Alicia Ostriker visits USC as WGST Visiting Scholar
By Ed Madden
Poet, feminist literary critic, and Jewish studies scholar Alicia Suskin Ostriker spent a week at USC earlier this year as a Visiting Scholar and guest of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. Her visit was sponsored in large part by a grant from the Institute for Visiting Scholars in the Office of the Provost and by WGST, with additional support from the Jewish Studies Program, the Departments of Religious Studies and English, and the Jewish Community Center.
The highlights of her visit were a poetry reading on campus and a presentation titled “Entering the Tents: Revisionary Midrash and Our Lives,” at the Jewish Community Center on Flora Drive. The poetry reading focused on her most recent book, The Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog (Pittsburg 2014).
Over the course of the week, Ostriker was able to work with scholars, writers, and local artists in a series of workshops and meetings both formal and informal. She began the week with a special master class in poetry for MFA students, and closed it with a fascinating workshop on “stealth feminism,” which offered a valuable and intimate discussion of feminist and creative work. She also visited classes in English and in Religious Studies and directed a workshop for both university and community participants on “Midrash as Method.” Along with the community outreach provided by the Jewish Community Center reading, WGST hosted a luncheon with community artists—writers, performance artists, visual artists, musicians—a lively and rich discussion on art, feminism, and community.
The PDF below gives a full account of Alicia Ostrikers accomplishments and contributions during her time on the USC campus.
