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Louisa Shepard
Senior News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Leveraging the University’s expertise with technology and rare centuries-old manuscripts, Penn Libraries is digitizing and cataloging medieval and early modern texts from 15 Philadelphia-area institutions. The three-year project is known as BiblioPhilly.
“Out, Out, Phosphene Candle” is one of The Sach’s Program for Arts Innovation 23 projects that received funding this spring. A collaboration between Paul Swenback, the building manager for the Institute of Contemporary Art, and Joy Feasley, the fantastical exhibit blends art, nature, and the occult at a gallery in Wisconsin, and in a forthcoming book on the exhibit.
For Libraries fellow Erin Connelly, stains are some of the most exciting discoveries in her study of medieval manuscripts. She is part of a national team analyzing stains in medieval texts using modern multispectral imaging. An exhibition at Van Pelt-Dietrich Library displays the researchers’ discoveries.
English professor Paul Saint-Amour has spent a lifetime reading, studying, and teaching the work of James Joyce. On June 16, known as Bloomsday to Joyce historians around the world, the Rosenbach Museum and Library will host a day-long public reading of selected passages.
Ebony Elizabeth Thomas of the Graduate School of Education discusses her work exploring depictions of slavery in children’s books.
Josephine Park, professor of English and interim director of the Asian American Studies Program, on the poetry that originated in Japanese-American internment camps, and poetry by incarcerated populations.
English professor Dagmawi Woubshet describes himself an “African-Americanist” in his literary pursuits. An immigrant from Ethiopia, he focuses on the 1980s in his research and his courses.
Books define the life of Peter Stallybrass, an English professor who has retired after 30 years at Penn, known for his History of Material Texts workshop. He explains the five seminal books of his storied academic career.
Chosen for her expertise in Southern and African-American literature, author and poet Thadious Davis was one of the first professors recruited by Penn President Amy Gutmann. Davis was honored at a reception and a symposium which focused on her work exploring race, region, and gender.
Louisa Shepard
Senior News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Alumnus Gary Prebula and his wife, Dawn, have donated a $500,000 collection of more than 75,000 comic books and graphic novels to Penn Libraries, featuring remarks from Sean Quimly of the Kislak Center and Jean-Christophe Cloutier of the School of Arts & Sciences.
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In a Q&A, Emily Wilson of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses what the Iliad can tell us about modern society, from masculinity to environmentalism.
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A book review of the School of Arts & Sciences’ Emily Wilson’s translation of the “Iliad” says she brings Homer’s great war story to rousing new life.
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Deven Patel of the School of Arts & Sciences believes that Sanskrit is the oldest continuous language tradition, which means that it’s still producing literature and being spoken.
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“Be Holding,” a poetry performance that seeks to heal grieving Black families, was directed by Brooke O’Harra and composed by Tyshawn Sorey, both of the School of Arts & Sciences.
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Lynne Farrington of the Kislack Center comments on a new Penn Libraries exhibit celebrating the late Black children’s author and illustrator Ashley Bryan.
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