The 2026 Ben Belitt Colloquium on Arts and Literary Culture: The Future of the Personal Essay in a Digital World

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC |  In his introduction to The Best American Essays anthology that he edited in 2022, author Alexander Chee tells the story of taking a workshop with the Canadian writer Clark Blaise and a disarming question that his teacher used to pose in workshops: Was the essay wet? By “wet” Chee’s teacher meant, roughly, how embodied is the essay, how do the senses and sensory experiences of the writer fuel the enterprise. Tired innuendo aside, is there a lesson here, especially in the age of digital technologies, so-called 'distanced learning,' and relationships conducted on glowing screens?

This Colloquium gathers four of the most innovative and distinguished personal essayists working today on Bennington's campus to discuss the future of the personal essay in a digital world.

Jo Ann Beard is the author of two essay collections, Festival Days and The Boys of My Youth; a novel, In Zanesville; and other works published in anthologies, magazines, and literary journals. She is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among others. She has taught the essay, in all its forms, at numerous institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, where she is an emeritus professor. Beard is the 2026 Ben Belitt Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bennington. 

Alexander Chee is the author of the novels Edinburgh and the national bestseller The Queen of the Night. His essay collection, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, was named a Best Book of the year in 2018 by New York Magazine, the Washington Post, Publisher's Weekly, NPR, and Time. In 2025, Kirkus Reviews named How to Write An Autobiographical Novel one of the one hundred best books of nonfiction of the 21st century. Chee is a recipient of the NEA Fellowship in Fiction, The Whiting Award, The Guggenheim and The USA  Artists’ Fellowship. He teaches creative writing at Dartmouth College and lives in Vermont.

Franny Choi is a poet and essayist. Their books include The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On, a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; Soft Science, winner of the Elgin Award for Science Fiction Poetry; and Floating, Brilliant, Gone. They co-edited the anthology We the Gathered Heat: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poetry, Performance, and Spoken Word alongside Terisa Siagatonu, Noʻu Revilla, and Bao Phi. Franny is a member of the Literature Faculty at Bennington College and the founder of Brew & Forge. Franny’s first essay collection, forthcoming from Ecco Press, is sort of about robots, but mostly about being queer, Asian, and alive. 

Anaïs Duplan '14 is a trans* poet, curator, and artist. He is the author of the book I NEED MUSIC; a book of essays; a full-length poetry collection, Take This Stallion; and a chapbook, Mount Carmel and the Blood of Parnassus. He is on the Literature faculty at Bennington, and has taught poetry at The New School, Columbia University, and Sarah Lawrence College, amongst others.

This event is open to the public and will be live-streamed. Registration link coming soon.