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Louisa Shepard
News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
English
Joseph Earl Thomas’ memoir draws on family and fantasy fiction
Joseph Earl Thomas’ memoir draws on family and fantasy fiction
The Ph.D. student in English explores childhood and family in an award-winning memoir inspired by fantasy fiction.
Jay Kirk on writing, teaching, and his new nonfiction book, ‘Avoid the Day’
Jay Kirk on writing, teaching, and his new nonfiction book, ‘Avoid the Day’
Penn and Philadelphia are woven throughout a new book by Jay Kirk as he pursues the mystery of a missing music manuscript by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, traveling from Vermont to Europe to the Arctic Circle. Penn Today spoke the lecturer in nonfiction creative writing about “Avoid the Day: A New Nonfiction in Two Movements.”
Pandemic project: Odyssey-a-Day
Pandemic project: Odyssey-a-Day
Classics Professor Emily Wilson created a project where she filmed herself reading short passages from each of the 24 books of her celebrated translation of Homer’s “Odyssey,” complete with costumes, props, and voices.
What happens to a dream deferred? 60-Second Lectures on racial injustice
What happens to a dream deferred? 60-Second Lectures on racial injustice
In an effort to amplify the messages of the recent protests against racist violence, Penn Arts & Sciences created a special series: What Happens to a Dream Deferred? 60-Second Lectures on Racial Injustice.
On identity and poetic form: Ahmad Almallah’s ‘Bitter English’
On identity and poetic form: Ahmad Almallah’s ‘Bitter English’
Ahmad Almallah, a lecturer in English and Arabics, took over five years to write his debut poetry collection. But in many ways, the book is the result of a decades-long journey.
Literary characters as masks: A reflection on identity during a pandemic
Literary characters as masks: A reflection on identity during a pandemic
An English and visual studies double major, May graduate Amy Juang created five masks to reflect the identities of characters in novels she studied in a young adult literature course taught by Melissa Jensen.
Herman Beavers named faculty director of Civic House and the Civic Scholars Program
Herman Beavers named faculty director of Civic House and the Civic Scholars Program
Beavers has taught at Penn since 1989 and is a professor of English and Africana studies, a distinguished poet, and a widely published scholar of 20th-century, and is a leader in the Penn community.
Penn junior Misha McDaniel named a Beinecke Scholar
Penn junior Misha McDaniel named a Beinecke Scholar
English major Misha McDaniel has been awarded a 2020 Beinecke Scholarship to pursue graduate education. McDaniel is one of 18 Beinecke Scholars chosen from throughout the U.S., and the 13th recipient from Penn since the award was first given in 1975.
With ‘The Sacramento of Desire,’ Julia Bloch completes a personal trilogy
With ‘The Sacramento of Desire,’ Julia Bloch completes a personal trilogy
The creative writing professor’s most recent book of poetry focuses on her desire for making a family as a member of the queer community.
A time traveling Harriet Tubman, brought to life on stage
A time traveling Harriet Tubman, brought to life on stage
English faculty Lorene Cary’s first play features a time traveling Harriet Tubman who toggles between her 19th-century life and a present-day Philadelphia prison where she recruits soldiers to fight with her in the Civil War. Playing to sold-out audiences, “My General Tubman” is on stage through mid-March at Arden Theatre Company.
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In the News
Philadelphia Inquirer
Penn professor awarded MacArthur genius grant
Emily Wilson of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about being named a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. “I’m excited about the publicity it potentially brings—not to me personally, but to the fields of translation, poetics, history,” she said. “And I hope it’s a way to get other people to engage in those fields.”
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Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane (WHYY-FM)
Lorene Cary’s ‘Ladysitting’
Lorene Cary of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about her new memoir, “Ladysitting: My Year with Nana at the End of Her Century.”
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NPR
‘Ladysitting’ offers candor and a singular take on a tale familiar to many
Lorene Cary of the School of Arts and Sciences has published a new memoir called Ladysitting: My Year with Nana at the End of Her Century. The book explores complex family relationships and the history and effects of American racism.
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The New York Times
Bollingen Prize in American Poetry and nominees for the National Book Critics Circle and Edgar Allan Poe Awards are announced
Charles Bernstein of the School of Arts and Sciences has been awarded the Bollingen Prize in American Poetry. “I am overwhelmed at being in the company of my fellow Bollingen winners,” Bernstein said. “How great that ‘Near/Miss’ has been so warmly welcomed into the world.”
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The Atlantic
How James Baldwin’s writings about love evolved
Dagmawi Woubshet of the School of Arts and Sciences analyzed James Baldwin’s literary evolution. If Beale Street Could Talk “marked a crucial turn in how the author sought to characterize the most abiding theme and moral principle of his work: love.”
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PBS NewsHour
Brief but Spectacular: Imani Davis
English and Africana Studies major Imani Davis of New York City performed a #MeToo movement-inspired poem on the “Brief but Spectacular” segment of the “PBS NewsHour.”
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