Unspeakable Things Still Unspoken: Writing Seminar with Dr Brenda Flanagan

In association with the U.S. Embassy, Dublin, we present this one-off opportunity to meet with Dr Brenda Flanagan. In this informal seminar, Dr Flanagan will explore her process in writing her memoir and non-fiction work (Unspeakable Things Still Unspoken, and Mississippi God Damn), her fiction writing (Island Women and Other Crimes: Short Fiction) as well as her vast experience as a Cultural Ambassador for the United States Department of State since 2003.

In 2005, Dr Flanagan was the first American writer to be sent on a cultural mission to Libya in 25 years. Her visit opened doors to other American cultural missions.

She has served in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Kuwait, Tajikistan, Morocco, Tunisia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Chad, Panama, India, and the Czech Republic.

In addition to lectures on African American, Caribbean, and World Literatures, Dr Flanagan performs her work, and engages in dialogue with citizens, students, professors, creative artists, and journalists in these diverse countries on such subjects as U.S. public policies, diversity, politics and race, and the achievement of success in hostile environments.

This event is suitable for all writers but is especially relevant for the jobbing writer, or the experienced emerging writer. The informal and interactive nature of the seminar will provide ample opportunity for participants to engage in questions and answers with the author.

This event is free and tickets can be booked through Eventbrite.

Brenda Flanagan teaches creative writing, African-American and Caribbean literature, and cultures and civilizations at Davidson College. Born in poverty in the Caribbean, she came to the United States and struggled for acceptance as both a Black immigrant and a woman. These struggles and those of others inform her work on diversity, politics, and race. She authored Island Women and Other Crimes: Short Fiction, a book on women of many ethnicities, their struggles, and their resilience. Flanagan has served as a Cultural Ambassador for the United States Department of State.