Meet VCU Authors
Members of faculty in the humanities at VCU have an impressive record of scholarly productivity and are recognized, both nationally and internationally, for their significant contributions to our understanding of the human condition across cultures, throughout the past, and in the present. Our Meet VCU Authors series invites members of the Richmond community as well as colleagues and students from VCU and other local universities to come and meet VCU's authors as they talk about their recently published books and answer questions about their work. All are welcome!
Deprived of Sense and Intellect: Insanity, Possession and Diagnosis in Medieval Europe
Date: Monday, Aug 24, 2026
Racial Reconciliation and the Third Reconstruction A New Racial Justice Model
Date: Monday, Sep 14, 2026
Fear of Queer Taiwan: Anti-LGBTQ Movements between Taiwan and the U.S. Religious Right
Date: Monday, Oct 5, 2026
Past Events
David Wojahn
Secret Addressee: Essays on How Poetry Matters
The speaker for this event was David Wojahn, Professor Emeritus of English at VCU.
Austin Garey
Humor in a Time of War: Student Comedy in Russia and Ukraine
The speaker for this event was Austin Garey, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Focused Inquiry at VCU.
Jessica Trisko Darden
The Accused: How Women Faced Justice for Nazi-Era Crimes [video]
The speaker for this event was Jessica Trisko Darden, Associate Professor of Political Science at VCU.
Brooke Newman
The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas [video]
The speaker for this event was Brooke Newman, Associate Professor of History at VCU.
Olivia Landry
Cinema of Crushing Motherhood: A New Feminist Cinema [video]
The speaker for this event was Olivia Landry, Chair of the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies at VCU.
David Coogan, Liz Canfield, Bex Ringle
The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration [video]
The speakers for this event were David Coogan, Associate Professor of English at VCU; Liz Canfield, Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at VCU; and Bex Ringle, Doctoral Student and Teaching Associate in English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Jennifer Rhee
Informatics of Domination [video]
The speakers for this event were Jennifer Rhee, Associate Professor of English at VCU, along with Zach Blas and Melody Jue, co-editors of Informatics of Domination.
Jörg Matthias Determann
One Planet, One Sky: Internationalism in Modern Astronomy [video]
The speaker for this event was Jörg Matthias Determann, Professor in the Department of Liberal Arts & Sciences at VCU in Qatar.
Grace Gipson
From The Wiz to Wakanda: Afrofuturism in Pop Culture [video]
The speaker for this event was Grace Gipson, Assistant Professor of African American Studies at VCU.
Andrew Crislip
What Does a Religion Feel Like? Emotion in Early Christianity [video]
The speaker for this event was Andrew Crislip, Chair of the Department of History at VCU.
Rebecca Gibson
The Bad Corset: A Feminist Reimagining [video]
The speaker for this event was Rebecca Gibson, Assistant Teaching Professor of Anthropology in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Samaneh Oladi Ghadikolaei
Women, Faith, and Family: Reclaiming Gender Justice through Religious Activism
The speaker for this event was Samaneh Oladi Ghadikolaei, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Hala Auji
The Arab Nahda as Popular Entertainment: Mass Culture and Modernity in the Middle East [video]
The speakers for this event were Hala Auji, Raphael Cormack, and Alaaeldin Mahmoud, co-editors of The Arab Nahda as Popular Entertainment: Mass Culture and Modernity in the Middle East.
Daniel Morales
Between Here and There: Creating the Political Economy of Mexican Migration [video]
The speaker for this event was Daniel Morales, Assistant Professor of History at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Christopher Brooks
Dual Pandemics: HIV and the Coronavirus in Several Kenyan Communities [video]
The speaker for this event was Christopher Brooks, Professor of Anthropology in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Rebecca Gibson
Cyborgs, Ethics, and the Matrix: Simulations of Sex and Gender [video]
The speaker for this event was Rebecca Gibson, Assistant Teaching Professor of Anthropology in the School of World Studies at VCU.
