Nobel Prize-Winning Author Toni Morrison Speaks at Law School's Feminist Legal Theory Conference, March 30
November 30, 2010
Contact: School of Law
Phone: 410.837.6797
Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison will serve as the keynote speaker for the University of Baltimore School of Law's fourth annual feminist legal theory conference in Baltimore on Wednesday, March 30. "An Evening with Toni Morrison" is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. The event is free and open to the public. Information on accommodations is available here.
PLEASE NOTE: As of 3:40 p.m. on March 1, all tickets for "An Evening with Toni Morrison" have been claimed. Should additional tickets become available, updates will be posted online at http://law.ubalt.edu/news. Please note that the School of Law is unable to take ticket requests via e-mail or telephone.
"The University of Baltimore School of Law is honored to host a literary figure with the international stature of Toni Morrison. Her perspective on feminist issues confirms the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the resolution of legal issues," said Phillip J. Closius, dean of the School of Law. "We are also pleased that, through the generosity of Steve and Julia Snyder, we can continue our tradition of community engagement by offering the presentation free to the public."
Morrison's body of published work spans the past four decades. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. Her books have won the National Book Critics' Circle Award (Song of Solomon, 1977) and the Pulitzer Prize (Beloved, 1987), among others. Morrison is the recipient of the Condorcet Medal, the National Humanities Medal, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library Lifetime Literary Achievement Award. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
Morrison joins an elite group of female activists and writers who have previously served as keynote speakers at the School of Law's feminist legal theory conference, including Gloria Steinem, Maya Angelou and Sheryl WuDunn. The 2011 conference will continue through March 31, with a number of panels and speakers focused on the global application of feminist legal theory.
"Toni Morrison's work focuses on the experiences of women," said Leigh Goodmark, associate professor of law and a co-director of the Center on Applied Feminism. "Having her speak at the conference adds an additional dimension to our understanding of how feminism affects women's lives—it enables us to see the legal texts in a human way."
"An Evening with Toni Morrison" will be free to attend, thanks to the generous support of the Stephen L. and Julia A. Snyder Foundation. Stephen L. Snyder, a member of the School of Law's class of 1970 and one of the nation's top 10 litigators as recognized by The National Law Journal, previously endowed the School of Law's Center for Litigation Skills and the Stephen L. Snyder Fund for Law Library and Technology. He was also a premier donor to the 2005 renovation of the School of Law's Venable Baetjer Howard Moot Court Room.
Admission will be open to the public and by free ticket only. As it did for Maya Angelou's presentation in 2009, the School of Law has partnered with Baltimore City Public Schools to facilitate admission for hundreds of city high school students.
Photo of Toni Morrison courtesy of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Public Affairs and the Merrick School of Business.