Layne will speak on recent work by British writer Sharon Dodua Otoo, whose short story in German “Herr Gröttrup sits down” won the 2016 Bachmann literature prize. Layne argues that Otoo offers Afrofuturist and posthumanist narratives informed by Black feminist thought, approaching desubjectivation without becoming nihilistic or focusing on violence and sexuality, and instead offering more positive hopes for the future.

Co-sponsored by UVA’s Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures and the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies