Imposter Syndrome & Swarthmore: A Discussion with Prof. Peter Schmidt & Novelist Patricia Park '03

Zoom: https://american.zoom.us/j/99118621679?pwd=Pm2jrEbaRGq7AZB3TIdebLpSDfzKP7.1

(Open to all)

Swarthmore Professor of English Peter Schmidt will be in conversation with his former student, Patricia Park '03, novelist of Imposter Syndrome & Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim, inspired by Swarthmore. Imposter Syndrome, named NPR's Best Books of 2023, is the March alumni book club pick. Schmidt and Park will discuss imposter syndrome (the feeling as well as the book), and the pressures young people face in high-achieving institutions like Swarthmore and beyond. They'll discuss varied ways of understanding what causes the "syndrome" and how to "fight" it--weaving in pop cultural references such as Kpop Demon Hunters. A Q&A will follow the discussion.

Prof. Peter Schmidt teaches courses in English Literature, Environmental Studies, and Black Studies at Swarthmore, with a primary focus on poetry and fiction from the 20th and 21st centuries. He's published essays or books on ecopoetry, Southern U.S. fiction, and authors such as William Carlos Williams, Ruth Ozeki, Gary Shteyngart, W. S. Merwin, Jane Hirshfield, Jorie Graham, Joan Naviyuk Kane, Layli Long Soldier, Craig Santos Perez, Arthur Sze, and Mayra Santos-Febres.

Patricia Park '03 is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at American University and the author of humorous coming-of-age novels for adults and teens: Re Jane (a Korean American retelling of Brontë's Jane Eyre), Imposter Syndrome, What's Eating Jackie Oh? and the forthcoming Ambrosia Lee Drops the Mic. She has written for the New Yorker, New York Times, Guardian, and others.

Zoom: https://american.zoom.us/j/99118621679?pwd=Pm2jrEbaRGq7AZB3TIdebLpSDfzKP7.1

(Open to all; no waiting room or passcode needed)

Meeting ID: 991 1862 1679

Passcode: 445081