‘A Legacy Rooted in Love’: UK to host symposium honoring author bell hooks

Monica Kast
·2 min read
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The University of Kentucky will host a symposium honoring the life and work of Kentucky author bell hooks.

The event, titled “bell hooks: A Legacy Rooted in Love,” will feature speakers from across the state reflecting on hooks’ life and work. The event is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 12 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. via Zoom, and is open to the public. Participants can register for the event on UK’s website.

hooks, who had a career as an author, critic, feminist and public intellectual, died in December. She was 69, and a longtime professor at Berea College. She was also the 2021 Medallion for Intellectual Achievement recipient from UK Libraries.

hooks was born Gloria Jean Watkins in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She adopted her great-grandmother’s name as her pen name in lower case letters, saying she wanted to emphasize the “substance of books, not who I am.”

She published her first book, “Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism” in 1981. She wrote more than 40 books in her career, including essays, poetry and children’s books. Her topics include feminism, racism, culture, politics, gender roles, love, and spirituality.

At the symposium, “scholars, artists and activists from across the state of Kentucky will present and engage in conversations that celebrate and reflect on hooks’ work and its impact on literature and critical thought,” according to UK. The event is hosted by UK Libraries and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Speakers include:

  • Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky Poet Laureate and UK associate professor of English.

  • Attica Scott, Kentucky State Representative for District 41.

  • Kaila Adia Story, podcaster and University of Louisville Audre Lorde Endowed Chair in Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

  • DeBraun Thomas, “Take Back Cheapside” co-founder and WUKY producer/host.

  • M. Shadee Malaklou, inaugural director of the bell hooks center and Berea College chair of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department.

  • DaMaris Hill, UK associate professor of creative writing, English, and African American studies.