Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi Lecture

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ghazala Hashmi will visit Roanoke College on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, as part of her statewide lecture series, "Literature & Government." Her lecture at Roanoke will be titled "Labored Lessons: Kingsolver and Dickens on Institutions, Poverty, and Grit."

Hashmi, who holds a doctorate in American literature and was an educator for 30 years, kicked off the series at William & Mary in April and continues on our campus this fall. The "Literature & Government" series is an interdisciplinary series exploring the relationship between literary expression and political power across history, culture and communities. The series examines how American writers have defined, challenged and interrogated systems of governance and institutional power, and how political authority, in turn, has influenced literature's place, purpose and voice.

The two texts Hashmi will reference in the lecture at Roanoke are "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens and "Demon Copperhead" by Barbara Kingsolver.

This lecture is co-hosted by the Center for Civic and Religious Pluralism (CCRP), a particular interest of Lt. Gov. Hashmi's, and it will be moderated by CCRP director Dr. Melanie Trexler. A Q&A will follow. This lecture is free and open to the general public, but RSVP is required. Please RSVP at this link.