Humanities

Meghan Daum writes about serious matters, but that doesn’t mean her novels, essays and columns are depressing. Rather, they show the heartbreak and the humor of real life in all its complicated glory. For example, in her newest collection, “The Unspeakable,” she writes about her feelings of kinship with lesbians, how it feels to live through a life-threatening illness, and the love of a good dog. She uses moments from her life to explore broader issues of the day in a new or different way, but always with respect for the truth.

The Bosnian genocide, carried out between 1992 and 1995, displaced nearly a quarter of Bosnia’s pre-war population, with refugees scattered throughout the world. This year's annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture will feature anthropologist Sarah Wagner discussing “Srebrenica’s Legacies of Loss and Remembrance,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Umrath Hall Lounge.

On September 12 Steven Galloway gave a talk on his book, The Cellist of Sarajevo, this year’s First Year Reading Program selection. The Canadian author’s third novel is based on a real event that occurred in the beseiged eastern European city in the early 1990s as its citizens attempt to live their lives — and hold on to their humanity — under the daily threat of death.

One of the many research interests of Sue Vice, who teaches contemporary literature, literary theory, culture, and film at the University of Sheffield, is the representation of the Holocaust. As this year’s Holocaust Memorial Lecturer, Vice will draw on her extensive knowledge of the varied forms of Holocaust literature and film that have entered the public realm, and discuss what the most recent examples suggest about Holocaust memory today.

The keynote event for the Brown School’s Smart Decarceration Initiative will feature two individuals who are making a positive impact on prison reform.