Emily Bernard: Neilly Series Lecture

As a graduate student, Emily Bernard was the victim of a random stabbing in a New Haven café. In this powerful lecture, she shares the story of her journey to ultimately make sense of this bizarre act of violence, including what it taught her about American race relations, the difference between a situation and a story, and the relationship between resilience, writing, and healing. Her latest book, Black is the Body, consists of 13 powerful essays conceived while Bernard was hospitalized after the stabbing.

Emily Bernard was born and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and received her PhD in American studies from Yale University. She has been the recipient of grants from the Ford Foundation, the NEH, and a W. E. B. Du Bois Resident Fellowship at Harvard University. She is the Julian Lindsay Green & Good Professor of English at the University of Vermont.

Note: The initial lecture (April 9, 2020) was postponed until October 10, 2021, when the address was delivered via Zoom.