Deeply influenced by Octavia E. Butler and speculative fiction, NYT-bestselling author and activist adrienne maree brown champions imagination as profound political work along with the notion of dreaming new systems before we can build them. Moderated by Assistant Professor Onnesha Roychoudhuri of Creative Writing, this special In the News conversation will explore the challenge of translating radical imagination into collective power and enduring movements. Discover the inherent pleasure in activism and learn how small actions can organically grow into sweeping systemic change. Consider how communities can confront harm without giving up on one another and rewrite the narrative of accountability. Book signing to follow the talk.
Co-sponsored by the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and the Kristina Stahl Fund.
Free event with RSVP.
A reception will follow from 7:00 to 8:00 PM at the Gordon Center, Forum. Enjoy delicious food and drinks, lively music, and the chance to meet some of our dynamic Maine Lit Fest presenters, guests, and organizers.
adrienne maree brown (she/they) is growing a garden of healing ideas. Informed by decades of movement facilitation, somatics, science fiction scholarship and doula work, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Loving Correction as ideas and practices for transformation. She was awarded the Auburn Institute’s Spiritual Resilience Fellowship in its inaugural year, 2019-2020. In 2022 she was awarded the Jack P Blaney Award for Dialogue from the Simon Frasier University Center for Dialogue and the Barry Dym Champion for Change Award from the Institute for Nonprofit Practice. adrienne is the NYT-bestselling author/editor of several published texts, a ritual singer-songwriter, co-generator of the Lineages of Change Tarot Deck, and co-creator/host of How to Survive the End of the World podcast with Autumn Brown.
Onnesha Roychoudhuri is a writer, educator, and strategic troublemaker. Passionate about the ways in which the stories we tell can change the arc of our lives and history, her work engages at the intersection of storytelling and social justice. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, Kenyon Review, n+1, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Boston Review, The Nation, Salon, and Mother Jones. She has read and performed on stages for The Moth, TEDx, Lincoln Center, and more. Her book, The Marginalized Majority: Claiming Our Power in a Post-Truth America, was named one of the best nonfiction books of the year by Kirkus Reviews.
Colby is grateful to the following sponsors for supporting Colby College’s participation in the 2026 Maine Lit Fest. Thank you to The Arts Office, Creative Writing Program, Cultural Events Committee, English Department, Jennifer Jahrling Forese Fund, Goldfarb Center for Public Service, Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, Kristina Stahl Fund, and Visiting Writers Series.