NEA Big Read: Central Florida • Jan 20 – Apr 15, 2024
Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky

Finding Their Voice

February 19 – April 19, 2024 • UCF Main Campus, John C. Hitt Library

Finding one’s voice is a deeply personal and introspective journey, often shaped by life experiences, self-reflection, and personal growth. The “Finding Their Voice” exhibition explores how artists, authors, activists, and ordinary people articulate their unique voices. Artists convey their voices through color, medium, texture, and form, serving as visual echoes of their inner dialogue. Authors use the written word to explore and communicate their innermost feelings and thoughts as they search for their narrative voice. Activists find their voice through impassioned actions that echo their convictions. Ordinary people express their voices through conversations, creative pursuits, or standing up for their beliefs.

Drawn from the collections in the University of Central Florida Libraries Special Collections & University Archives department, this exhibition’s artwork, literature, and stories capture the essence of introspection, offering a poignant reflection on the power of self-discovery and authentic expression that sets individuals apart and defines their identity. In addition to celebrating the diversity of voices around us, this exhibition invites visitors to contemplate their journey to find their voice.

The exhibit will be held in the Special Collections & University Archives Gallery on the fourth floor of the John C. Hitt Library on UCF’s main campus.

Lecture by NEA Big Read Organizer Keri Watson

Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 6 p.m. EST • Rollins Museum of Art

Join Dr. Keri Watson, Associate Professor of Art History, co-curator of “Silent Protest: Perspectives on War and Disability,” and co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Art and Disability (2022), in a discussion of Ilya Kaminsky’s 2019 book Deaf Republic, the impact of war and displacement on those living with a disability, and the power of art to transform society.

#Faces of Russian Resistance Art Exhibition

April 3-14 • Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

This exhibition tells the story of sixteen Russian citizens who openly oppose the War in Ukraine. The panels tell their stories, share the laws under which they were convicted, and outline the terms of the sentences they received for fighting the regime, calling attention to the war, and for not remaining silent.

Citizens: Alexei Gorinov ● Ilya Yashin ● Alexey Nuriev & Roman Nasryev ● Vladimir Kara-Murza ● Mikhail Krieger ● Lilia Chanysheva ● Yuri Dmitriev ● Alexei Navalny ● Andrei Pivovarov ● Sasha Skochilenko ● Natalia Filonova ● Dmitry Ivanov ● Maria Ponomarenko ● Alexey Moskaliev ● Zarifa Sautieva ● Vsevolod Korolev

Sponsored by the NEA Big Read and the Florida Prison Education Project

Poetry Reading and Book Signing by Ilya Kaminsky

Saturday, April 6, 2024, 1 p.m. EST • Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Ilya Kaminsky is a USSR-born, Ukrainian-Jewish-American poet, critic, translator and professor. He is best known for his poetry collections Dancing in Odessa and Deaf Republic, which have earned him several awards. In 2019, the BBC named Kaminsky among “12 artists who changed the world.”

The event will be held in the DeVos Family Room at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this event do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Performing Deaf Republic

Sunday, April 7, 2024, 1-3 p.m. EST • Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Deaf Republic (2019) follows a family of puppeteers as they struggle to resist the war that surrounds them. Drawing connections between global and local political conflicts and conveying the importance of standing up to tyranny, Deaf Republic weaves a rich allegory of the urgency of collective action in times of oppression. Told in two acts, it begins with a shooting of Petya, a deaf boy, by soldiers occupying the fictional town of Vasenka. In response to his murder, the townspeople collectively go deaf, inventing their own sign language and using puppets to resist their oppressors. As the sound of the gun that kills Petya triggers deafness in the villagers, disability acts as a metaphor for the limitations of empathy and dangers of ignorance. Join Theatre UCF for a theatrical adaptation of Deaf Republic, followed by a talkback with the creative team.

The event will be held in the DeVos Family Room at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

The Literature of Kurdish Writers with Burhan Sönmez

Monday, April 15, 2024, noon EST • UCF Main Campus, John C. Hitt Library

Burhan Sönmez is a Kurdish human rights lawyer and novelist from Turkey. He is the President of PEN International, elected at the Centennial Congress in 2021. He is also Senior Member and a By-Fellow of Hughes Hall College, University of Cambridge. Sönmez is the author of five novels. He will discuss the literature of Kurdish writers and the situation of Kurdish culture in Kurdish regions and the diaspora.

The event will be held in the John C. Hitt Library’s Multipurpose Room 402 on the UCF main campus and moderated by Günes Murat Tezcür, Director and Professor, School of Politics & Global Studies, Arizona State University.

Funding for this program was provided by the Kurdish Political Studies Program in the UCF School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs.