A collection of creative pieces celebrating Black families inspired by a work of W.E.B. DuBois.
A study of the impacts of Shakespearean stage performances among incarcerated populations.
The latest edition of a leading reference book on contraception, sexual health, reproductive health and infectious disease.
These and many other subjects were represented in the titles on display at the annual Feast of Words, which celebrates Emory faculty who have written or edited books. In all, 97 recently published titles were represented at this year’s event, hosted by the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence (CFDE), Emory Libraries and the Emory University Barnes and Noble Bookstore.
Valeda Dent, vice provost of libraries and museum, began the evening by commenting on the years of work each book represented. She acknowledged the support of family members in attendance, noting that no book is written in a vacuum.
Finally, Dent introduced Pearl Dowe, vice provost for faculty affairs and Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Political Science and African American Studies.
Dowe lauded the engaged lives that faculty authors lead outside the rigorous work that comes with researching and writing books. “You also are working on grants, you’re publishing articles, you’re teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students; you’re in the community,” she said.
Before leading a celebratory toast in the faculty authors’ honor, she also praised their resilience.
“You know, in the book-writing process, there are times when you start and stop,” she noted, adding that she spoke from experience, having published a book the previous year. “But you overcame, and your books are published. They’re right here in print.”
A feast of facts and figures
Nine books were published with help from the CFDE’s Scholarly Writing and Publishing Fund, whose grants allow faculty to hire an editor to take a manuscript to the next stage. Five books were supported by the CFDE’s Public Scholarship Advancement Fund, whose grants help faculty move their research and writing into the realm of public influence. |
Book writing is a family affair for father and daughter
It’s the sort of praise one doesn’t usually hear from a colleague.
“I remember her very first writing, in kindergarten,” said Richard Freer, Charles Howard Professor of Law and dean of Emory University School of Law.
He was talking about his daughter, Courtney Freer, assistant professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian studies. She was celebrating the publication of her book, “The Resilience of Parliamentary Politics in Kuwait: Parliament, Rentierism and Society,” the first English-language history of Kuwait’s parliament.
Father and daughter Richard and Courtney Freer celebrate their publications together at the Feast of Words. Credit: Allison Adams
Richard Freer, meanwhile, had two law textbooks to celebrate: “Civil Procedure: Cases, Materials and Questions, ninth Edition” and “Business Structures (American Casebook Series), Sixth Edition,” both of which he co-authored.
To enjoy their publication success together at Emory felt nothing short of “remarkable,” he said. “To see your children grow up and find their passion is such a thrill.”
“Growing up, he would edit my papers,” added Courtney Freer, who said she has her father to thank for an “obsessive attention to detail” in her writing today.
“And he would tell me he’d left an error in there, regardless of whether that was true. So, I would read it through so carefully, looking at every comma, every split infinitive — God forbid,” she laughed, “everything!”
Both father and daughter gained a new appreciation for the other’s gifts when Courtney Freer came to Emory to teach in 2021 and they began driving to campus together.
During the commute, they talked about their teaching and her ideas for papers. “Just, constantly, these ideas,” he said, concluding, “She’s a natural.”
“I looked up to my dad a long time,” she said. “But I never really understood what he did for a living — that task of creating knowledge and writing books and all of it, until I started doing it.”
Each book a touchstone
Near the conclusion of her remarks, Dowe praised the results of such efforts as she raised a glass.
“Books impact our psyche,” she said. “They give us new questions, they answer questions and they help us to think deeply. They are touchstones about who we are as scholars but also about who we are as an institution and a university.”
Read the full list of faculty titles.
All photos, except where noted, by Sarah Woods, Emory Photo/Video.