Grief Archives - Public Seminar

Interviews

Writing Rooted in Community

June 11, 2026 • by Colette Estelle and Giada Scodellaro

Writing rarely ever comes from true solitude. That is the sentiment of author Giada Scodellaro, whose debut novel, Ruins, Child (New Directions, 2026) is a hybrid text on proximity, grief, growth, and kinship told through the interweaving stories of a community living in a dilapidated apartment complex. In a recent ...

Literature

Some Random Person in Grand Rapids

In Natasha Stagg’s new novel, a woman reflects on the struggle of telling the truth about one particular teenage summer

May 13, 2026 • by Katie Pruden

The author Natasha Stagg has been described by Bookforum as a “cool person in downtown New York who writes about the same.” Her first novel, Surveys (2016), and her two essay collections, Sleeveless (2019) and Artless (2023), deal with a perception-obsessed internet culture. But her latest novel, Grand Rapids (Semiotexte, ...

Middle East & North Africa

Israel Has Weaponized Trauma. Should We Talk About It?

Mourning and motherland

June 20, 2024 • by Jordan Osserman

Within left-leaning circles, any attempt articulate an emotional tie to Israel is fraught—understandably, given the scandalous forms of censorship and repression facing Palestinian perspectives in the mainstream....

Israel Has Weaponized Trauma. Should We Talk About It?

Multi-Verse

Niina Pollari on Truth’s Heart of Stone

In Multi-Verse Episode 10, the past is “always invisibly moving”

September 14, 2023 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 10 of Multi-Verse, poet Niina Pollari reads and discusses “How to Read This Poem.” In a conversation with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham, Pollari talks about what it means to be honest in a poem about grief....

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 6: CM Burroughs on Not Being Gentle

In three “Dear Liver” poems, a grieving sister demands response

October 31, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 6 of Multi-Verse, poet CM Burroughs reads her trio of “Dear Liver” poems and discusses themes of grief, agency, and healing with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham....

Multi-Verse

Multi-Verse Episode 5: Amanda Gunn’s Forensic Imagination

Poetic rememberance

October 5, 2022 • by Evangeline Riddiford Graham

In Episode 5 of Multi-Verse, poet Amanda Gunn reads her poem “What You Meant” and discusses its themes of love, grief, and memory with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Learn more about Amanda Gunn and her forthcoming debut collection, Things I Didn't Do with This Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2023). Multi-Verse is a ...

Uncategorized

Grief Creates an Opportunity for Love

When we mourn, we can emulate the acts of grace that have enriched our lives

July 6, 2022 • by Harold Pollack

Love and grief are not zero-sum games, but they sometimes feel that way in complicated, blended, or fractured families....

Feature

The Destruction of Empathy, Part Two

On the political situation in Spain

August 23, 2018 • by Amador Fernández-Savater

Below is Part Two of an article originally published on the Spanish blog El Diario. It was translated to English for Public Seminar by Liz Mason-Deese. The Mandate of Masculinity According to Rita Segato, the first expression of the pedagogy of cruelty is sexist violence. Predatory capitalism establishes a battlefield on the ...