Where Literature Meets Life: Maryland Humanities Council Reading/Discussion Series

Our Reading/Discussion Series go far beyond a book club. Guided by a humanities scholar, community audiences read poems, short stories, essays, novels, and plays related to a relevant theme, and gather to share their reflections. Our current Reading/Discussion Programs are:

	Literature and Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Health Care. The program offers health care workers an opportunity to share their reactions with colleagues. Using selections such as the play W;t by Margaret Edson, poetry by Marilyn Krysl and John Stone, and the short story Mistakes by David Hilfiker, a humanities scholar encourages participants to reflect on their professional roles and relationships. Humanities at the Heart of Health Care involves 79 hospitals in 14 states, and has had a significant effect on the way participants understand their work and their patients. This program has been offered at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. The Maryland Humanities Council is interested in expanding this program to other hospitals throughout the state.
	War and Democracy – A Literary Engagement. Each session in the five-part series is led by a humanities scholar. Readings reflect the impact that war and democracy have had on each other and include Aristophanes Lysistrata, Flannery O'Connor's The Displaced Person, and Studs Terkel's The Good War: An Oral History of World War II. War and Democracy – A Literary Engagement was offered in 2005 at the Londonderry Retirement Community in Easton and the East Columbia Branch of the Howard County Public Library.

For more information on Reading/Discussion programs, please contact Jean Wortman 410-685-4187 or jwortman@mdhc.org.