
About the Instructors
Trapeta B. Mayson is the 2020-2021 Philadelphia Poet Laureate. She is a recipient of a Pew Fellowship in Literature, Leeway Transformation Award, Leeway Art and Change Grant and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Grants. Her work was also nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Prize. Mayson is a Cave Canem and Callaloo Fellow and a 2019 Aspen Words Emerging Writers Fellow with the Aspen Institute. She is the author of She Was Once Herself and Mocha Melodies. Mayson also released two music and poetry projects, SCAT and This Is How We Get Through, in collaboration with internationally acclaimed jazz guitarist, Monnette Sudler. Her other publications include submissions in The American Poetry Review, Epiphany Literary Journal, Aesthetica Magazine, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry among others. Mayson is a native of Liberia. She is a graduate of Temple University, Bryn Mawr Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research and Villanova University School of Business. Currently working in the social services field, Mayson is a member of several local organizations where she uses the arts to mobilize, build community and create change. trapetamayson.com
Yolanda Wisher is the author of Monk Eats an Afro (Hanging Loose Press, 2014) and the co-editor of Peace is a Haiku Song (Philadelphia Mural Arts, 2013). Wisher was named the inaugural Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1999 and the third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia for 2016-2017. A Pew and Cave Canem Fellow, Wisher was awarded the Leeway Foundation’s Transformation Award in 2019 for her commitment to art for social change. Wisher taught high school English for a decade, served as Director of Art Education for Philadelphia Mural Arts, and founded and directed the Germantown Poetry and Outbound Poetry Festivals. She performs a unique blend of poetry and song with her band The Afroeaters and has led workshops and curated events in partnership with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the U.S. Department of Arts & Culture. Wisher was part of the first cohort of artists with studios at the Cherry Street Pier on the Delaware River Waterfront. She is currently the Curator of Spoken Word and producer of the podcast Love Jawns: A Mixtape at Philadelphia Contemporary, a freestanding space for contemporary and performance art. Yolandawisher.com
Scholarship Opportunities
Scholarships may be available for this course. For more information, please contact Emilie Parker at [email protected].
About Rosenbach Courses
Revisit beloved classics or experience new ones with Rosenbach courses. Book lovers delve into fiction, history, and poetry with the guidance of a literary expert and the company of other readers. See all upcoming courses.
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Date / Time
- February 9, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - March 9, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - April 6, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - May 11, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm