Student Recital
2026-03-10 19:00 - 20:00, 2026-04-13 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Talmadge Recital Hall, Bradley
Join us as Hollins students enrolled in private lessons present a recital of their favorite music for family and friends.

Vanessa Priya Daniel - Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning & How We Can Show Up for Them
2026-03-12 19:00 - 20:00 | Talmadge Recital Hall, Bradley
Date: March 12th
Time: TBD
Location: Keynote presentation – Talmadge Hall, Hollins University; Book Signing following presentation – Lewis Reading Room, Wyndham Robertson Library, Hollins University
Joint event: Leading EDJ and BLI Leading Together series
Description: In this keynote presentation, Vanessa Priya Daniel, author of Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning (Random House, 2025) will share the superpowers women of color leaders use to create winning strategies that drive meaningful change for all. She will also address how we remove the roadblocks that make leadership treacherous for women of color. Daniel’s presentation draws upon 25+ years of experience as an organizer, founder, and funder of over 100 women of color-led organizations. Additionally, her presentation is informed by over 45 interviews she conducted with many of the best and brightest women of color leaders in U.S. social justice movements and philanthropy, while completing her new book.
Speaker Bio: Vanessa Priya Daniel is an author, organizer, and award-winning leader for racial and gender justice. She has worked in social justice movements for twenty-five years as a labor and community organizer and funder. Her first book is Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning (Random House, 2025). She founded and served for 17 years as executive director of Groundswell Fund, a leading funder of women of color-led grassroots community and electoral organizing. She is a recipient of the Smith College Medal, was featured by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as one of fifteen “Influencers” who are changing the nonprofit world, and was recognized by Inside Philanthropy as one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Players in Philanthropy.” Daniel has written for The New York Times and other publications.
FREE to the public. Registration is required. Register for any Leading Together Series Dates
We are grateful to our co-sponsors for this event: Roanoke Women’s Foundation, Junior League of Roanoke Valley, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Delta Sigma Theta.

Register Today

Leading Equity, Diversity, and Justice Conference 2026
2026-03-13 00:00 - 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
Hollins’ annual Leading Equity, Diversity, and Justice (EDJ) Conference aims to create an intentional and meaningful space to reflect, learn, and facilitate action toward creating a more equitable and just community. We envision a conference that uplifts participants, while supporting deep learning and engagement related to the central theme of this conference: Breaking Ceilings, Opening Doors: Reimagining Work and Leadership.

Spring Choir Concert: Wildfire
2026-03-15 18:00 - 19:00 | duPont Chapel, 7980 E Campus Dr, Roanoke,, VA, 24020, United States
Our Concert Choir comes together with the Talmadge Singers to present a fiery concert of music that will warm and uplift you. Exploring the theme of fire from many composers’ perspective, this concert will be a great choice no matter what the weather.

MFA Thesis Readings
2026-03-17 18:30 - 19:30, 2026-04-07 18:30 - 19:30 | Green Drawing Room, Main
Second year MFA in Creative Writing students will read from their work. Each night will consist of three or four students reading for fifteen minutes in a variety of genres. There will be a small reception following each reading on the Porches of Main. Sponsored by the Department of English and Creative Writing

Marilyn Moriarty
2026-04-02 19:30 - 20:30 | Green Drawing Room, Main
Professor Marilyn Moriarty received her doctorate from the University of California, Irvine, with a dissertation on Shakespeare and a second emphasis in literary theory. She compiled the text of two Shakespeare plays for drama anthologies and co-edited a collection of essays on postmodern architecture. She is the author of Writing Science through Critical Thinking, a scientific writing textbook, and Moses Unchained, which won the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Creative Nonfiction Award. Her essays have been published in The Antioch Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Creative Nonfiction, The Kenyon Review, Raritan, River Teeth, and others. Three have been named “Notable” by editors of the Best American Essays series. She won the 2014 Faulkner-Wisdom Gold Medal for the essay. Her stories have won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize, the Peregrine Prize for fiction, and the University of Utah novella contest. Her essay “Bone Lab” was anthologized in the 2024 Best Spiritual Literature (Vol. 9). Most recently she was announced the winner in the Scriptwriting Category of the 2025 Hammond House International Literary Prize. Her forthcoming book Splintered Shadows: Recovering a French Résistante will be out in August 2026 from University of North Georgia Press. She began teaching at Hollins University in 1992 and celebrates her retirement at the end of this year.

