Publishing Clearinghouse: Readings on ‘The Imperial Wife,’ ‘In Shock,’ ‘Rose Valley’ and more

The University Times welcomes information about new books, journals, plays and musical compositions written or edited by faculty and staff.

Newly published works can be submitted through this link. Please keep the book descriptions short and accessible to a general audience.

Journals should be peer-reviewed. Self-published works will not be accepted. The listings also are restricted to complete works, because individual chapters, articles, works of art and poems would be too numerous.

We’ll also be highlighting some books and book talks with connections to Pitt.

If you have any questions, please contact editor Susan Jones at suejones@pitt.edu or 412-648-4294.

Book events

Reading and Conversation with Tracy K. Smith
7 p.m. Nov. 15, Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, Oakland

Tracy K. Smith was appointed the 22nd U.S. Poet Laureate in 2017. She is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir “Ordinary Light” (Knopf, 2015) and three books of poetry, including her most recent “Wade in the Water” (Graywolf, 2018). Her collection “Life on Mars” won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and was selected as a New York Times Notable Book. Presented by the Center for African American Poetry & Poetics and Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures. Register here.

The Imperial WifeLiterature over Lunch Faculty Reading: Irina Reyn, “The Imperial Wife”
Noon-1 p.m. Nov. 15, Hillman Library, Ground Floor, Cup & Chaucer 

Irina Reyn, an assistant professor of English at Pitt, was born in Moscow, and currently divides her time between Pittsburgh and Brooklyn. Her novel follows the lives of two women, one in contemporary New York City and the other in eighteenth-century Russia, asking what female ambition means, today and in the past, and whether a marriage can withstand an ambitious wife, according to publisher Thomas Dunne Books.

Lecture: “Rose Valley: Love, Violence, and Communist Distopia in Maoist China” by Baoyu (Peter) Xie
Noon, Nov. 16, 4130 Posvar Hall

“Rose Valley” is an epic narrative that depicts the transformation of a small village in Sichuan province from 1950 to 1967. Revolved around the love story between an enthusiastic party cadre and a widow from a landowner family, the novel relates how the Maoist utopian dream is shattered after waves of political campaigns, such as the land reform, anti-rightist movement and the Cultural Revolution, hit the village.

“In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope” Reading and discussion of “In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope” with author Dr. Rana Awdish
9-10 a.m. Nov. 28, 1104 Scaife Hall

Awdish, director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, recounts her experiences with the health care system after an emergency trip to the hospital resulted in her hemorrhaging nearly all of her blood volume and losing her unborn first child. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Ritu Thamman, of Pitt’s Department of Cardiology. Reservations required; contact bioethics@pitt.edu by 5 p.m. Nov. 23. Excerpts and discussion questions will be sent along with confirmation of the reservation.

Book release and signing: “These Kids are Out of Control: Why We Must Reimagine ‘Classroom Management’ for Equity”
6-7:30 p.m. Nov. 29, 4303 Posvar Hall

The book is a look at what “classroom learning could be if we aspire to co-create more culturally responsive and equitable environment,” according to a news release. The authors are Lori Delale-O’Connor, assistant professor of urban education at Pitt; Erika Gold Kestenberg, an associate director at the Center for Urban Education and visiting assistant professor at Pitt; Heather B. Cunningham, assistant professor of education at Chatham University; and H. Richard Milner IV, professor of education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The event is co-sponsored by the Pitt Center for Urban Education and the Chatham Education Department.