Cristina Bruns, adjunct instructor in English presented a paper in a session she organized and chaired at the Modern Language Association’s convention in Los Angeles in January. The session was entitled “Why Literature Matters,” and its three papers were “Literature as Alternative Reality,” given by Gregory Jusdanis, Professor and Director of the Modern Greek Program at The Ohio State University,  “Literature as Formative Experience,” given by Cristy, and “Literature as Other to Our Age,” given by Mark W. Roche, Rev. Edmund P. Joyce Professor of German Language and Literature at University of Notre Dame. Cristy’s paper and the focus of the session were drawn from her book, Why Literature? The Value of Literary Reading and What It Means for Teaching, due out this May with Continuum.