The Road Back: Veterans and Literary Writing [Symposium]

In honor of Veterans Day, the Library's Poetry and Literature Center, Veterans History Project, and Exhibits Office present a symposium on the veterans’ “road back,” focusing on the use of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction as a means of coping with service experience. The symposium will include the following:

Tours of Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I will be available at 10 am and noon.

11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.: Panel Discussion: Veterans and Literary Writing (Thomas Jefferson Building, First Floor, LJ-119)

A panel of experts will discuss writing and literature as a means of coping with service experience.

Lovella Calica, Founder of the Warrior Writers Project

Stefanie Takacs, Executive Director of the Touchstones Discussion Project

Mohammed Sheriff – Division Coordinator of the National Endowment for the Arts’s Literature & Arts Education Division

Moderated by: Monica Mohindra – Head, Program Coordination and Communications Section of the Veterans History Project



1:30–2:30 p.m.: Poetry & Literature Reading (Thomas Jefferson Building, First Floor, LJ-119)

Poets Bill Jones, Vess Quinlan, Dave Richmond, and Bruce Weigl discuss their favorite World War I writers, share selections of their work, and participate in a discussion moderated by Anya Creightney, Programs Manager of the Poetry and Literature Center.

3:00–4:45 p.m.: Film Screening: The Road Back (Madison Building, Third Floor, Pickford Theater) - Film tickets available here.

Directed by James Whale, The Road Back (1937) is based on the novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque and is the sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front. The film follows German soldiers from the Armistice through their return home and was heavily edited by Universal before its 1939 re-release. Restored by the Library of Congress in association with UCLA Film & Television Archive, Universal Studios, and The Film Foundation. Restoration funding provided by The Film Foundation and the Library of Congress. Screening rights provided by New York University, executor of the Erich Maria Remarque Estate.

Please request ADA accommodations at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.