The Syracuse University Humanities Center will host its second annual Books in the Humanities Reception on Tuesday, April 18, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Goldstein Alumni and Faculty Center.

Free and open to the public, the event will feature books broadly conceived in the humanities and published in 2016 by 37 scholars in 25 academic departments and programs at Syracuse. Many authors will be on hand to sign copies of their work.

The SU Bookstore will offer a 10-percent discount on any purchase or order at the event, except where prohibited.

For more information, contact the Humanities Center at 315.443.7192 or visit humcenter.syr.edu. Click here to learn more about this year’s submissions.

“The humanities have a large footprint at Syracuse,” says Vivian May, director of the Humanities Center and professor of women’s and gender studies. “Such scholarship can be specialized and interdisciplinary. As a whole, the humanities engage broad and diverse audiences.”

To illustrate, she says this year’s topics range from Medieval monastic rules to Jewish fiction to authoritarianism to ideas about Shakespeare and feminism.

Authors also explore numerous social justice issues, including debates about food sovereignty, environmental justice, disability rights, the school-to-prison pipeline and queer/gender performance. Genres include traditional scholarly texts, as well as novels, poetry, art volumes and ethnographies.

“Books are an important way for us to understand the value and reach of the humanities. In doing so, we better understand some of the world's complexities,” May says. “Whether a text offers a historical analysis, a theological vision, a philosophical account, a biography, an artistic point of view, an analysis of inequality, a musical study, a spatial experiment or a fictional or poetic account, these scholars invite us into their worldview.”

May praises this year’s authors for sharing their insights, labors and passions with readers. She says that by offering a space for the imagination to stretch and for dialogues to form, the authors help bring people together through the act of reading. “Their books foster learning and understanding across differences. They forge community,” she adds.

The reception is organized by the Humanities Center, and is co-sponsored by the SU Bookstore, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Syracuse University Libraries and the University’s Office of Research.

Located in the Tolley Humanities Building, the Humanities Center cultivates diverse forms of humanities scholarship, sponsors a range of dynamic programming and partnerships, highlights the humanities as a public good and underscores the relevance of the humanities for addressing enduring questions and pressing social issues.