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Due to unforseen circumstances, this keynote address has been cancelled.
As the second annual Lycoming College Undergraduate Research Conference approaches, the College today announced that PEN/Faulkner Award-winning poet and novelist Benjamin Alire Sáenz will deliver the keynote address on Saturday, April 6, at 5 p.m., in Trogner Presentation Room, Krapf Gateway Center. The event is free and open to the public.
More than 70 students have been selected to present their research at this year’s conference and compete for best paper awards in four categories. All students presenting research will be invited to submit their research for consideration of publication in Lycoming’s humanities research journal Mid-Atlantic Humanities Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Research.
Sáenz was the first Hispanic winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, which he received for his collection of short stories, “Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club”
Sáenz is an author of poetry and prose for adults and teens. He was the first Hispanic winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, which he received for his collection of short stories, “Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club,” and he is a recipient of the American Book Award for his collection of poetry, “Calendar of Dust.” He is the author of “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” which was a Printz Honor Book, the Stonewall Award winner, the Pura Belpré Award winner, the Lambda Literary Award winner, and a finalist for the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, and its sequel, “Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World.” His first novel for teens, “Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood,” was an ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His second book for teens, “He Forgot to Say Goodbye,” won the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, the Southwest Book Award, and was named a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities and philosophy from St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, and a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Texas at El Paso. Sáenz lives in El Paso, Texas.
The Lycoming College Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference is a gathering and celebration of the region’s bright minds who are dedicated to furthering the humanities through high-level research. The Humanities Research Center at Lycoming College bolsters educational opportunities for those majoring or minoring in the humanities by supporting joint student-faculty research, internships, guided scholarship, digital humanities, graduate school placement, and fellowships. Select proceedings of the conference are featured in the Mid-Atlantic Humanities Review. More information about the Conference can be found online.