Story by Mary Zielke, Arts Columnist
On Thursday, March 21, at 6 p.m., the Contemporary Writers Series (CWS) at Aquinas College hosted its 27th season. Co-sponsored with the Jane Hibbard Idema Women’s and Gender Study Center (JHIWSC), both organizations invited renowned author Camille Dungy to share her work at the Kretschmer Recital Hall in the Arts & Music Center.
Beginning the event, Dr. Amy Dunham Strand, Director of the JHIWSC, welcomed everyone who attended the event. Dunham Strand thanked the supporters for making this performance happen. She also extended gratitude to alumni benefactors Tony Foster and poet Linda Nemic Foster, who started the Contemporary Writers Series, and Twink Frey and Jamie E. McKay, who donated to the JHIWSC program.
Grace Giroux, a Senior Aquinas student and intern for the JHIWSC, read a land acknowledgment by the Marywood Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids before introducing Dungy in order to recognize the Native individuals who were made invisible by American institutions.
After this, Dungy was introduced to the stage. She proclaimed how grateful she was to be at Aquinas and was honored to be a part of the event. She began the discussion by reciting the first poem from her first book of poems, titled “Language,” where she brings some background to her thought process of what inspired her to draft the piece. “You have to remember that place, and where you landed,” she states.
She goes on to provide a broad perspective on intersections between multiple themes within her book, Soil, whose essay collections of A Black Mother’s Garden were published in May 2023. “I have always been really interested in thinking about the greater human world in a way that is merged within my own family, American history, Black history, and cultural questions,” she states. This grounding helps the reader to pay attention to the language of the landscape, environmental action, and how we label environmental writing.
As a distinguished Professor from Colorado State University, Dungy has won multiple book and poetry awards. She also hosts a podcast, Immaterial, for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, along with being an editor for multiple publications.
After Dungy’s talk, she had a Q&A about her work, where individuals could ask her questions about her process as a writer. Following this, she hosted a book signing while attendees enjoyed cookies and drinks out in the reception area. The CWS will hold its 28th season in the next fall semester.
Photos courtesy of Liz Forsyth
The Saint 