The Black Mountain Institute (BMI) at UNLV presents the following events as part of its Readings & Panels Series. Distinguished speakers and writers from across the nation who specialize in literature, politics and social issues are part of this season's thought-provoking lecture series. Events are subject to change. Please check http://blackmountaininstitute.org for updated event information, Please contact BMI at (702) 895-5542 or via e-mail at: blackmountaininstitute@unlv.edu.

All events are free except the Jan. 12 event. All events are open to the public.

"From Splitting the Atom to the Cuban Missile Crisis: Writing the First Quarter-Century of the Nuclear Age"
Date/Time: Tuesday, Jan. 12, 6 p.m.
Location: Atomic Testing Museum, 755 E. Flamingo Rd., Las Vegas
Admission: $5 at the door
Description: Panel discussion with Mary Palevsky, Martin J. Sherwin and Ruth L. Sime. Palevsky directed the Nevada Test Site Oral History Project at UNLV for five years. Sherwin, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, is a history professor at George Mason University. Sime is professor emerita of chemistry at Sacramento City College. Moderated by UNLV History Professor Andy Fry. Co-sponsored by the Atomic Testing Museum and UNLV history department.

A Reading With Luljeta Lleshanaku
Date/Time: Thursday, Jan. 21, 7 p.m.
Location: UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium
Description: Luljeta Lleshanaku is an award-winning Albanian poet and former BMI fellow. She will read from her new collection "Child of Nature."

"The Future of American Conservatism"
Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m.
Location: UNLV Student Union Theatre
Description: Richard Brookhiser, senior editor at National Review; Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the New York Times Book Review; and David Frum, former speech writer for President George W. Bush and founder of NewMajority.com, will discuss what it means to be a conservative in America today and how that will shape the future of the Republican party.

"I Could Read the Sky"
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 17, 7 p.m.
Location: UNLV Doc Rando Recital Hall
Description: BMI fellow and writer Timothy O'Grady and photographer Steven Pyke, bring to life their collaborative novel, "I Could Read the Sky." O'Grady's reading from the book is interspersed with music from world-renowned fiddle-and-guitar duo Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill and the singing of Aine Meenaghan, with Pkye's arresting images projected throughout the show.

"Blurring Borders"
Date/Time: Tuesday, April 6, 7 p.m.
Location: UNLV Student Union Theatre
Description: Pulitzer Prize-winning Dominican-American writer Junot Diaz, author of "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao;" Yiyun Li, a Chinese-American writer and winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award and author of "The Vagrants;" and Pablo Medina, a Cuban-American poet, novelist, and translator explore the blurred borders between identity, nationality and culture in their work.

A Reading with Maile Chapman and Vu Tran
Date/Time: Thursday, April 15, 7 p.m.
Location: UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium
Description: Maile Chapman and Vu Tran, both UNLV Schaeffer Fellows, will read from their forthcoming first novels. Chapman's work in fiction has appeared in the journals Best American Voices, Denver Quarterly and Boston Review. She edits fiction for Witness, an annual literary magazine published by the BMI. Vu Tran is an English instructor at UNLV who recently won a Whiting Writers' Award.

BMI Fellows in Conversation
Date/Time: Thursday, April 29, 7 p.m.
Location: UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium
Description: BMI fellows and writers Lavonne Mueller, Judith Nies and Timothy O'Grady discuss the literary projects they have worked on while in residence at UNLV.

Founded in 2006, Black Mountain Institute (BMI) at UNLV is an international center dedicated to advancing literary and cross-cultural dialogue. Through public programs, residential fellowships, and publishing initiatives, Black Mountain provides a cultural lens through which today's most pressing issues can be addressed and evaluated.