April 2022 News
Introducing Artists in My Life
by Margaret Randall
Cover image: Meg Randall by Elaine de Kooning, ink and gouache on paper, 1960.

Margaret Randall's personal stories and profound insights about the artists who most influenced her life

In a dozen color-illustrated chapters, Artists in My Life offers a collection of intimate stories and insights about artists, many of whom Margaret Randall knew personally, who impacted her spiritually, artistically, and socially. Presenting well-known artists, such as Elaine de Kooning and Frida Kahlo, and several lesser-known, Randall’s anecdotes and revelations also help knit together a portrait of the author herself.
With forewords by Mary Gabriel and Ed McCaughan, the book is a powerful account of the impact of artists on individuals and communities.

Hardcover, 240 pages, 71 color illustrations
“Margaret Randall’s Artists in My Life clearly shows how a writer can gain sustenance and guidance from the work and the lives of a range of visual artists, photographers, and architects. Randall also gives us a glimpse into the journeys of her own life—the importance of art, community, place, and politics—providing sustenance and guidance to all of us.”
~ Kenny Fries, author of In the Province of the Gods
About the Author

Margaret Randall is a feminist poet, essayist, translator, photographer, and social activist. A New York native, she lived among the city’s abstract expressionists in the 1950s, Mexico in the ‘60s, Cuba in the ‘70s, and Nicaragua in the ‘80s. She returned to the US in 1984 only to fight deportation due to the controversial content of her books. She is the founder and former editor of the bilingual literary journal El Corno Emplumado / The Plumed Horn, which started an iconic bridge between cultures in the 1960s. She has more than 150 published books in several genres.
Upcoming Events
April 1–30

Throughout April 2022, the USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice and the Peace and Justice Studies Program, in partnership with a number of USF academic departments and centers, is presenting the exhibition and a series of special events highlighting the massive, historic interfaith movement to end the American War in Vietnam.

For more information click HERE.
In-person Truth Tellers film screenings with guest Robert Shetterly

Thursday, April 7 at 5:00 PM EDT

Robert Shetterly's portraits of Americans Who Tell the Truth are the subject of the Kane Lewis documentary Truth Tellers.
Location: Syracuse University

For more information click HERE.
PennFuture Presents Transformative Art Projects in Pennsylvania
Thursday, April 7 at 5-6:00 PM EDT

Hear Pennsylvania ecoartists from Ecoart in Action: Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations for Classrooms and Communities — Amara Geffen, Stacy Levy, Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry of the Land Art Generator Initiative, and Ann Rosenthal.

The Story in History—
Teaching the Triangle Fire
Wednesday, April 13 at 12:15 PM EDT

Author Edvige Giunta will discuss approaches to teaching the Triangle fire.
The College of New Jersey
Education Bldg 115 and online Zoom
Talking to the Girls webinar
at Fordham University
Friday, April 22 at 1:15 PM EDT

Fordham University to host Edvige Giunta, Annie Lanzillotto, and Annie Schneidermann Valliere
Ecoart in Action with M. Annenberg and Dr. Aviva Rahmani
Saturday, April 23 at 6:00 PM EDT

Ecoart in Action event with M. Annenberg and Aviva Rahmani at Word-Up Books
2113 Amsterdam Ave, New York

Learn more HERE.
Celebrating the Local: 25 Years of Placemaking in Northwest Pennsylvania
Sunday, April 24 at 8–9:30 PM EDT; 5–6:30 PM PDT

Amara Geffen, one of the co-editors for Ecoart in Action: Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations for Classrooms and Communities, will present as part of WEAD’s Art + Activism online lecture series.

Learn more and register HERE.
Harvard Divinity School’s inaugural conference on Ecological Spiritualities
April 27–30

Carl Anthony, author of The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race, will present "The Universe Story: Climate Justice and the Next Generation" with Paloma Pavel, Mary Evelyn Tucker, and Brandon P. Holmes
Location: In person and virtual

Learn more and register HERE.
Images of Justice and Power Event at the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival
Sunday, May 22 at 11:30 AM EST
In-person panel with author Robert Shetterly, Malaika Adero, and St. Clair Detrick-Jules, moderated by Rodney Dawson. Learn more HERE.

Sunday, May 22 at 12:30 PM EST
Film screening of TRUTH TELLERS
Learn more HERE.

Location: International Civil Rights Center and Museum 134 S Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401
Books in the News
Teen Vogue review of Talking To The Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in Kim Kelly's story about labor activism.

Read it HERE.
Talking To The Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire excerpt of Martin Abramowtz's chapter published in Forward.

Read it HERE.
Frances Perkins Place
Photo: NY City Councilman Erik Bottcher, New Village Press Director Lynne Elizabeth, NY State Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, NY State Senator Brad Hoylman, Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, NY State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, Heidi Reavis of Women Creating Change, and historian James Kaplan,
A block of West 46th Street between 9th and 10th Ave in New York was co-named Frances Perkins Place in honor of Frances Perkins, the visionary and champion of the New Deal who witnessed the Triangle fire that spurred her to fight for workers rights.

Celebrating the new street name was NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall who wrote a chapter about his grandmother in Talking to the Girls. Extra drama arrived in a huge thunder clap at the start of the dedication, as if the ghosts of the 146 workers lost in the 1911 Triangle factory fire and Frances Perkins herself wanted to give a shoutout!