Spring 2026

Upcoming Events

Thurs, January 29: Faculty @Noon with Adam Novy

Adam Novy has been teaching writing, fiction, and the liberal arts at Scripps, Pitzer, and Claremont Graduate School since 2008, and published his critically acclaimed novel, The Avian Gospels, in 2010. 

Thurs, January 29, Noon, Hampton Room, Scripps College.

Tues, February 3: Michael Patrick MacDonald: The Rest of the Story

Michael Patrick MacDonald, author, professor of practice, community builder, draws on his lived experience and his work leading The Rest of the Story, a trauma-informed, peer-led storytelling program supporting people impacted by violence, addiction, and loss. Through facilitated restorative justice circles and writing practice, participants reclaim narrative control, build solidarity, and translate lived experience into leadership, healing, and civic action. MacDonald will offer a practical and human framework for understanding how storytelling can move individuals and communities from fear to voice, from isolation to solidarity, and from trauma toward collective healing and social change.

Tues, February 3, 5:30 pm, Athenaeum, CMC. Dinner Program. RSVP Required.

Thurs, March 12: Poetry Reading with Isabel Neal

Pitzer alum Isabel Neal ’12 Isabel Neal is a poet, writer, and teacher living in Maine. She is the author of Thrown Voice, winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize, selected by Rae Armantrout. Neal is the recipient of fellowships from Lighthouse Works, the James Merrill House, and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center.

Thurs, March 12, 5:30 pm, Pitzer College.

Wed, March 25: Ken Liu: The Future Is Implausible

Through a series of images drawn by artists from the past imagining life in the future, Ken Liu, award-winning author of speculative fiction, asks the audience to think through provocative questions about the science fictional imagination. What do sci-fi authors tend to get wrong about the future? What do they tend to get right? Is science fiction about “predicting” the future? And just why is the future so difficult to pin down?

Wed, March 25, 5:30 pm, Athenaeum, CMC. Dinner Program. RSVP Required.

Mon, April 13: An Evening with United States Poet Laureate Arthur Sze

The 2025-26 United States Poet Laureate Arthur Sze’s poetry is recognized for its “intellectual and visceral experience” (Brooklyn Rail). The Library of Congress describes his “poetry as distinctly American in its focus on the landscapes of the Southwest, where he has lived for many years, as well as in its great formal innovation. Like Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, Sze forges something new from a range of traditions and influences – and the result is a poetry that moves freely throughout time and space.” Sze will offer his reflections and read from his vast collection of works.

Mon, April 13, 5:30 pm, Athenaeum, CMC. Dinner Program. RSVP Required.

Other campus events can be found by visiting the websites for Scripps Presents, the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum at CMC, the Pomona College English Department, and the Tufts Poetry Awards at CGU.