The Common Room at Yale Yale Department of English | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Sarah Pearl Heard ‘18 drops by the Common Room to talk about how she transitioned from North Carolina to Yale without losing her roots, what drew her to the creative writing concentration, and how her writing life continues to evolve now that she‘s an educator herself.

Associate Professor Marta Figlerowicz talks about how meme culture is like Roman pantomime and what it means to be gender queer in Poland.

Rob Long ‘87 is a writer, television producer, and political commentator who has written for Cheers and Kevin Can Wait. He discusses how he broke into Hollywood, and how he writes as himself no matter the medium.

Professor John Durham Peters explains why the weather is wonderful, and reflects on religious faith and the power of reading.

Assistant Professor Alanna Hickey describes how 19th-century books with humanitarian aims can hide serious abuses of power, and asks what happens when institutions acknowledge that crucial knowledge production happens outside their walls?

Writer, poet, and editor Meghan O’Rourke talks about the joys of editing and what she hopes to accomplish as the incoming editor of the Yale Review.