This year’s Fall Symposium Day, “Voice and Vision”, was held on Oct. 8, 2025, featuring keynote speaker Kaveh Akbar and his talk “The Word Dropped Like a Stone: Echoes of the Ancients”. Akbar is an Iranian-American poet and novelist who is best known for his novel, “Martyr!”.

Akbar began the presentation by reciting “The Hymn to Inanna” by Enheduanna, written over 4000 years ago to the ancient Mesopotamian goddess Inanna. He then asked the audience if they could feel a difference in the air of the room.

“That’s because a woman who lived 43 centuries ago wrote a book,” Akbar said. “In a world incomprehensibly dissimilar from our own, she wrote a poem and now there’s a tangible difference in the room where you’re sitting in Rock Island, Illinois.” 

The speech focused on how religious texts and poems from thousands of years ago remain relevant and impactful today, particularly when they address universal topics such as grief, desire and rage.

First-Year Kymorrah Jackson attended the talk for her First Year Inquiry course after reading some excerpts from Akbar’s work. She said she was excited for the Q&A session and wanted to ask about his inspiration and meaning behind his work. 

Jackson said she felt that Akbar’s themes were widely relatable to people going through hardships.

“There are a lot of terrible things that have been going on in the world right now, and I feel like, in some way, we can all relate to how our lives change and how we are supposed to move on,” Jackson said.

Jackson said she felt that Akbar’s writing about addiction could be related to by a general audience, as everyone suffers through things that they recover and grow from. 

“I do like [reading] this kind of thing because it’s real, it makes you feel something and think,” Jackson said.

Associate Professor of Art and Graphic Design, V Phipps, attended the session after reading “Martyr!” and enjoying it. Phipps said that Akbar presents new ideas and perspectives that inspire further thought. 

Phipps said Akbar’s ability to spark and discuss existential questions about life, death and the meaning of both while still delivering an entertaining read.

“As a person working in the creative fields, I appreciate originality and fresh ideas,” Phipps said. “How lucky we are to get to meet Akbar in person and be exposed to such an interesting mind.”