4:00 p.m.
The Oregon Humanities Center presents its 2026-27 endowed lectureship series centered on the theme of Reading.
We are used to thinking about reading in relation to writing, musical scores, performances, and works of cinema and art. But as social animals, we read more broadly. We read the signs. We read the landscape. We read each others’ faces and body language. We “read the room.”
Our speakers will consider how people observe, look for patterns, try to discern meaning. How does reading shape humanity, individually and collectively? What might taking an extended, intentional look at this activity—our constant reading—reveal? Using approaches honed by their disciplines, our invited speakerswill help us think about reading from a variety of directions.
Saeed Jones is the author of the memoir How We Fight for Our Lives (Simon and Schuster), winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and the poetry collection Prelude to Bruise (Coffee House Books), winner for the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry. His poetry and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, Oxford American and GQ among other publications. His most recent book Alive at the End of the World (Coffee House Press) won the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Poetry.
Saeed Jones was the 2024-2025 artist-in-residence in the Media, Health and Medicine program at Harvard Medical School. His next book Home Out There, a memoir, is forthcoming from Washington Square Press. He cohosts the podcast Vibe Check with Sam Sanders and Zach Stafford.