03/14/2026
Our sincere thanks to Prof. Trish Salah (), author & prof at , for coming all the way from Kingston, ON to speak to us about "Trans Poetics: Figuration, Embodiment and Dissent" as part of the conference kickoff.
Lecture Description: Contemporary trans poetry and poetics emerged against a backdrop of struggles over the relationship between trans figuration (in the sense of representation) and trans people’s lives, and amidst ongoing debates on the interrelations between experiential/identity-political, embodied and experimental writing. As such, trans poetries and poetics have frequently contended with discourses relating writing to the body, though what is meant by both “writing,” and “the body” has varied considerably in relation to differing theories of language, gender, embodiment and the social. This talk will give an overview of early debates around trans’ figuration and of subsequent trans poetic dis/articulations of bodies, identities, and figures, as well as offer some thoughts on how figurae’s enigmatic and opaque dimensions are at play and at stake in trans poetics and living.
For more information about the English Department's Guest Lecture Series, visit the department webpage or contact Dr. Emelia Quinn.
