Lyceum Series Brown Bag Round Table

Pack a lunch and join several of our Lyceum Series instructors for a conversation hosted by series creator Lauren Brazeal Garza on a variety of literary topics. In the spirit of democratic discussion, we hope you’ll join the conversation too!

Featuring previous Lyceum Series instructors Matt Baker, James Davis and upcoming instructors Janelle Gray and Bahar Momeni.

Matthew Baker is a poet and teacher pursuing his Ph. D. in Literature from the University of Texas at Dallas. He received his MFA from the University of Nevada, Reno, and is the author of Undoing the Hide’s Taut Musculature (FLP, 2019). His poems have appeared in Muzzle Magazine, The Southern Review, The Atlanta Review, and Booth Journal, among others.

James Davis’s debut poetry collection Club Q won the Anthony Hecht Prize. Recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Sewanee Review, Five Points, The Hopkins Review, Barrelhouse, and elsewhere. He is Editor-in-Chief of American Literary Review and will receive his PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of North Texas in May.

Janelle Gray is a creative, scholar, and instructor from Dallas, Texas. Her portfolio consists of four books, an album, plays, short films, multiple TV series, and feature films. Gray holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Spanish from Stephen F. Austin and a Master of Liberal Arts in Creative Writing and Literature from Harvard University Extension School and is a doctoral candidate at The University of Texas at Dallas. Gray is a produced playwright whose interdisciplinary methodology explores the connections between creative works, history, and actions toward equity in creative and academic spaces.

Bahar Momeni is an Iranian-American award-winning writer, poet, translator, and human rights activist. She’s working toward her Ph.D. in Literature at UT Dallas, where she teaches creative writing and literature.

She has published works in both Farsi and English. Her writings explore themes of women’s resilience and everyday resistance, contributing to ongoing conversations in modern literature. In 2023, Bahar received the “Outstanding Emerging BIPOC Creator Award” from UT Austin, highlighting her impact as a BIPOC creator. She also receives the “2024 Future Art Writers Award” from MOZAIK Philanthropy and San Francisco State University. Currently engrossed in her debut semi-autobiographical graphic novel, The Trees We Carry, Bahar aims to extend her discourse on identity, displacement, and resistance.

Lauren Brazeal Garza is the author of three short books of poetry and fiction in addition to her memoir-in-verse, Gutter (YesYes Books, 2018), which chronicles her homelessness as a teenager. Her most recent project, a literary horror novel, was inspired by her experiences as a queer woman living in poverty after she aged out of the foster system. She earned her M.F.A. in creative writing from Bennington College, and is preparing to graduate with her Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Texas at Dallas with a specialty in testimonial literature and narratives from marginalized voices. She teaches literature and creative writing at UT Dallas and Writing Workshops (partnered with Electric Lit).