The 5th Annual LiT (Literature in Time) Conference was held on Sunday, April 12, in Harris House. This year’s conference featured twelve Seniors and Upper Mids, as well as keynote speaker Namwali Serpell, who discussed her new book, On Morrison, an exploration of the life and work of writer Toni Morrison.
Professor Serpell is a Zambian- American writer who earned a PhD in British and American literature from Harvard University. She has published a number of short stories, including “The Sack,” which won the 2015 Caine Prize for African fiction in English, and the novel The Old Drift, which won the Belles-lettres category Grand Prix of Literary Associations in 2020.
The LiT conference allowed students to share their essays publicly and sharpen their arguments by engaging with peers outside the classroom. Presenters first read their work aloud and then engaged in a Q&A session with two student moderators from Honors Senior English, followed by an impromptu Q&A with audience members. Eli Albert ’26, a panelist sharing on James Joyce, said, “My writing always tended to be on the wordier side. It was good to get a critical eye on any essay. The conference is a way to explore English beyond your class, and if you are proud of your writing, you can take it further.” A special dinner for participants and organizers was held after the event.
Dr. Katie Fleishman, head of the English department, started the conference five years ago. She said, “I wanted my students in Honors English to experience what it’s like in the academic world, where thinkers get together for conferences. You listen to work from other people in your field and then hear them interact with each other’s ideas in real time during the question and answer session.”
Presenters at the conference were selected by a committee led by Dr. Fleishman. Alessandro Araujo ’26, a member of the selection committee, said, “We received a large amount of anonymous submissions. We whittled the number down to about 9-10 and added two to three of our own class’s submissions. The committee aimed to include a reasonable level of diversity in the topics of the submissions, to create an engaging conference.”
Dr. Fleishman said, “The conference removes written work from the bounds of the classroom and the teacher-student relationship, where it might feel like an essay mainly has worth in terms of the grade it’s receiving. Students have a life outside of the grades you’re receiving, and they’re worth sharing with others who might be interested in talking to you about them.”