She Kills Monsters
2026-04-09 00:00 - 2026-04-11 23:59 | Hollins Theatre
She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen is co-directed by E.B. Smith and Wendy-Marie Martin and asst. directed by Anna Langenberger ’26.
When: April 9-11 at 7:30 pm and April 11 at 2 pm
Where: Hollins Theatre Main Stage
What: She Kills Monsters tells the story of Agnes Evans as she leaves her childhood home in Ohio following the death of her teenage sister, Tilly. When Agnes finds Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook, however, she finds herself catapulted into a journey of discovery and action-packed adventure in the imaginary world that was her sister’s refuge. In this high-octane dramatic comedy laden with homicidal fairies, nasty ogres, and 90s pop culture, acclaimed playwright Qui Nguyen offers a heart-pounding homage to the geek and warrior within us all.
$10 general admission. $5 for non-Hollins students. FREE for Hollins students, faculty, and staff. Tickets are available at our.show/hollinsshekills. Email boxoffice@hollins.edu to reserve complimentary tickets.
“She Kills Monsters” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com.

To receive a full list of content warnings for this production, please email boxoffice@hollins.edu. Hollins community members may access the content warnings directly at this post on myHollins.

64th Annual Lex Allen Literary Festival 2026
2026-04-11 08:00 - 17:00 | VAC Auditorium
The festival, held on Saturday, April 11, 2026, is our annual celebration of the literary community and is free and open to the public. Featured writers this year include Nina MacLaughlin, Rajia Hassib, Kate McKean, and our Writer-in-Residence, Julian T. Brolaski. This event curates an intimate space for students and community members to gather and discuss these authors’ works through Q&A and live interviews.
Go to Schedule
Readers: Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Rajia Hassib, Kate McKean, and Nina MacLaughlin
Julian Talamantez Brolaski (it / xe / them) is a poet and country singer, the author of Of Mongrelitude (Wave Books, 2017), Advice for Lovers (City Lights, 2012), and gowanus atropolis (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2011). Julian is a 2023 Bagley Wright lecturer, a 2021 Pew Foundation Fellow, and the recipient of the 2020 Cy Twombly Award for Poetry. Its poems were recently included in When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (2020) and We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics (Nightboat, 2020). With its band Juan & the Pines, it released an EP Glittering Forest in 2019; Julian’s first full-length album It’s Okay Honey came out in August 2023.
Rajia Hassib was born and raised in Egypt and moved to the United States when she was twenty-three. Her first novel, In the Language of Miracles, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and received an honorable mention from the Arab American Book Awards. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Marshall University, and she has written for The New York Times Book Review and The New Yorker online. She lives in West Virginia with her husband and two children.
Nina MacLaughlin is the author of Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung (FSG/FSG Originals), a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Massachusetts Book Award, as well as Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice (Black Sparrow), winner of the Massachusetts Book Award. Her first book was the acclaimed memoir Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter (W.W. Norton), a finalist for the New England Book Award. Formerly an editor at the Boston Phoenix, she worked for nine years as a carpenter, and is now a books columnist for the Boston Globe. Her work has appeared on or in The Paris Review Daily, The Virginia Quarterly Review, n+1, The Believer, The New York Times Book Review, Agni, American Short Fiction, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Meatpaper, and elsewhere. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Kate McKean is both an author and literary agent. Her work has appeared in Poets & Writers, Electric Literature, Catapult, Lit Hub, Writer’s Digest, Bustle and many more. Her first book, Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life is out now from Simon Element. In 2026, Sourcebooks will publish her debut picture book Pay Attention to Me. As an agent she has been with the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency since 2006, where she’s built a diverse client list including beloved humorist and novelist Daniel M. Lavery, New York Times best-selling YA horror writer Madeleine Roux, and New York Times best-selling fantasy writer Alix E. Harrow.
Sponsored by the Lex Allen Literary Endowment, Department of English and Creative Writing, and the Dee Hull Everist Visiting Speaker Fund

Schedule

Time
Event / Session
Location

8:00 am
Check-in / Breakfast
VAC 2nd Floor Lobby

Salon Sessions I

8:45 am
Making the Case for Pop Culture Reclamation with the Co-Hosts of
Girlhood Movie Database
Marin Harrington (Hollins) & Maggie Dillow (Hollins)
VAC 111

Frankenstein’s Workshop: Horror As Cultural Commentary
Jenna Kleiber (Hollins) & Miette Bell (Hollins)
Swan 002

