ESU Professor to Participate in Drexel Writing Festival

Artress Bethany White, Ph.D., associate professor of English at East Stroudsburg University, will participate as a visiting author at the Drexel Writing Festival scheduled for May 17-21. According to the website this year’s festival theme is “Deception,” and topics for the festival range from magic to food and from criminals to self-identity.

A poet, essayist and literary critic, Dr. White will read from her book, Survivor’s Guilt: Essays on Race and American Identity, which looks at what it means to be Black in America.

“Over the past decade, I have faced the challenge of raising a transracial family in the South, reckoned with being descended from one of the largest slaveholding families in America, and faced the history of a nineteenth-century ancestor being lynched by the KKK,” said White. “As I worked to assess these realities, I marveled at how my experiences were echoed in the trauma of a nation under siege from domestic terrorism, gun violence and racism. In the spirit of healing, I share Survivor’s Guilt: Essays on Race and American Identity with a public searching for answers to America’s complex racial dilemma.

“[I hope for students to take away] that social justice literacy and allyship are essential skills and necessary considerations as they continue their education and progress in their professional lives.”

White’s reading and discussion will be Wednesday, May 19 at 2 p.m. This reading, as well as all the events of the festival, are free and open to the public. More information about the Drexel Writing Festival and access to Dr. White’s reading can be found on Drexel University’s website.

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