Wound is the Origin of Wonder, An evening with Dr Maya C. Popa - 24th June

Dr Maya C. Popa and Dr Richard Mills will be in conversation about her latest book Wound is the Origin of Wonder (Picador, 2023). The evening will begin with a reading, followed by an audience Q and A and a book signing.

About Dr Maya C. Popa

Dr Maya C. Popa is most recently the author of Wound is the Origin of Wonder (W.W. Norton 2022; Picador 2023) and the chapbook Dear Life (Smith|Doorstop 2022), which was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Awards (UK). Wound is the Origin of Wonder was named one of the Guardian’s Best Books of Poetry and has been featured in The Washington Post, The Irish Times, The Harvard Review, Booklist, and elsewhere. Her newsletter, Poetry Today, is a Substack bestseller and featured publication.

American Faith (Sarabande 2019) was runner-up in the Kathryn A. Morton Prize judged by Ocean Vuong. It was awarded the North American Book Prize in 2020. She is the author of three chapbooks, Dear Life, You Always Wished the Animals Would Leave and The Bees Have Been Canceled (PBS Summer Choice) and has received awards from the Poetry Foundation, the Oxford Poetry Society, the Hippocrates Society in London, and the Munster Literature Centre in Cork, Ireland, among others.

In 2021, she was commissioned by The United Nations to write a poem and deliver the opening remarks for the International Day of the Girl. Her poetry was featured on a Louis Vuitton trunk for the Visionaries 200-Year Anniversary campaign.

Popa is the Poetry Reviews Editor at Publishers Weekly and teaches poetry at NYU. She is director of creative writing at the Nightingale-Bamford school where she oversees visiting writers, workshops, and readings. In 2022, she founded Gen Z Prep, which helps high school juniors and seniors achieve extraordinary college results.

She holds a PhD on the role of wonder in poetry from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she was a recipient of a department bursary for exceptional merit, and previous degrees from Oxford University, NYU, and Barnard College. She is currently pursuing a graduate certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Leadership Initiatives from Harvard University.

About Dr Richard Mills

Dr Richard Mills is an Associate Professor in English and Popular Culture at St Mary’s University, London. He has been programme director for the Film and Popular Culture, Cultural Studies and Irish Studies degrees. He has published extensively on popular music, Irish literature and culture, film, fashion and British television. Mills is the author of The Beatles and Fandom: Sex, Death and Progressive Nostalgia(Bloomsbury 2019). He is co-editor of Mad Dogs and Englishness (Bloomsbury 2017) and he is author of the forthcoming The Beatles and Black Music: Post-colonial Theory, Musicology and Remix Culture (Bloomsbury 2024)and The Beatles and Humour (Bloomsbury 2023). Richard is a regular contributor to BBC4’s Last Word, Sky News, RTE, Portobello Radio and BBC Live. He is also on the editorial board of The Journal of Beatles Studies.

Wine and snacks will be served.

For more information, kindly contact Dr Richard Mills at Richard.Mills@stmarys.ac.uk