McCallum’s first presentation as Penn State Laureate will be to students attending the College of the Liberal Arts’ First-Year Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 2. McCallum will use the interactive presentation to stress the importance for students to find their voice and to demonstrate ways that writing can help them do that.
McCallum will conduct readings of her own works – including “No Ruined Stone,” which was released in the U.S. by Alice James Books earlier this month – at 15 Penn State campuses, as well as Dickinson College and Gettysburg College, between Oct. 6 and Nov. 10. She is also slated appear via Zoom at noon on Nov. 16 as part of the Penn State Alumni Association’s Virtual Speaker Series.
McCallum is also scheduled to participate in La Biennale in Venice, Italy, and the Poetry Festival in Florence, Italy, in late September; the Pleaides Visiting Writers Series (virtually) on Oct. 28; and Miami Book Fair International on Nov. 20.
An annual faculty honor established in 2008, the Penn State Laureate is a full-time faculty member in the arts or humanities who is assigned half time for one academic year to bring greater visibility to the arts, humanities and the University, as well as to their own work. In this role, the laureate is a highly visible representative of the University, appearing at events and speaking engagements throughout the commonwealth.
McCallum has authored six books and has had poems and essays published in journals, anthologies and textbooks throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Israel. She has received numerous accolades and awards, including most recently the prestigious silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica.
Additional information, as well as McCallum’s complete fall schedule, can be found on the Penn State Laureate webpage.