Hanley Sustainability Institute
Two HSI scholars on Humanities Commons panel discussion about Margaret Atwood’s works
By Mark Gokavi
University of Dayton sustainability program director Rebecca Potter and fellow Hanley Sustainability Institute sustainability scholar Vincent Miller will be on a panel discussing the works of Margaret Atwood, who won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize 2020 Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award.
The Humanities Commons online panel discussion, “Peace, Literature, Democracy: Dayton Literary Peace Prize,” is 7-8:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, and is free and open to the public. Click here to register.
“Atwood is a feminist environmentalist writer whose speculative fiction definitely confronts our global environmental crisis,” Potter said.
The talk is designed to engage students, faculty and staff across the university with Humanities Commons and introduce the university community to UD’s partnership with the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. It also seeks to “learn and think together about ways that Atwood’s work offers vital ways for understanding the relationships among “peace, literature, and democracy,” according to organizers.
Atwood is known for her novels such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace, Oryx and Crake, and The Blind Assassin, but also has produced short fiction, children’s books, poetry, non-fiction essays, and television and radio scripts.
“This isn’t climate change – it’s everything change,” Atwood told The Guardian in a 2018 article. “Women will be directly and adversely affected by climate change.”
“More extreme weather events such as droughts and floods, rising sea levels that will destroy arable land, and disruption of marine life will all result in less food,” she said before an arts and science festival called Under Her Eye at the British Library Conference Centre. “Less food will mean that women and children get less, as the remaining food supplies will be unevenly distributed, even more than they are.”
Potter, also an English professor, and Miller, a religious studies professor, will be joined on the panel by Sharon Rab and Todd Ulman. Rab is the founder and board of trustees president of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Uhlman is a professor of history at UD.
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