Caoilinn Hughes, Novelist & NY Public Library Cullman Fellow, Leah Flack, Marquette University, Kate McCabe, Bog and Thunder, Rebecca Johns Trissler, DePaul University

In celebration of the publication of Irish writer Caoilinn Hughes’s new novel, The Alternatives this roundtable invites a panel of women to discuss sisterhood, precarity, gatekeeping, and the unique joys and challenges women face in academic and creative pursuits. Inspired by the tale of Hughes’s fictional Flattery sisters, all of whom have PhDs, the panel will feature women from a variety of creative and academic backgrounds: creative writing, food sustainability, and literary scholarship. Grounded in the Irish landscape and looking out to the wider global terrain this discussion will tackle some of the questions raised in The Alternatives including the debates surrounding ecological crisis, sustainability, and humanity’s shared responsibilities to the planet. Audience participation is encouraged but not required!