Penn State Behrend's Sixth Annual Gender Conference features Push author Sapphire

Penn State Behrend's Sixth Annual Gender Conference will take place April 4 and 5, 2013, Reed Union Building. The theme of the event is "Voice and Visibility," and features a presentation by Sapphire, the author of the acclaimed 1996 novel "Push," (later adapted as the Academy Award winning 2009 film Precious). Her talk will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the McGarvey Commons of the college's Reed Union Building. Admission is free and open to the public.

About the Theme

Precious Jones, the teenage protagonist of "Push," is illiterate, impoverished, pregnant, and a victim of incest.—the kind of narrator who is rarely heard from in contemporary American fiction. But through her experiences at an alternative school, Precious learns to write and to reclaim her voice.

"You know, [for so long] there has just been this space filled by statistics and jokes, but never with a real human being," author Sapphire has said about her creation. "And in that way I feel I've done my work . . . every time I let Precious's voice come through, I just felt the rawness and the power coming from a worthy human being."

In celebration of Sapphire's April 4 speaking engagement at Penn State Behrend, the theme of this year's gender conference is "Voice and Visibility." Whose voices have been forgotten? Who are the faces over-saturating our popular culture? What subjects remain taboo, and what do they reveal about ourselves? How can the humanities and the arts illuminate new stories and provide new perspectives?

About the Conference

The conference strives to provide a thoughtful but low-key experience. Conference Schedule to be Announced

This Speaker Series event is made possible by Penn State Behrend's Student Activity Fee, the Division of Student Affairs, and the Harriet Behrend Ninow Memorial Lecture Series Fund. For additional information, contact the Office of Student Activities at 814-898-6171.