At Smith College
Celebrating Collaborations 2025
On April 25, 2025, the Meridians intern team presented about the Meridians Project at Smith College’s annual Celebrating Collaborations event.
Winniebell Xinyu Zong’s Reading and Residency
During the week of 4/20-4/25, 2025, the 2024 Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award Winner for Poetry — Winniebell Xinyu Zong had their week-long residency at Smith College. On Thursday of the reading, three incredible poems were performed, including “3.13.22 | Translations of Ba’s Recipe for COVID Prevention” (published in our Vol. 24, No. 1), as well as an engaging piece of her prose from their novel script was read. On Friday, Winniebell had lunch together with the Meridians team members, professors, and students from the East Asian Language and Culture Studies.
Residency & Reading with Maryam Ala Amjadi
Meridians Editor Ginetta E.B. Candelario ’90 in conversation with Maryam Ala Amjadi
Maryam Ala Amjadi at October 23 reading in Smith’s Boutelle-Day Poetry Center
From October 21–25, Meridians hosted Maryam Ala Amjadi, Iranian poet, writer, and 2024 EACWA Winner for Prose, for a dynamic week-long residency. On October 23, she offered a public reading of her award-winning story, “The Ice Seller of Hell” (published in our fall 2024 issue, “Counterpoints”), as well as several poems from her recent book, Where Is the Mouth of That Word?. After the reading, Ala Amjadi signed copies of her book, now available for purchase through Meridians.
“Trans Indigenous/Trans Hemispheric Intimacies” – A Lecture by Guest Editor Basuli Deb
In celebration of Meridians spring 2024 issue “Indigenous Feminisms Across the World,” guest editor Dr. Basuli Deb came to Smith on April 15, 2024 to deliver a talk about her work entitled, “Trans-Indigenous/Trans-Hemispheric Intimacies: Standing Rock Water Protectors & Natal Forest Keepers.”
“Up Home” – A Conversation with Smith President Emerita Ruth J. Simmons
On March 4, 2024, Meridians had the pleasure of hosting Smith President Emerita Ruth J. Simmons for a visit to campus to discuss her new memoir, Up Home: One Girl’s Journey. President Emerita Simmons played a central role in founding Meridians at Smith to showcase the scholarship, ideas, activism, and voices of women of color across the globe. Her acclaimed memoir describes how this daughter of sharecroppers became the first Black president of Smith and subsequently the first Black president of an Ivy League university.
Cromwell Day Reading and Workshop with Yalie Saweda Kamara
On Thursday, November 2, 2023, Meridians hosted a special Cromwell Day reading and workshop with visiting poet, Dr. Yalie Saweda Kamara, 2023 Winner of the Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award for Poetry. During this event, Kamara read her award-winning poem, “American Beech,” as well as other selections from her past and forthcoming work. Following the reading, participants were guided through a collective poem writing exercise.
Meridians at Smith College Family Weekend 2023
Meridians Open House Celebration – September 2023
On September 14, 2023, we held an Open House Celebration to celebrate our new offices at 22 Green Street. Smith College President Sarah Willie-LeBreton as well as Meridians Editor Emerita and author Paula J. Giddings joined us in celebrating our new space.
Meridians at First-Year Orientation
Meridians Editorial Office Manager Ally Einbinder ’10, Editorial Assistant Eliana Mercedes, and Quigley Fellowship Intern Saturn Johnson ’25 got the chance to meet many new Smithies at the Resource Fair on Seelye Lawn on September 6, 2023.
Cece Roth Eagle ’23 “Month of Wind/Mes del viento” Reading – April 2023
On April 19, Meridians hosted an author reading for graduating senior Cece Roth-Eagle ‘23, Prose Winner of the Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award for Prose. Cece read segments from her award-winning creative nonfiction essay, “Month of Wind/Mes del viento: The Mapuche lof Kinxikew Through the Perspective of Their First Female Longko,” which is published in Volume 23, No. 1.
“When and Where I Enter: Celebrating Legacies and Envisioning Futures” Symposium – October 2016
President Emerita Ruth J. Simmons,
President Kathleen McCartney,
Paula J. Giddings
(Professor, Spelman College)
holding a copy of Giddings’s
When and Where I Enter
On October 14, 2016, Meridians hosted an event celebrating the journal thus far. We were joined by Ruth Simmons, Paula J. Giddings, and now editor Ginetta Candelario ’90 along with various other contributors for a day of engaging discussion around Paula J. Giddings’ book When and Where I Enter and related texts.