Nicholson Baker, Writer
Novelist and nonfiction writer Nicholson Baker is the author of The Mezzanine; Room Temperature; Vox; The Fermata; and The Everlasting Story of Nory, among others. Often addressing provocative topics such as voyeurism and planned assassination, Baker’s work is known for its focus on minute details and careful characterizations through the exploration of his characters' and narrators' stream of consciousness.
Panel Discussants: Sebastião Salgado, T.J. Clark (Art History), Orville Schell (Dean, Graduate School of Journalism), Nancy Sheperd-Hughes (Anthropology), Candace Slater (Spanish and Portuguese) and Michael Watts (Geography)
A member of Magnum Photos from 1979-1994, Sebastião Salgado is twice the recipient of the Infinity Award for Photojournalism from the International Center of Photography.
Panel Discussants: N. Katherine Hayles, Shawn Brixey (Art Practice), Anne-Lise Francois (English and Comparative Literature) and Kenneth Goldberg (Industrial Engineering and Operations Research)
N. Katherine Hayles, Literature, Duke University
Postmodern literary critic N. Katherine Hayles is known for her work concerning the relationship between literature, science and technology. Hayles holds advanced degrees in both Chemistry and English, and her early work orchestrates the play of resonances between contemporary scientific paradigms and literature.
Public Reading
Panel Discussants: Eva Hoffman, Paula Fass (History), Saidiya Hartman (English), and Michael Roth (California College of Arts and Crafts)
Eva Hoffman, Writer & Academic
Eva Hoffman is the author of several books, including the widely regarded Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language and Shtetl: The Life and Death of a Small Town and the World of Polish Jews.
Panel Discussants: Bruno Latour, Cathryn Carson (History), Gene Rochlin (Energy and Resources Group) and Paul Rabinow (Anthropology)