Christopher Brooks
Tales of Koehler Hollow: An African American Family in Rural Appalachia
The speaker for this event was Christopher Brooks, Professor of Anthropology in the School of World Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Josh Galarza
Writing Pathways Out of Patriarchy: The Creative Research Behind “The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky” [video]
The speaker for this event was Josh Galarza, who discussed the journey behind writing his young adult debut, The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky.
Caddie Alford
Entitled Opinions: Doxa After Digitality [video]
The speaker for this event was Caddie Alford, Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing in the Department of English at VCU, and affiliate faculty in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies.
William Newmann
Isolation and Engagement: Presidential Decision Making on Foreign Policy from Kennedy to Nixon [video]
The speaker for this event was William Newmann, Associate Professor of Political Science at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of Isolation and Engagement: Presidential Decision Making on China from Kennedy to Nixon.
Race in the Multiethnic Literature Classroom [video]
The speakers for this event were Luis A. Cortes, Jennifer Ho, Shermaine M. Jones and Kevin Pyon, moderatored by Cristina Stanciu and Gary Totten.
Jennifer Rhee
Critical AI: A Field in Formation [video]
The speakers for this event were Jennifer Rhee, Associate Professor of English at VCU; Rita Raley, Professor of English at UC Santa Barbara, and J.D. Schnepf, faculty member at University of Groningen.
SJ Sindu
Graphic Narratives and Visual Storytelling: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Shakti [video]
The speaker for this event was SJ Sindu, Assistant Professor of English at VCU and author of Shakti.
David Shields
Exploring the Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection with David Shields [video]
The speaker for this event was David Shields, Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Matteo Pangallo and Emily Todd
Teaching the History of the Book [video]
The moderators for this panel were Matteo Pangallo and Emily Todd, co-editors of Teaching the History of the Book.
Richard Fine
The Price of Truth: The Journalist Who Defied Military Censors to Report the Fall of Nazi Germany [video]
The speaker for this event is Richard Fine, Professor Emeritus in the English department at VCU, and author of The Price of Truth: The Journalist Who Defied Military Censors to Report the Fall of Nazi Germany.
Cristina Stanciu
The Makings and Unmakings of Americans: Indians and Immigrants in American Culture [video]
The speaker for this event was Cristina Stanciu, Associate Professor of English at VCU and author of The Makings and Unmakings of Americans: Indians and Immigrants in American Literature and Culture, 1879-1924.
Christopher Irving
Cliffhanger!: The First Movie Superheroes [video]
Christopher Irving, Assistant Professor, Communication Arts, presented the history of the first superhero movies, the 1940s cliffhanger serials.
Olivia Landry
A Decolonizing Ear: Documentary Film Disrupts the Archive [video]
The speaker for this event was Olivia Landry, Associate Professor in the School of World Studies at VCU and author of A Decolonizing Ear: Documentary Film Disrupts the Archive.
Mary Caton Lingold
African Musicians in the Atlantic World: Legacies of Sound and Slavery [video]
The speaker for this event was Mary Caton Lingold, Associate Professor of English and director of the PhD Program in Media, Art, and Text (MATX) at VCU, and author of African Musicians in the Atlantic World: Legacies of Sound and Slavery.
Jessica Hendry Nelson
Interconnections: The Research and Writing Process for ‘Joy Rides Through the Tunnel of Grief’ [video]
The speaker for this event was Jessica Hendry Nelson, Assistant Professor in the MFA program and English Department at Virginia Commonwealth University, and author of Joy Rides through the Tunnel of Grief.
E. Gaynell Sherrod
Reading the Invisible Script: How Black Dance Pioneers of the 1930s-40s Danced Between the Lines
The speaker for this event was E. Gaynell Sherrod, dance educator, choreographer, historian, and professor in the Department of Dance + Choreography at Virginia Commonwealth University.