What role did reform literature—in its many forms and genres—play in shaping modern US society? How did Progressive Era writing speak to and mobilize the socially disadvantaged, especially working- and middle-class women? And how did authors of the era both partake in direct reform work and critique reform aesthetics? On Friday, October 25 at 1:00 PM EDT, join Laura R. Fisher and Arielle Zibrak, in conversation with María Carla Sánchez, as they address these questions and discuss how their new books engage with the complex relationship between literature’s social aims and its aesthetic value.

Laura R. Fisher, Associate Professor of English at the Toronto Metropolitan University, will be discussing Reading for Reform: The Social Work of Literature in the Progressive Era (2019).

Arielle Zibrak, Professor of English at the University of Wyoming, will be discussing Writing Against Reform: Aesthetic Realism in the Progressive Era (2024).

María Carla Sánchez, SSAWW President and Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro, will moderate the discussion.

This event, which is hosted by the Society for the Study of American Women Writers (SSAWW), is part of the series SSAWW Reads: Chats with Authors about Their New Books.

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