QUILTING POINTS:

We are happy to announce that the next Quilting Points session for 2026 will take place on Thursday, 26 th  March. In this session, we will discuss Sontag’s essay 'Fascinating Fascism' (1974) from  Under the Sign of Saturn (1980). Our discussion will be supplemented by the chapter 'Peeking Under the Black Shirt: Italian Fascism’s Disembodied Bodies' from Fashioning the Body Politic: Dress, Gender, Citizenship (2002) edited by Wendy Parkins. We hope to see you there! Time: 5.30 pm – 7.30 pm + optional pub social Location: Alumni Room, House 10 Cavendish Road 

 We are happy to announce that the first Quilting Points session for 2026 will take place on Thursday, 29 th January. In this session, we will discuss Sontag’s essay Notes on Camp (1964).  Our discussion will be supplemented by the chapter 'Gesture, Ephemera, and Queer Feeling' From José Esteban Muñoz's Queering Utopia . We hope to see you there! Time: 5.30 pm – 7.30 pm + optional pub social Location: House 10, Cavendish Road — first door on your left when you come in    

We are happy to announce that the final Quilting Points session for 2025 will take place on Wednesday, 17th December. In this session, we will watch together and discuss To Tell a Story (1983) - Susan Sontag's televised dialogue with John Berger, in which the two debate the role of the storyteller across media and form. No advance reading required! Time: 5.30 pm – 7.30 pm + optional pub social Location: House 10, Cavendish Road — first door on your left when you come in

The final   Quilting   Points   reading group session by the current organisers will take place on Thursday October 9th. Fittingly, we will discuss the first chapter of Edward Said's   On Late Style  (published posthumously in 2006), one of his last works. Drawing on Adorno's idea of lateness, Said asks whether there are identifiable 'unique qualities of perception and form that artists acquire as a result of age in the late phase of their career'.  You can access the selected reading   here . As the essay draws heavily on Adorno, we have added a completely optional secondary reading:  'Lateness and Modernity in Theodor Adorno', by Robert Spencer,  which offers a reading of Adorno that deviates significantly from Said's. We will also use this session to discuss future plans for the reading group. A separate call for organisers for the upcoming academic year will be sent next week; however, if you have any plans or ideas for Quilting Points, p...

Dear all, As part of this year’s Quilting Points critical reading group sessions, we are delighted to welcome Dr Anna Bernard from King’s College London, who will be giving a talk on Edward Said and Palestinian solidarity. The talk will take place in the Alumni Room at the School of English (Cavendish Road 10) on  May 22nd from 15.30 to 17.30,  followed by a drinks reception.  Everyone (at whatever level of study and whether enrolled at the University or not) is welcome, and no prior familiarity with Said’s work or related areas is necessary. Please do let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or access requirements by contacting us at quiltingpoints@gmail.com. Dr Bernard’s talk will last approximately 45 minutes, and it will be followed by a Q&A and a general discussion. Please find more information on Dr Bernard's talk below, and we hope to see you there! About the talk: ‘Edward Said and Solidarity’ This talk will consider Edward Said’s legacy not only a...

  Dear all, The fifth Quilting Points reading group session of this academic year will take place on  Thursday, May 1st, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm . In this session, we will discuss 'Speaking Truth to Power', the fifth part of Said's  Representations of the Intellectual  (1994), a collection of essays based on his 1993 Reith Lectures. Said's essay, which argues that "one of the main intellectual activities of our century has been the questioning, not to say undermining, of authority", speaks to contemporary anxieties about intellectual authority, resistance, and the future of the humanities, and will be a useful springboard for discussing the role of the intellectual in our times. The reading can be accessed  here , and it is also available  as a lecture on the BBC website . The session will be held in the Meeting Room in the School of English (House 10 Cavendish Road — first door on your left when you come in), followed by an optional pub social. Everyone ...