The final Core lecture of the academic year, on Thursday, April 29 at 6 p.m., will be presented by Jennifer Baker, a publishing professional of almost 20 years, creator/host of the Minorities in Publishing podcast, and faculty member of the MFA program in creative nonfiction at Bay Path University.

Titled “How Our Narratives Build Awareness,” this upcoming lecture will examine how the work of our forebears and contemporaries continue to unite the personal with the political, illuminating various communities’ humanity via the viewpoints of others and oneself.

According to Baker, visual artists like Kehinde Wiley and Kara Walker have broken incredible ground by showcasing Black regality as part of the “old master” portraiture or as a homage in conversation with enslavement and corporate greed. Similarly authors and journalists (such as Min Jin Lee, Pat Parker, Octavia Butler, among others) capture complex subject matter in work across genres, ultimately revealing there’s no limitation to how we can advocate through art and how art can bring audiences closer to various forms of activism.

Starting with the examination of visual and text-based work, Baker will further explore this topic through real-life examples from her professional & personal life and as a creative in multiple roles as an editor, author, and podcaster.

In 2019, Baker was named Publishers Weekly Superstar for her contributions to inclusion and representation in publishing. She also is the editor of the BIPOC-short story anthology Everyday People: The Color of Life (Atria Books, 2018) and the author of the forthcoming novel Forgive Me Not (Putnam BFYR, 2022). Her fiction, nonfiction, and criticism has appeared in various print and online publications. Read more on her website: jennifernbaker.com.