Paola Bianco, associate professor of foreign languages, recently took a year off to complete her sabbatical in which she traveled abroad and interviewed writers for her upcoming book about Spanish women writers.

Her book, “Conversing with Literature,” will be used with students next year once it comes out, and it covers a wide range of topics.

Some of the topics in the book include domestic violence, ethnic identity and an array of topics.

The Wilkes University professor traveled to Spain a couple years ago, Costa Rica three years ago and this past August she traveled to Chile to interview some of the writers she used in her book.

However, there are some requirements she had to fulfill in order to do her sabbatical. She had to be a 10-year professor and have completed extensive research in the topic her sabbatical was on. She had to travel and talk to certain people that can help her complete her research.

Bianco also needed to have an adequate amount of time to complete the sabbatical, so she took a full year off to complete her research for the book.

The book, “Conversing with Literature,” is expected to be released this December.