How to be a worse writer (and why that will make you a better writer!)
Zach Shea (Hollins), Lena Kinder (Hollins), James Lex (Hollins), & Stella Stocker (Hollins)
Swan 209

Biosemiotic Aesthetics & Ecopoetics: Writing Place & Possibility
Kas Armstrong (Virginia Tech) & Joshua Ward (Virginia Tech)
VAC 112

10:00 am
Rajia Hassib Reading
followed by a conversation with MFA student James Lex
VAC 120 (Auditorium)

11:00 am
Kate McKean Presentation
followed by a conversation with MFA student Zach Shea
VAC 120 (Auditorium)

12:00 pm
Lunch
Moody Student Center

Salon Sessions II

1:15 pm
Between Forms, Between Worlds: Writing in the Barzakh
Qurrat ul ain Raza Abbas (Hollins), Chanlee Luu (Hollins), & Keshni Washington (The Writer’s Center DC)
VAC 112

Loving the Process in the Age of AI
Michelle Acker (Hollins), Maggie Dillow (Hollins), & Rachel Anne Morris (Hollins)
VAC 111

Writing the Unpossible: Research, Invention, and Estrangement in Myth and Fairy Tale
Rachel Edwards (Hollins), Katie Wilson (Hollins), & Anna Tipton (Hollins)
Swan 209

2:30 pm
Nina MacLaughlin Reading
followed by a conversation with MFA student Alice Dai
VAC 120 (Auditorium)

3:30 pm
Julian Brolaski Reading
followed by a conversation with MFA student Sophia Tone
VAC 120 (Auditorium)

4:15 pm
Reception and Book Signing
VAC 2nd Floor Lobby

Admitted Student Day
2026-04-12 00:00 - 2026-04-13 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
[For admitted students only] Celebrate your admission to Hollins at Admitted Students Day! Explore campus, connect with future classmates, and get an inside look at student life, career pathways, and campus resources. Learn more about financial aid, student support, and the opportunities ahead as you picture yourself thriving at Hollins.
Register Today

Anaïs Maurer
2026-04-15 16:00 - 17:00 | Green Drawing Room, Main
Stories of survival and activism from the fight against nuclear testing and climate change in the Pacific.

April 15, 4-5 p.m.

Green Drawing Room, Main building

with support from:The Dept. of Modern Languages (Hollins University) and the Center for Studying Structures of Race (Roanoke College)

Jeanine Stewart - AI Meets Human Intelligence: Navigating the Multi-Cognitive Workplace
2026-04-20 17:00 - 18:30 | Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space), 1327 Grandin Rd SW, Roanoke,, VA, 24015, United States
Date: April 20th
Time: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM

5:00 PM: Networking
5:30 PM-6:30 PM: Speaker/Workshop

Location: Grandin CoLab (Event Space)
Description: As managers and executives integrate AI tools into workplaces with a goal of boosting performance, they’re discovering unexpected challenges where artificial intelligence meets human cognition. This intersection creates new forms of workplace stress and requires fresh approaches to team development. Drawing on neuroscience research and applied psychology, we will consider some practical approaches for supporting leaders and their teams as organizations navigate this dynamic technological transformation.
Speaker Bio: Jeanine Stewart is a neuroscientist, executive coach, and former C-level executive who specializes in the intersection of AI, neuroscience, and leadership. She works with executives at major global organizations to help them master adaptive leadership in environments where human and artificial intelligence must collaborate effectively. Dr. Stewart has developed the NeuroMighty™ framework, which focuses on how human brains work in synchrony with one another and how to build core brain strengths that optimize team performance.
FREE to the public. Registration is required. Register for any Leading Together Series Dates

Register Today

Day of Giving
2026-04-23 00:00 - 23:59 | Virtual

Reading Series: T.J. Anderson III
2026-04-23 19:30 - 20:30 | Green Drawing Room, Main
Reading: Thursday, April 23, 2026 • 7:30 pm • Green Drawing Room, Main Building

Professor T.J. Anderson III was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and is a poet and musician. He is the author of several works, including t/here it is (Omnidawn Press, 2023), Devonte Travels the Sorry Route (Omnidawn Press, 2019), Cairo Workbook (Willow Books, 2014), River to Cross (The Backwaters Press, 2009), Notes to Make the Sound Come Right: Four Innovators of Jazz Poetry (University of Arkansas Press, 2004), Blood Octave (Flat Five Recordings, 2006), and the chapbook At Last Round Up (lift books, 1996). A former Fulbright Scholar at Cairo University, Anderson currently resides in Roanoke, Virginia. He began teaching at Hollins University in 1998 and celebrates his retirement at the end of this year.

