Department of English

• Thursday, October 9, 2025 - 5:00pm to Friday, October 10, 2025 - 9:00pm

Fisher-Bennett Hall (multiple locations) and PENN Bookstore 

Please join us to celebrate the Soft Launch of the Toni Morrison Lab with special performances by renowned pianist and composer, Vijay Iyer, and poet and sound artist, LaTasha Diggs; a private screening of Louis Massiah's new film on Toni Cade Bambara featuring Toni Morrison; a book talk with Dana Williams about her new book on Morrison's pioneering and little-known editorial career; and remarks from administrators and esteemed scholars like Hortense Spillers, Donald Pease, among others.   

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Program Schedule

 

Thursday, October 9, 2025

 

5:00pm-6:00pm: Reception

Fisher-Bennett Hall (FBH) 224

3340 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

 

 

6:00-8:00pm

Private Screening

TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing (2025)

Fisher-Bennett Hall (FBH) 222

3340 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

 

Post-screening conversation with director and award-winning filmmaker, Louis Massiah and Dagmawi Woubshet, University of Pennsylvania.

 

Friday, October 10, 2025

 

4:00pm-5:30pm: Book Talk, PENN Bookstore

3601 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

 

Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship (2025). Author Dr. Dana Williams, Howard University, will be in conversation with Margo Crawford, University of Pennsylvania.

 

6:00pm-7:00pm: Reception

Fisher-Bennett Hall, Faculty Lounge, 135

3340 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

 

 

7:00pm-8:00pm: Soft Launch of The Toni Morrison Lab

Fisher-Bennett Hall, Faculty 419

3340 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

 

Remarks by

 

Herman Beavers, Founding Director, The Toni Morrison Lab, (University of Pennsylvania)

Josephine Park, Associate Dean for Arts and Letters, (University of Pennsylvania)

Donald Pease (Dartmouth College)

Hortense Spillers (Vanderbilt University)

 

Performances by

 

Poet and sound artist, LaTasha Diggs

Jazz musician and composer, Vijay Iyer

 

8:00pm-9:00pm: Closing Reception

Fisher-Bennett Hall, Faculty Lounge, 135

3340 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 

 

For more information, please contact Dr. Rich Blint at rab1@sas.upenn.edu