Event: The Harry Ransom Center hosts free public programs
When: Various dates throughout October
Where: Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin, 21st and Guadalupe streets and Jessen Auditorium at The University of Texas at Austin
Background: The Harry Ransom Center presents public programs related to its exhibitions “The Mystique of the Archive” and “A Cabinet of Drawings” and the Center’s holdings. The events are free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-serve, and doors open 30 minutes prior to the start of events.
Poetry on the Plaza: “Ballads and Balladeers”
Wednesday, Oct. 1, noon, at the Ransom Center
The Ransom Center presents the free Poetry on the Plaza event “Ballads and Balladeers.” Popularized by the Romantics, the ballad is a unique narrative form of poetry that conveys stories of love, heroe, and tragedies. Jackie Muñoz of the Ransom Center, Justin Tremel, a doctoral candidate in the English Department and Ransom Center Dissertation Fellow, and Austin songwriter Chopper will read and perform traditional English ballads by Sir Walter Scott and modern and folk interpretations of the ballad form by Bob Dylan and others.
“Drawing as Looking, Thinking, Touching”
Thursday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m., at the Ransom Center
The Ransom Center presents Michael Charlesworth, associate professor in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Texas at Austin, as he discusses “Drawing as Looking, Thinking, Touching.” Charlesworth uses 18th- and 19th-century examples to show that a good drawing is not a hard, cruel, despotic and rigid line, imprisoning a form like a strait-jacket, but that drawing can be like nature, alive and in motion. This lecture is presented in conjunction with the exhibition “A Cabinet of Drawings.“
Archives Film Series: “Possession”
Monday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m., at the Ransom Center
The Harry Ransom Center continues the Archives Film Series with Neil LaBute’s “Possession” (2002). Adapted from the A. S. Byatt novel of the same name, the film stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart, who play a pair of literary researchers working to unearth the secret of two Victorian poets. The film series is held in conjunction with the exhibition “The Mystique of the Archive.”
“Music From the Collections”: Medieval Manuscripts
Monday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m., in Jessen Auditorium in Homer Rainey Hall
As part of the “Music from the Collections” series, Italy’s Ensemble Micrologus performs music from the Ransom Center’s medieval manuscripts collection. Ensemble Micrologus is an Italian group of musicians who perform religious and secular medieval music, vocal and instrumental, including both religious and secular pieces from the 12th to 16th centuries. The group includes Patricia Bovi on vocals and harp; Adolfo Broegg on lute, psaltery and citola; Goffredo Degli Esposti on flute, bombarde and bagpipes; Ulrich Pfeifer on vocals and hurdy gurdy; and Gabriele Russo on viela, rebec and lyre. The series is co-sponsored by the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin.
“Diaspora: Homelands in Exile”
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 7 p.m., at the Ransom Center
The Harry Ransom Center presents French photographer Frédéric Brenner in a Focus on Photography event. Since the late 1970s, Brenner has travelled the world photographing Jewish families. His book, “Diaspora: Homelands in Exile,” was published in 2003. Brenner will discuss his work, a visual anthology of the Jewish Diaspora that spans 25 years and more than 40 countries. This program is co-sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies at The University of Texas at Austin and the Jewish Community Association of Austin.
Texas Book Festival: Andre Dubus III
Thursday, Oct. 30, 7 p.m. in Jessen Auditorium in Homer Rainey Hall
To kick off the Texas Book Festival, Andre Dubus III talks about his latest novel, “The Garden of Last Days.” The book is inspired by the rumored visit of 9/11 hijackers to a strip club shortly before their attacks and follows the story of a stripper present in the fictional night club. Dubus is also the author of the bestseller “The House of Sand and Fog.” A book signing follows.
High-resolution press images relating to all events are available.
