Dr. Patricia Leavy - Literary Approaches to Arts-Based Research

 

 

This event will combine lecture and workshop formats. First, Patricia Leavy will present a PowerPoint presentation explaining what led her as a social scientist to the arts and fiction. The presentation will address the limitations of traditional academic writing, offers an overview of arts--based research, and details the unique strengths of literary genres of arts-based research (including creative nonfiction, poetry, ethnodrama, fiction, and multimedia forms that combine fiction and visual art).

 

Patricia will share examples from her own work as well as other published work. Second, in the hands-on workshop portion, participants will engage in a creative writing activity designed to help participants 1) develop a creative writing practice, and 2) start thinking about their research interests from a literary point of view. There will be time for Q&A. Participants should bring writing instruments (a pen and notebook paper or a laptop).

 

 

She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chair of Sociology & Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College. She has published over twenty-five books, earning commercial and critical success in both fiction and nonfiction, and her work has been translated into numerous languages. She is also series creator and editor for nine book series with Oxford University Press and Brill/Sense, cofounder and co-editor-in-chief of Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal, and a blogger.

 

Dr. Leavy has received numerous awards for her books. Most recently, her novel Spark won a 2019 American Fiction Award in the category of Inspirational Fiction. She has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2016 Mogul, a global women’s empowerment network, named her an “Influencer.” In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the State University of New York at New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.”