Mollie Blackburn, a professor of teaching and learning and sexuality studies at Ohio State University, will deliver the 22nd annual Andrea Carson Coley Lecture at the University of Georgia on April 29 at 12:30 p.m. in the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium in the Georgia Museum of Art.

The lecture, “Talking about Race, Religion, Sex and Violence in Relation to LGBT-themed Literature,” will follow a reception honoring the Coley family at 11:30 a.m. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public.

Blackburn’s research focuses on literacy, language and social change, with particular attention to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth and the teachers who serve them. She has published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, Research in the Teaching of English and Teachers College Record, among others. She is the author of “Interrupting Hate: Homophobia in Schools and What Literacy Can Do About It” and the co-editor of “Acting Out!: Combating Homophobia through Teacher Activism.”

She has received WILLA’s—Women in Life and Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English—Inglis Award for her work in the areas of gender, sexuality, sexual orientation and young people; the queer studies special interest group of the American Educational Research Association’s award for a body of work; and the Alan C. Purves Award for an article in research in the teaching of English deemed rich with implications for classroom practice.

The Andrea Carson Coley Lecture, hosted by the UGA Institute for Women’s Studies, was endowed through a donation from Andrew and Kathy Coley in memory of their daughter, Andrea Carson Coley (1972-1993), who was a certificate candidate in women’s studies. Each spring, the lecture brings to campus scholars conducting cutting-edge research in LGBT studies.

This year’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Georgia Museum of Art and the LGBT Resource Center.