Think journalists are usually wrong about your areas of interest, but want to make your work legible outside the academic journal scene? This talk / workshop is designed to help participants translate academic knowledge to non-academic audiences and situate themselves in the larger cultural conversation about power, expertise, and media. We'll discuss common challenges and barriers to doing research in public, especially those faced by people in historically marginalized or politicized fields of study, as well as develop support and strategies for people who want to exchange knowledge with those outside academia. Throughout, we'll stay grounded in real-world skills-- making a strong pitch, finding the story and character in your work, identifying appropriate venues, and dealing with feedback. This is a hands-on workshop but don't let that scare you. No preparation or prior experience required.

Cassius Adair is an audio producer, writer, and researcher who lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. Currently, he's working as a storyteller for multiple venues, including piloting a new podcast for the University of Minnesota's Tretter Transgender Oral History Project. Before becoming an independent producer, he worked at Virginia Humanities for the nationally-distributed public radio show With Good Reason.

Previously, Dr. Adair has taught literature and media at the University of Michigan; been an audio storytelling consultant at the Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning; helped produce a daily news and culture show at Michigan Radio, and worked as a Mellon Humanities Fellow at the Digital Library Federation. He completed his PhD in English Language and Literature in 2017. In 2018, he was selected as a New Voices Scholar by the Association of Independents in Radio.

His writing appears in American Quarterly, American Literature, Avidly, Make Literary Magazine, Nursing Clio, The Rumpus, and Transgender Studies Quarterly. He is currently at work on two books: one about speculative approaches to higher education, and one about transgender people and the Internet.