Cavanaugh Lecture to Consider Social Norms and Interactions

Author Renia White will deliver the Fall 2022 Cavanaugh Lecture at St. John Fisher University at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19, in the Golisano Gateway Midlevel. The lecture is sponsored by the Cavanaugh Fund and English Department.

White’s talk will focus on her new book of poetry, Casual Conversation. A Blessing the Boats Selection, the poetry collection in designed to foster conversation. From her point of view in Black womanhood, she navigates through everyday interactions in this work. During the lecture, White will discuss questions about the authority of rules as well as the concepts that society has accepted without hesitation. Casual Conversation encourages readers to imagine a new way of knowing, and to think through how individuals structure and program themselves.

Originally from Maryland, White earned her bachelor’s degree from Howard University and MFA from Cornell University, where she also taught. She has received the Hurston/Wright Foundation College Writers Award in poetry and her work appears in several publications including The Offing, Slice, Witness, and Southern Indiana Review. White now lives and works in New York City.

Grace Valenti ’24 is an English major at St. John Fisher University. Completing a Certificate in Public and Professional Writing, Valenti also serves as the PR Writing intern in the Office of Marketing and Communications.