Dear Members of the Campus Community,

On Monday, April 11, New York Times best-selling author Tayari Jones will deliver the University of Puget Sound’s Spring 2022 Susan Resneck Pierce Lecture in Public Affairs and the Arts, on the topic of “We Are All Witnesses to History: Socially Engaged Living as an Inspiration to Writers.”

Jones is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award; United States Artist Fellowship; NEA Fellowship; and Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. Currently the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Creative Writing at Emory University, Jones previously held the Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large position at Cornell University. Her most recent novel, An American Marriage, was a 2018 Oprah's Book Club Selection and awarded the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction. Other works include Silver Sparrow, Leaving Atlanta, and The Untelling.

Jones' novels portray African American experiences in the Southern United States, specifically how their lives are impacted by the unjust systems they live in, and the often-fractured relationships between parents and their children and married couples.

Susan Resneck Pierce Lecture
with Tayari Jones
“We Are All Witnesses to History: Socially Engaged Living as an Inspiration to Writers”

Monday, April 11, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.
Schneebeck Concert Hall – in person and via Schneebeck Live
Tickets Required
Get tickets

The Pierce Lectures are free to current students, staff and faculty, but tickets are required and available at the Information Desk in Wheelock Student Center or online here. A reception and book signing will immediately follow the lecture in Wyatt Atrium.

Established in 2002 in honor of President Emerita Susan Resneck Pierce, this lecture series brings to campus public intellectuals, writers, and artists of high recognition in public affairs and the arts. My thanks to the Pierce Lectures in the Arts Advisory Group – Professors Jairo Hoyos Galvis, Priti Joshi, Janet Marcavage, and Renee Simms – for their thoughtful work in selecting engaging speakers.

I look forward to seeing you at the lecture.

Sincerely,

Isiaah
Isiaah Crawford, Ph.D. | President