Carribbean Novelist George Lamming

As one of an array of events at CCNY celebrating National Library Week, April 12-16, 1999, Professor George Lamming read from his fiction in the Cohen Library Archives on the evening of April 13. The reading was followed by a discussion, book signing, and reception. The event was co-sponsored by the Friends of the City College Library, the Simon H. Rifkind Center for the Humanities at CCNY, and the Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC). Professor Lamming, one of the most important Caribbean novelists of our time, was 1998-1999 Visiting Professor of Creative Writing in the CCNY English Department and Fulbright Scholar in Residence at IRADAC.

Professor Lamming demonstrated a wide range of both subject matter and style in his choice of readings. He first read a lyrical and dramatic excerpt from his novel Natives of My Person, which related the feelings and conflicts of a sixteenth century European slave trader and his wife. The writing was passionate, mysterious, and beautiful, and the writer’s delivery was spellbinding. He followed this with an extremely funny excerpt from his novel In the Castle of My Skin, in which the narrator, in dialect, describes the painful dilemma of a young man who has made vows of marriage to two different women.

The excellence of the writing in both novels, enhanced by the author’s wonderful delivery, made for a highly entertaining event.
 

Neil Jacobowitz
njocc@cunyvm.cuny.edu

Princeton's Professor Peter Lake

On April 22, Professor Peter Lake from Princeton addressed his audience in the City College Library Archives on "The Campaign Against the Stage and the Development of the Public Sphere" in Elizabethan London.  Professor Lake, author and editor of several books on church history and intellectual life in 16th and 17th century Great Britain, was introduced by Professor Kate Levin of CCNY's English Department.

His talk elicited a number of questions from listeners, some of whom were faculty delighted to have the opportunity to engage their erudite colleague. Afterwards, Professor Lake joined the group at a reception in the Archives. This program was sponsored by The Friends of the City College Library and by the Simon H. Rifkind Center for the Humanities at CCNY.

Nobel Prize-Winning Appearance

Poet and playwright Derek Walcott entertained a large audience in the City College Library Archives on April 29.  A poet since his youth, he has produced 18 volumes - among them, In a Green Night, The Star-Apple Kingdom, The Arkansas Testament, and Omeros. This body of work together with his dramatic works which include such well-known plays as Dream on Monkey Mountain, the 1970-71 Obie winner for best foreign play off-Broadway, earned him recognition as a Nobel Laureate in 1992. In naming Mr. Walcott, the academy praised him "for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by an historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment."

That April evening, Professor Walcott—currently teaching creative writing at Boston University—read from a number of his writings which amply demonstrated the reasons for his Nobel selection. This St. Lucia native's work blends many traditions and cultures and the selections he read, delivered so beautifully in their creator's voice, were warmly received.

The writer acknowledged his strong admiration for the late William Matthews, poet and CCNY English professor. The evening was the second in the annual William Matthews Memorial Lectures which are co-sponsored by The Friends of the City College Library and The Rifkind Center for the Humanities at CCNY.

Michael Cummings, Quilt Artist

In a change of pace from our usual distinguished authors' offerings, the library's Archives was the setting in April for distinguised quilt artist Michael Cummings.His colorful, glowing quilts dominated the room and aroused "oohs" and "ahs" among those present.

He spoke about the themes of his quilts, his largely self-taught quilt-making skills, and his beliefthat the quilt format lends itself to storytelling.  Acknowledging that quilt-making has been primarily viewed as a woman's domain, he noted that men are beginning to change that focus.

Mr. Cummings'  interest began as a young painter, when he saw a quilt show in 1970 at the Whitney Museum, the first time a national museum had exhibited quilts as art. The artist became intrigued with combining fabric and paint and then began to add narrative themes to this new medium.  Well known for his "Jazz" quilts from the early 1990s, he now wants to translate current events into quilts and plans to do civil rights narratives also. He has been featured in various exhibits and in books on the art of the quilt. Last year he had a solo exhibit at Bates College in Maine where 18 of his quilts were displayed.

The Hamilton Heights Homeowners Association—Mr. Cummings is a long-time resident of the area—co-sponsored this event along with The Friends of the City College Library and The Simon H. Rikfind Center for the Humanities at CCNY.
 
 

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