Category: Books

First Month as an NYPL Cullman Fellow * Photo/Description Journal

From my first mornings entering the New York Public Library as the 2025-26 Jean Strouse Fellow in the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, I knew it would be a very happy year! Perhaps it was the five months away in so many new situations—MacDowell, Yaddo, San Francisco—learning to bumble about with Moses, that made it possible for me to… Read more

Valentin Haüy’s Essai (1786) * On the Education of Blind Children * NYPL Rare books * Image + Description

I wrote about Valentin Haüy and his founding of the first school for blind children in 1785 in There Plant Eyes. My dear friend David Lowe, who is a photo specialist in the Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs at the New York Public Library, read my book (Thanks, David!), and because he did, when he saw Valentin Haüy’s… Read more

Image Description and the Critical Blind Gaze * NYPL Public Lecture

*As a 2023-24 Diamonstein-Spielvogal Fellow at the New York Public Library, I was asked to give a public lecture in the Vartan Gregorian Center for Research in the Humanities on March 8, 2024 called: “Image Description and the Critical Blind Gaze.” Below is the recording of the lecture—including questions from the star-studded audience!—followed by a cleaned-up transcript of my lecture… Read more

NYPL Works In Progress Talk with David Lowe, Photography Specialist

On October 19, 2023, I was honored to present my work-in-progress as a 2023-24 NYPL Diamonstein-Spielvogel Fellow at the New York Public Library. Thanks to Deirdre Donohue and David Lowe for supporting this talk with their brilliance and kindness! The entire talk with ASL interpreters is below as a Vimeo link and my lecture notes follow.     Face of… Read more

Blind Delights 1: Inspiration/Thanks Ross Gay!

A bit late to the party, but I just finished reading Ross Gay’s 2019 essay collection, The Book of Delights. I’m inspired. Hence pilfering the concept with a twist: blind delights! Like him, I have many things to delight in. Also like him, the opposite. He is black. I am blind. We each have a mountain of stereotypes and oppression… Read more

Newsletter: Smells on Parade

The latest DR. M. Leona Godin’s Aromatica Poetica Newsletter includes A new poetry/prose series that articulates the joys and difficulties of putting language to smells, 2 new books, a cosmic smelling dog, anosmia revisited—with a twist, a NYPL Fellowship, oh, and, sometimes, SIGHTED PEOPLE SUCK!     Dear Friends and family, Here in NYC, winter seems finally to be upon… Read more