December 2016

10 posts in December 2016

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2016 Winner LaTanya McQueen up at Ninth Letter



LaTanya McQueen’s winning essay, “Before You Throw Her Body Down,” at Ninth Letter, with an introduction by Philip Graham:

“We here at Ninth Letter feel privileged to be able to publish LaTanya McQueen’s winning essay, ‘Before You Throw Her Body Down,’ which combines brutal history with a certain bruised tenderness in the present. Describing her blind date in a bar where she and her companion are the only African-Americans, McQueen moves back and forth between the tentative conversational steps she and her date make, and her thoughts about the long history of racial stereotypes of and brutality towards African-American women—a history that casts invisible barriers over these quiet, sensitive moments. When she and the man she is with discover an unlikely connection in the past between his father and her grandfather, some unexpected emotional comfort breaks through—despite history’s weight—enabling readers to experience recognition and revelation: ‘As I glance around the room, I try to remind myself that we are just a couple in a bar having a drink, and that if one were to turn and look they would only see two people, each of them cautious and fumbling, who are continuously learning how to be.’ The delicacy of technique in this ambitious essay packs a large emotional wallop. —Philip Graham”

Pessoas of Portugal



Check out Disquiet Alum Phillip D. Wentirine‘s project Pessoas of Portugal!

“Pessoas of Portugal” is the Westernmost of Europe’s take on “Humans of New York”. It is a project that started through Fulbright, and it aims to bring awareness to the people and culture of Portugal. Each story delves deeper into the life of someone from Portugal and the rich history that comes along with the country.

On Instagram: @PessoasOfPortugal
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pessoasofportugal

DISQUIET NYC Reading & Reunion February 27, 2017!



Disquieters: SAVE THE DATE!

After last year’s biggest-ever DISQUIET party and reunion in the U.S., we’ll be back again with the Second Annual DISQUIET NYC Reading & Reunion on February 27, 2017! Get your contest applications in (Jan. 31 for general contest; Feb. 8 for Luso-American) and come celebrate with faculty, alumni, and friends!

Details so far:
Second Annual DISQUIET NYC Reading & Reunion
Readers TBA
Monday, February 27, 2017, 6:00 pm
Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia Street
New York, NY 10014

Reading to be followed by an afterparty with pizza and Portuguese wines at a private residence.

Special thanks to Robert V Hansmann and the Bennington Writers Series!