Ofstad Series to Feature Visiting Writer

The Ofstad Reading Series will host scholar Anand Prahlad at 12 p.m. Jan. 26 in Student Union Building 3000.

Prahlad is a curators distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of English at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He is a scholar, poet, essayist and musician. His critical books include “Reggae Wisdom: Proverbs in Reggae Music” and the edited three-volume set, “The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore.” His creative works include three collections of poems, “Hear My Story,” “As Good As Mango” and “Dreaming of Endangered Species,” as well as the award-winning memoir, “The Secret Life of a Black Aspie” and a music CD, “Hover Near.” Prahlad is currently working on a second CD, a fourth collection of poems, a community memoir about the plantation where he grew up and a scholarly book on disability and the imagination.

This presentation will include readings from Prahlad's most recent collection of poems, “Dreaming of Endangered Species,” which explores intersectional identities of disability and illness, queerness and blackness in an age of political collapse and environmental crises.