Western Washington University

04/17/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/17/2026 08:50

WWU faculty Yanara Friedland and Stefania Heim to launch new books at a joint reading on April 24

WWU faculty Yanara Friedland and Stefania Heim to launch new books at a joint reading on April 24

April 17, 2026

by Allie Spikes

WWU Communications

Yanara Friedland, associate professor at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, and Stefania Heim, associate professor of English will launch their most recent books at the Geheim Gallery in Bellingham on April 24 at 7 p.m. as part of the Mutter Courage Reading Series. 

Mutter Courage Readings are free and open to the public and feature acclaimed writers from all around the United States. You can read more about the Mutter Courage Reading Series here.  

"Thanatographies"

Associate Professor at Fairhaven College and author of "Thanatographies" Yanara Friedland. Photos courtesy of Friedland.

Friedland's "Thanatographies," published in March 2026 by University of Alabama Press, is a genre-bending novel in four sections that weaves together dreamscapes, historical fragments, personal recollections and philosophical inquiry to explore the afterlives of loss and survival.

Each of the four sections of "Thanatographies" is a meditation in lyrical prose on themes of night, sleeplessness and historical erasure.

Writer Dalia Neis said that in Friedland's book, "Sleeplessness breaks the spell of ordinary time, daring to evoke a lucid and utterly unique form of expression akin to the language of prophetic dreaming."

"Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser"

Associate Professor of English and author of "Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser" Stefania Heim. Photos courtesy of Heim.

"Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser" published in April 2026 by West Virginia University Press and edited by Heim and Catherine Gander is a collection of poetry, lyric essays and scholarly critiques from scholars and poets about the author Muriel Rukeyser.

Michael Leong calls the book a "rousing, open-hearted collection" and "a wonderfully tessellated congregation of contemporary takes on one of the most significant polymaths of American modernism."

In "Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser," an amazing roster of poets including Heim and Gander, Daniel Borzutzky, Susan Briante, Stacy Hardy, Erika Meitner, Philip Metres, Jena Osman, Deborah Paredez, Khadijah Queen, Solmaz Sharif and Nomi Stone dive deeply into Rukeyser's work and life to interrogate, explore and challenge the models she provides for thinking and writing in our own social, political and poetic moment.

Allie Spikes covers the WWU Graduate School and Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies for University Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at [email protected].

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