Sponsored by: The Department of English and Creative Writing

Valley Chamber Orchestra Concert
2026-04-26 15:00 - 16:00 | duPont Chapel, 7980 E Campus Dr, Roanoke,, VA, 24020, United States
This spring’s concert is filled with musical favorites such as Les Miserables, Chicago, and Wicked! Come join us for medleys, memories, and merriment.

Faculty Recital: Morgan Short
2026-04-29 19:00 - 20:00 | Talmadge Recital Hall, Bradley
Join us as Morgan Short performs a recital of works for harp.

Choir on the Quad
2026-05-07 18:30 - 19:30 | Front Quad
The combined choirs perform the traditional Quad Concert, featuring selections by our graduating seniors. Bring your lawn chairs and picnic blankets! Ice cream will be served starting at 6 pm. Rain location is duPont Chapel

Farewell Reading – The Last Tango
2026-05-07 19:30 - 20:30 | Green Drawing Room, Main
An open reading by Hollins seniors and graduating Creative Writing MFA students. One last chance to hear our favorite student writers read before they depart. Note to readers: readings should be brief (i.e., 1-2 pages of poetry or 1-2 pages of prose). Readers will sign up to read prior to the event. Sponsored by the Department of English and Creative Writing

Student Recital
2026-05-08 19:00 - 20:00 | duPont Chapel, 7980 E Campus Dr, Roanoke,, VA, 24020, United States
Our final concert of the year will be presented by our students and the student orchestra.

Admission Open House: Discover Hollins Day
2026-05-09 13:00 - 15:30 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
Discover all that Hollins has to offer at our upcoming Admission Open House: Discover Hollins Day. Tour our beautiful campus, meet current students, and explore student life, career pathways, and campus resources. Attend info sessions on admissions, financial aid, and support services, and get your questions answered as you envision yourself at Hollins.
Register Today

Abrina Schnurman: Exploring the Leader-Follower Dynamic for Purpose-Driven Results
2026-05-11 17:00 - 18:30 | Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space), 1327 Grandin Rd SW, Roanoke,, VA, 24015, United States
Date: May 11th
Time: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM

5:00 PM: Networking
5:30 PM-6:30 PM: Speaker/Workshop

Location: Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space)
Description: While traditional leadership discourse has centered on leadership style or capacity, followers play a significant role in co-creating culture and outcomes. This talk adds to the leadership development toolkit by examining the dynamic intersection of leaders and followership as a framework for cultivating purpose-driven organizations and enhancing collective engagement.
Speaker Bio: Abrina Schnurman has been a core faculty member of the Batten Leadership Institute at Hollins University since 2004, where she teaches courses in leadership studies. She holds Executive Certificates in Leadership and Management from Harvard and the University of Virginia. She is also a licensed professional counselor.
FREE to the public. Registration is required. Register for any Leading Together Series Dates

Register Today

Commencement 2026
2026-05-17 10:00 - 12:00 | Berglund Center, 710 Williamson Rd NE, Roanoke, 24016, United States
More information regarding the comprehensive schedule for Commencement Weekend, including the featured speaker, will be provided in early March.

Reunion 2026
2026-05-29 00:00 - 2026-05-31 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
Reunite with old friends and create new memories at Reunion 2026! Our alumnae reunion offers a unique opportunity to celebrate our shared experiences at Hollins. Immerse yourself in nostalgic campus tours, informative and interactive sessions, and lively social events. Join us for a weekend of laughter, learning, and lasting connections!

Summer Residential Workshops
2026-06-14 00:00 - 2026-06-19 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
Spend an inspirational week at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains on the beautiful campus of Hollins University. Join us in one of our intimate and inspiring manuscript or write now workshops in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or multigenre. Or our tutorial option, which allows you to work with your faculty mentor in one-on-one sessions that focus solely on your own work.

Our manuscript workshops allow you to share work with colleagues and your faculty mentor in advance. In return you will receive supportive and critical feedback during the week. If you don’t have a manuscript, or you’re looking to start new work, a “write now workshop” is the perfect choice. This allows you to write each day and join fellow writers for both in-class writing exercises and sharing of work written during Tinker Mountain.

