Define your Era and join us in welcoming renowned poet and educator Stephanie Burt as she releases her newest book, Taylor’s Version, an in-depth look at the lyrics and music of pop superstar Taylor Swift.

Joining Stephanie is fellow renowned Philadelphia author Rahul Mehta, whose 2024 poetry collection Feeding the Ghosts has received accolades the world around. Their discussion will be followed by a Q&A and signing of the books. Come on out!

Stephanie Burt is a poet, literary critic, and professor. In 2012, the New York Times called Burt “one of the most influential poetry critics of [her] generation.” Burt grew up around Washington, DC and earned a BA from Harvard and PhD from Yale. Burt’s books include We Are Mermaids (2022), After Callimachus (2020), Advice from the Lights (2017), Belmont (2013), Parallel Play (2006), and Popular Music (1999).

Rahul Mehta “My first name is pronounced like the Spanish Raúl but with an “h” in the middle: Ra-HOOL. My preferred pronouns are they/them.

My debut poetry collection, Feeding the Ghosts, is forthcoming from the University Press of Kentucky in March 2024. I am the author two books of fiction: No Other World: A Novel (Harper, 2017) and Quarantine: Stories (HarperPerennial, 2011; Random House India, 2010). My work has receives a Lambda Literary Award and the Asian American Literary Award for Fiction and has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including the Kenyon Review, the Georgia Review, the Massachusetts Review, the Sun, New Stories from the South, the New York Times Magazine, and the International Herald Tribune. In 2011, I was selected by Out magazine for its “Out 100” list of inspiring individuals. Born and raised in a Gujarati- American household in West Virginia, I currently live in Philadelphia with my partner and our dog, and I teach creative writing at the University of the Arts.”