Rachel Carson Conference
Chatham University, Shadyside Campus | October, 18, 2025
Write to Resist
Voices of assent or dissent
Echoes of voice and the power of language
Defining power outside of authority
Absence as choice or absence as erasure
Spaces of silence between what is said and what is known
Winners write the story: resistance or conformity to dominant narratives
“Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?” – Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962
Words, written and oral, hold power. In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson denounces the pervasive use of pesticides in developing agriculture. Despite anticipating pushback from powerful organizations, she knew she had no choice. It is imperative for writers today to maintain the tradition of resistance as Carson calls for in the quote above. If we fall silent, if we avert our eyes from that which is wrong, if we accept lies as truths, our words have failed us. How can we instead claim power? How can we inspire and spur action?
The 2025 Rachel Carson Academic and Creative Writing Conference– hosted at Chatham University by Alpha Delta Lambda– is seeking papers uncovering the nuanced themes of voice, power, absence, and narrative. Of course, “Write to Resist” isn’t exclusive to forms of resistance. We hope to receive creative and academic submissions investigating many interpretations of this theme.
Keynote: “Root Fractures: Against Erasure and Silence”
Keynote Speaker: Diana Khoi Nguyen
This keynote talk will trace the legacy of war across generations in Nguyen’s family, and how it ruptures in catastrophic ways with the suicide of her brother in 2014. Working with family home videos, photographs, and stories, Nguyen traces the roots of harm and violence, and will annotate her work to illustrate how she is working against erasure and silence in her family and the diaspora.
About the Keynote Speaker: Diana Khoi Nguyen is the author of Root Fractures and Ghost Of, a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. She is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and her video work has been exhibited at ICA Pittsburgh. A Kundiman and MacDowell fellow, and member of the Vietnamese artist collective, She Who Has No Master(s), Nguyen teaches creative writing in the MFA programs at Randolph College and the University of Pittsburgh.
Poetry Workshop: “Listening to Images”
Workshop Leader: Diana Khoi Nguyen
The title for this generative poetry workshop is lifted from the title of scholar Tina M. Campt's insightful text on ways of listening closely to photography; it informs how we will attune ourselves to the "lower frequencies" of a photographic image so that we can register "'felt sound[s]'--sound that, like a hum, resonates in and as vibration." In this session, we will explore the ways in which poets have recently engaged with personal, historical, and archival photographs: Ross Gay, Deborah Paradez, and Anthony Cody, allow for their engagements to prompt our own journey into listening to images.
Finalized Conference Schedule
All conference events will take place in Mellon Center.
Please access a map of Chatham University’s Shadyside Campus here.
Guests are invited to park in the East Parking lots, Library Parking lot, and the Terrace Parking lot.
9 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. – Breakfast
9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. – Keynote Speaker
10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. – Session 1
12 p.m. - 12:45 p.m. – Lunch
12:45 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. – Workshop
1:45 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. – Session 2
3:20 p.m. - 4:50 p.m. – Session 3
4:50 p.m. - 5 p.m. – Closing Remarks
Submission Deadlines & Notifications
Who Can Submit
Sigma Tau Delta student members
Alpha Delta Lambda student members
Alumni Epsilon Chapter members
Community members and students who have an interest in and would be available to present at the Rachel Carson Conference
How to Submit & Submission Deadline
To submit, email abstracts of 500 words or less in the form of a Word Doc or PDF to sigmataudelta@chatham.edu by October 1st, 2025. Please additionally register to attend here.
Open to all, regardless of institutional affiliation.
Media concerning our current sociopolitical, economic, or environmental reality
Resistances across class, race, age, and gender; echo chambers and the circulation of information
Media developed in periods of political turmoil
Postmodern theory, feminist theory, or other relevant critical frameworks
Experimental writing forms
Speculative fiction
Prophecy, imagined futures, or dystopian futures
Reflections on anger, fear, or celebration
And/or any other creative or critical work that you, the author, have written to resist
Rachel Carson
Scientist. Author. Environmentalist. Pioneer. Student. Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University) graduate Rachel Carson '29 rose to prominence with her book, Silent Spring, as a trailblazing voice questioning the resulting impact of pesticides on people, animals, and the environment. This call to attention was a catalyst for the environmental movement that has helped bring awareness and action to the ecological problems our planet faces. Her inspiration guided Chatham to the creation of Eden Hall Campus, and her work has also served as a catalyst for our and the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment's commitment to advancing sustainability education, implementation, and research. Carson's big thinking and devotion to improve the world are just two of the qualities we work to bring to life through our students.