The Richard L. Thomas Professorship of Creative Writing along with the Department of English welcomes Stephen Kuusisto and Travis Chi Wing Lau.
Stephen Kuusisto, who has been blind since birth, is the author of "Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening" and the acclaimed memoir "Planet of the Blind," a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year." He has also published "Only Bread, Only Light," a collection of poems from Cooper Canyon Press.
Recognized by the New York Times as "a powerful writer with a musical ear for language and a gift for emotional candor," Steve has made numerous appearances on programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dateline NBC, National Public Radio and the BBC.
A graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and a Fulbright Scholar, he has taught at the University of Iowa, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and The Ohio State University. Kuusisto has served as an advisor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and to the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. He directs the Burton Blatt Institute's interdisciplinary programs in disability at Syracuse University where he holds a University Professorship. His daily blog, "Planet of the Blind," is read globally by people interested in disability and contemporary culture.
Travis Chi Wing Lau is an assistant professor of English at Kenyon. His research and teaching focus on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British literature and culture, health humanities and disability studies. Alongside his scholarship, Lau frequently writes for venues of public scholarship like Synapsis: A Journal of Health Humanities, Public Books, Lapham's Quarterly, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. His poetry has appeared in Wordgathering, Glass, South Carolina Review, Foglifter, and Hypertext, as well as in three chapbooks, "The Bone Setter" (Damaged Goods Press, 2019), "Paring" (Finishing Line Press, 2020) and "Vagaries" (Fork Time Press, 2022). Learn more at travisclau.com.
Please join us in Cheever Room that is located in Finn House on Monday, April 3, at 4:30 p.m. Come celebrate Travis's new book with us!