Creative Writing Program to host talk on TRANS*forming literature

On Thursday, April 26, the Spring 2018 Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series will present its final event, “TRANS*forming Literature.”

The event will feature a reading and conversation with guests Ryka Aoki, Helen Boyd and Ely Shipley at 4:30 p.m. in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall.

Aoki is a poet, novelist, composer, and professor of English at Santa Monica College who has been honored by the California State Senate for her “extraordinary commitment to the visibility and well-being of Transgender people.”

Boyd is an author who has written about contemporary crossdressing culture, relational gender and her own marriage to a trans woman. In addition to publishing “My Husband Betty” and “She’s Not the Man I Married,” Boyd also runs her blog “en(gender)” on www.myhusbandbetty.com.

Shipley is the author of “Some Animal” and “Boy with Flowers,” which explore gender and the transgendered self. He is also assistant professor of English at Western Washington University.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a book signing and catered reception in the English Lounge, 258 Goldwin Smith Hall.

The Zalaznick Reading Series, funded by an endowment from alumni Barbara and David Zalaznick, allows the Creative Writing Program to invite writers to campus each semester and host readings, talks, book signings, and receptions.