On a Thursday morning in March, New School students and staff gathered in Starr Foundation Hall in the University Center. They were seated around long rectangular tables sipping coffee and croissants, a display of books resting on a table in the back. They were there for the New School New Books event, a celebration of works of literature written by TNS faculty. 

Founded by the Vera Center for Arts and Politics in 2023 and presented in partnership with the annual Spitting Image Book Fair, the event pulls published work from professors across all five schools within The New School. The event was split into three sections: “Time, Space, and Worldbuilding,” “Planetary Politics,” and “Telling Stories.”

“It’s … an opportunity to find a more centralized way of celebrating the publishing practices that are happening around The New School … within the faculty body,” Re’al Christian said, assistant director of editorial initiatives at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics and co-curator of the event. 

Christian noted the inherent political implications of this year’s fair. “The creation of New School New Books was also an agitation of this latent censorship that came in the aftermath of Trump’s first administration,” he said.

Before the first part of the event began, a presentation was given on The Siren, a satirical political cartoon newspaper co-edited by Noah Fischer, who currently teaches Integrative Studio 2 at Parsons School of Design, and Pablo Helguera, who currently teaches at the College of Performing Arts. The event was no longer just about the exchange of literature, it was an act of resistance. “Last year the concept was about sharing work, however [this year] there is urgency of the event,” Helguera said. “We cannot allow ourselves to worry about that [censorship] because they want us to shut up.” 

Frustrated with the Trump administration’s attempt to censor journalists and anyone who opposes its agenda, Helguera realized how serious the issue of censorship had become when news broke that The Washington Post refused to publish a political cartoon that depicted Jeff Bezos bowing to Trump, signaling the ways tech companies are working with the administration. “That was one of those critical indicators of where we are,” he said. “These [political cartoons] are part of free speech, and they were shut down. That means something. We need to make a platform.”

The first section of readings, entitled “Time,” focused on interplanetary existence, spatial mapping, and methodologies of worldbuilding. Four works were presented, including Radical Food Geographies: Power, Knowledge and Resistance co-edited by Kristin Reynolds, associate professor and chair of food studies at TNS. The book, co-authored by her and forty other contributors, explores how food system inequalities are addressed across various places such as Western Awadh, India, and Santiago, Chile. It explains how social, economic, and ecological dynamics shape one’s experiences with food.

The second part of the event, “Planetary Politics,” blended personal stories, critical reflections, and innovative projects to address societal issues, identity, and collective action. Chatter filled the room as people waited for the readings to begin. The books presented included We Are Having This Conversation Now: The Times of AIDS Cultural Production co-authored by Theodore Kerr, part-time lecturer of interdisciplinary arts, Neither Here Nor There: Botanical (mis)Communication, co-authored by Harpreet Sareen, assistant professor of interaction and media design, Infrastructure Policy and Inequality by Michael Cohen, professor of international affairs & director of the Doctoral Program in Public and Urban Policy, and Twilight Prisoners: The Rise of the Hindu Right and the Fall of India by Siddhartha Deb, Associate Professor of Literary Studies.  

The first book in this segment, co-written by Kerr, examined the cultural response to the AIDS crisis. Kerr discussed the relevance to the Trump administration’s cuts of billions of dollars in HIV prevention. “It costs … $3,000 a month for … life-saving medication,” Kerr said. “People living with HIV are disproportionately living under the poverty line.” As the Trump administration plans to slash over $40 billion from the Department of Health and Human Services and eliminate all HIV prevention programs in the U.S. In the wake of the administration’s USAID cuts, other countries are left devastated as they struggle to access necessities, including those necessary for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention.   

The final section, entitled Telling Stories, took on an even more personal tone, as the stories were centered around the writers themselves. The group discussed Life Story by McKenzie Wark, 2023 Gender Studies Program Director, a short film script that touched on sexuality, gender, and politics. Encounters and Collisions, an illustrated memoir by CoPA faculty member Sara Serpa,  explored her journey as an immigrant from Portugal. “It portrays episodes of my life since moving to the U.S.,” she said. The memoir also depicts the fear Serpa felt arriving in the U.S. as an immigrant. 

Serpa’s memoir felt particularly relevant in light of recent deportations by the Trump administration, including a 2-year-old American citizen who was deported to Honduras without due process. The administration is also refusing re-entry to Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador. 

As many grapple with an increasingly alarming political situation, the event also served as an opportunity to come together. “Having the opportunity to discover colleagues whose work you know, you admire … and are inspired by, and having a platform to do so, but also one that’s very intimate and personal,” Carin Kuoni said, senior director and chief curator of the event. “It’s … a meeting between colleagues and peers looking at each other’s practices.” 

As political discourse continues to further polarize and divide us, some find inspiration in the turmoil. “We don’t want to be paralyzed,” Helguera said. “We need to do something. At least I now have a purpose.”