Department of English Presents 2026 Troy Lecture with N. K. Jemisin

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UMass Amherst’s Department of English announces the 2026 Troy Lecture with N. K. Jemisin, one of the most acclaimed writers of speculative fiction and fantasy of the twenty-first century.

The event will take place on Tuesday, March 31 at 4:30pm in the Student Union Ballroom at UMass Amherst. The event is free and open to the public; tickets – available through the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center – are required for entry.

N. K. Jemisin is a fantasy author and 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Since beginning her professional career in the early 2000s, her short fiction and novels have been recognized with multiple Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. Most of her works have been optioned for television or film, and collectively her novels, including the Broken Earth trilogy, have sold over two million copies. After twenty years working in higher education as an applied counseling psychologist, she “retired” in 2016 to become a full-time writer, writing instructor, and public speaker. Her speculative works range widely in theme, though with repeated motifs: resistance and oppression, loneliness and belonging, and Wouldn’t It Be Cool If This One Ridiculous Thing Happened.

In her spare time she’s into tabletop and video games, biking, fanfiction, and urban gardening. She lives and writes in Brooklyn, with her son and two cats.

The Troy Lectures on the Humanities and Public Life are presented in honor of the late Frederick S. Troy, Emeritus Professor of English, honorary professor of the University and former trustee. They were established in 1983. Past speakers include Margaret Atwood, Judith Butler, J.M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Seamus Heaney, Orhan Pamuk, Salman Rushdie, Wole Soyinka, and Colson Whitehead.