Whether taking part in a tutorial, manuscript, or write now workshop, you can participate in craft talks, readings, and social sessions. You’ll have plenty of interaction with faculty, including a one-on-one session with your faculty mentor, and have the opportunity to network with other writers for ideas and support.

3rd Biennial Children’s Literature Symposium
2026-07-10 00:00 - 2026-07-12 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
The Pleasures and Problems of Pooh

The 3rd Biennial Children’s Literature Symposium

On Zoom

Friday–Sunday, July 10–12, 2026

Conference Details

Host: Hollins University Graduate Programs in Children’s Literature

Chair: Chaired by Dr. Lisa Rowe Fraustino

This year’s hundredth anniversary of A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, published in 1926, provides a springboard for reflection on the role of classic children’s literature.

“Here–we–are…all–of–us, and then, suddenly, we wake up one morning and, what do we find? We find a Strange Animal among us. An animal of whom we have never heard before! An animal who carries her family about with her in her pocket!” — Rabbit

INVITED KEYNOTERS INCLUDE:

Lara Saguisag, Associate Professor and Georgiou Chair in Children’s Literature and Literacy at New York University and President of the Children’s Literature Association

A Pooh Panel with Jennifer Harrison, editor of Positioning Pooh: Edward Bear after 100 Years; volume contributor and Millersville University professor Sarah E. Jackson; and distinguished East Carolina University emeritus professor C.W. Sullivan III

SYMPOSIUM ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

This online symposium seeks presentation proposals from authors, illustrators, librarians, publishers, educators, and scholars in any field. View the Call for Papers. Submit proposals of 500 words to Symposium-Abstract-Submissions by May 1, 2026. Submit Symposium Abstracts online (please be sure to include your contact information).

ART CHALLENGE

Illustrators are invited to submit images of your own creations related to Pooh and Pooh adjacent or influenced subjects. The symposium will include a digital art show and panel discussion session. Please submit artwork as JPGs or PNGs, no larger than 1000 pixels wide or no larger than 5mb. Submit online

GIRLS LITERATURE DISCUSSION GROUP

The final session of the symposium will be a meeting of the Hollins Girls’ Literature Discussion Group, for which we’ll be reading Tuck Everlasting upon its 50th anniversary of publication.

Questions?

Questions: Please contact Lisa Rowe Fraustino, FraustinoLR@hollins.edu

Original public domain image from Wikimedia Commons

Call for Papers

This year’s hundredth anniversary of A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, published in 1926, provides a springboard for reflection on the role of classic children’s literature. This online symposium seeks presentation proposals from authors, illustrators, librarians, publishers, educators, and scholars in any field. Possible topics for exploration include:

Review Possible Topics for Exploration

Close readings of how the Pooh stories interpellate young readers into social structures. Who’s out, who’s in?

How does imaginative play socialize children into adult behaviors?

How does adult nostalgia contribute to classic children’s literature?

What is the role of illustrations by E. H. Shepard and/or later artists?

What is the purpose of cuteness? What does it cover up? How does cuteness integrate with other aspects of storytelling and interpretation, and toward what effect?

Comparative readings of Pooh with other classics or with contemporary pairings.

Commercialization and/or Disnification of Pooh and other classic texts.

Examinations of media adaptations or translations into other languages. What is kept? What is reinterpreted? How do those choices reflect ideology?

Exploration of imaginative play and/or toys in children’s literature.

Theoretical approaches—colonialism, whiteness, psychoanalytical, animal studies/anthropomorphism, food, boyhood, etc.

What is the purpose of literary criticism, especially for books that are written primarily for children (not adults) to read?

What do we do when books feel like they aren’t written for us (because of race, class, gender, and other aspects of identity)?

How do our readings/experiences of a text change when we read it multiple times?

How does the intergenerational evolution of our engagement with classics call attention to new issues and questions over time?

Hollinsummer 2026
2026-07-12 00:00 - 2026-07-18 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
Looking for an adventure this summer? Join us for Hollinsummer, a pre-college summer program for young women with interests in everything from creative writing to riding and more!

Summer Scholars 2026
2026-07-12 00:00 - 2026-07-25 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
This immersive, two-week liberal arts program allows young women to experience life as a college student. Sponsored by a grant from The Teagle Foundation, the program is provided at no cost to participants and gives them an opportunity to study and build connections with students and professors who are invested in their growth.
