"Queer Places, Practices, and Places: A Symposium in Honor of Sam Steward" takes place next Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19, primarily in the Ohio Union.  There's a full slate of exciting papers, panels, a session on artivisms, a roundtable on collections and archives, and much more.  Over 300 people have registered, with participants coming from across the U.S. and internationally.  Some of the top scholars in queer studies will be presenting, including Joseph Boone, Tim Dean, Roderick Ferguson, Eithne Luibheid, Jose Munoz, Juana Rodriguez, Nyan Shah, and Susan Stryker.  The keynote address will be given by Justin Spring, award-winning biographer of Sam Steward.  Steward was an English department alum and donor in whose memory the conference is dedicated.  A slideshow of Steward's OSU connections is featured on the conference web site.

In addition, the library gallery in the Thompson Library is dedicated this month to Steward and the conference themes.  Besides earning his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in English at OSU, Steward was also a writer, tattoo artist, and more. There's some very interesting English Department and OSU (1920s and 30s) history in the exhibit.  One case also is devoted to Steward's literary works and connections (he was friends with Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, James Purdy, and other well-known writers of the 20th century) and another to his gay pulp fiction (written under the pen name Phil Andros).  Other cases feature Steward's tattooing, visual art, and other themes of the conference.  Finally, two special cases include LGBTQ comics from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and archival materials related to LGBTQ theater in Columbus set up by the OSU Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theater Research Institute. The exhibit is free and open during library hours through the month of May.

For more information and to register for the conference, visit: https://sexualitystudies.osu.edu/SamuelStewardSymposium