Women’s author discusses African-American literature

University of Oregon English professor Courtney Thorsson will discuss her forthcoming book, “Women’s Work: Nationalism and Contemporary African American Women’s Novels,” from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 18, in the Jane Grant Room in Hendricks Hall.

Thorsson’s research and teaching is in African-American literature from its beginnings to the present. Her book argues that late 20th century novels by Toni Cade Bambara, Ntozake Shange, Paule Marshall, Gloria Naylor and Toni Morrison reclaim and revise cultural nationalism.
Thorsson’s works include "James Baldwin and Black Women's Fiction" in African American Review;“Why Now?: Recent Writings on Black Power and the Black Panther Party” in Callaloo; a review of “Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food & Power” in Atlantic Studies; and “Dancing Up A Nation: Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow,” in Callaloo.

The event is presented by the Center for the Study of Women in Society.

-- by Rachel Starr, UO media relations intern