Reading Groups

Reading Hispaniola: Edwidge Danticat and Julia Alvarez with Dr. Norrell Edwards

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4 sessions Wednesdays, 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT October 8, 2025 to January 7, 2026

Online via Zoom

The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at an additional 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
10/8, 11/5, 12/3, 1/7
Online via Zoom

Although Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island of Hispaniola, the trajectories of the two nations stand in stark contrast. While political instability and climate crises dominate Western discourse and media on Haiti, the Dominican Republic is largely viewed as a stable, tropical getaway. Through reading two of the most well-known and celebrated authors of the Haitian and Dominican diaspora, this reading group will offer a framework for understanding Hispaniola’s past, present, and future. Edwidge Danticat and Julia Alvarez’s texts offer important histories of the Trujillo and Duvalier dictatorships as well as insight into racial tensions that have plagued the countries since their birth.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat

What to expect from this reading group: My teaching style is very interactive; I like to encourage conversational discussion. I also provide foundational questions, themes, and historical context to ground each meeting.

Reading List:

The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat
In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat

Norrell Edwards, Ph.D., is a scholar, educator, and communications consultant for nonprofit organizations. Dr. Edwards is currently 75th Anniversary Endowed Professor of the Humanities, Assistant Professor of English at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, and Project Director of the National Endowment of the Humanities funded Grant “Publishing Today: Uplifting Contemporary Stories and Literature of Marginalized Communities.” She has worked for or with numerous colleges, universities and nonprofits including Georgetown University, the City University of New York, Texas Christian University, Columbia University, and John Hopkins University as well as the Drug Policy Alliance, DC Public Libraries, and Wes Moore’s Campaign for Governor of Maryland. Dr. Edwards is a scholar of contemporary Black diasporic literature and her work has intersected with issue areas like criminal justice reform, advocacy and policy, Black history and culture and social justice. With extensive scholarship on the Haitian diaspora, Dr. Edwards has published in several academic journals and edited collections as well as essays in LA Review of Books, Electric Literature, The Grio and Yes! She is currently a board member for the Feminist Press and Lampblack Literary.

Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

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