A reading and conversation with author Catharina Coenen and Professor Ilan Stavans will be held on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM. The event takes place in the Center for Humanistic Inquiry at the Aliki Perroti & Seth Frank Lyceum (197 S Pleasant St, Amherst).
They will discuss Coenen’s memoir, Unexploded Ordnance, which explores three generations of women in Germany before, during, and after the Holocaust. The conversation will address memory, resistance, and reflections on language, art, and biology.
The event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.
Catharina Coenen is a German immigrant and biology professor at Allegheny College. Her memoir, Unexploded Ordnance, won the Restless Books Immigrant Writing Prize. Ilan Stavans is the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities at Amherst College and publisher of Restless Books.
