Milne to explore connections between reading and empathy
Educator and author Leah Milne, Ph.D., will delve into the connections between reading and empathy during a special presentation through the Indiana Humanities’ Advancing Racial Equity Speakers Bureau.
Milne will present “Mirrors and Windows: Reading for and Beyond Empathy,” at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday Feb. 7, at Hanover College’s Duggan Library. The event is open to the public, free of charge.
Milne is an associate professor of multicultural American literature at the University of Indianapolis. She teaches courses including multicultural American literature, poverty and wealth in literature, young adult literature and post-colonial literature, among many others.
An accomplished writer, she is the author of “Novel Subjects: Authorship as Radical Self-Care in Multiethnic American Narratives,” which won the 2021 Midwest Modern Language Association Book Award. In addition to her award-winning book, her writings and opposite editorials (op-eds) have been featured in such publications as Newsweek, Ms. Magazine, The Hill, The Journal of American Culture and African American Review.
“Mirrors and Windows: Reading for and Beyond Empathy” will examine the benefits of reading materials outside our comfort zones that offer insights into differing lives and experiences. Milne will share strategies for reading compassionately and explore potential limitations, especially when reading across differences of ability, gender or race.
Milne’s appearance, part of Hanover’s Black History Month celebration, is supported by Indiana Humanities through the organization’s Advancing Racial Equity Speakers Bureau. Launched in 2023, the initiative encourages Indiana residents to facilitate and discuss humanities-based conversations about the history of race and racism, the Black experience in Indiana and efforts toward racial equity.
Founded in 1972, Indiana Humanities connects people, opens minds and enriches lives by creating and facilitating programs that encourage Hoosiers to think, read and talk. The non-profit entity is funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Humanities and Lilly Endowment Inc.
The event is sponsored on campus by the Hanover College Haq Center for Cross-Cultural Education, Duggan Library, Racial Justice and Equity Committee, English Department and Black Student Union.
