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Studying novels with novelist Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan stands in front of classroom holding papers in hand.

Novelist and Penn alum Jennifer Egan taught a literature course on modern fiction this semester as an artist-in-residence. 

Studying novels with novelist Jennifer Egan

Pulitzer-Prize winning author Jennifer Egan returns to her alma mater to teach a course on English literature.

Louisa Shepard

A life of writing and song
Rosanne Cash speaking at microphone at table with professor Al Filreis looking at her and smiling.

Singer-songwriter and author Rosanne Cash (left) met with students at the Kelly Writers House as part of the Fellows program, now in its 20th year. She made two public appearances, including a discussion with Al Filreis (right), English professor and Writers House faculty director.  

A life of writing and song

Rosanne Cash, a Kelly Writers House Fellow, was on campus for a course taught by English Professor Al Filreis that focuses on three eminent writers each spring semester.  

Louisa Shepard

Four Penn faculty receive Guggenheim fellowships
Jed Esty, Carmen Maria Machado, Adriana Petryna, and Michelle Lopez

Four Penn faculty were named 2019 Guggenheim Fellows. Clockwise from left: Jed Esty for literary criticism, Carmen Maria Machado for fiction, Adriana Petryna for anthropology and cultural studies, and Michelle Lopez for fine arts. 

Four Penn faculty receive Guggenheim fellowships

Louisa Shepard

Experiencing the literature, architecture, and film of Haifa, up close
A group of people walking in front of a stone building in Haifa, Israel.

A handful of people like guide Amittai Weinberger (front, walking backwards) led 18 Penn students, including junior Athena Panton, junior Emma Moore, and sophomore Justin Greenman around Haifa, showing them sights they’d read about or seen film of leading up to the trip. (Photo: Jessica Davis)

Experiencing the literature, architecture, and film of Haifa, up close

During a Penn Global Seminar in March, professor Nili Gold led 18 undergraduates around the coastal Israeli city, exposing them to its people and places and to her childhood home.

Michele W. Berger

‘I celebrate myself, and sing myself’
walt whitman on a horse and buggy

‘I celebrate myself, and sing myself’

Two centuries after his birth, Walt Whitman’s poetry still resonates with audiences today. The Penn Libraries is leading a region-wide, yearlong celebration of Whitman at 200.

Louisa Shepard

The times and life of W.E.B. Du Bois at Penn
W.E.B. Du Bois sits at his desk in his office.

Photo courtesy: W.E.B Du Bois Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries

The times and life of W.E.B. Du Bois at Penn

In 1896, Du Bois was appointed an assistant instructor at Penn and began his investigation of the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia—research that he would turn into his groundbreaking work, “The Philadelphia Negro.”
Through comics, profs draw path to visual literacy
Robert Berry and JC Cloutier read comics in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Adjunct Professor Robert Berry, left, and Assistant Professor of English Jean-Christophe Cloutier, who teach the undergraduate course Making Comics, enjoy two comics that are part of Van Pelt-Dietrich's collection, available to students, faculty, and staff.

Through comics, profs draw path to visual literacy

In Making Comics, an English course for undergraduates, students learn the theory of comic books while working with others to make them—all in the name of visual literacy.
Professor Charles Bernstein awarded Yale’s 2019 Bollingen Prize for Poetry
Charles Bernstein

Penn English Professor Charles Bernstein

Professor Charles Bernstein awarded Yale’s 2019 Bollingen Prize for Poetry

Charles Bernstein is the 51st poet to be honored with the biennial prize, one of the most prestigious given to American writers. Bernstein’s latest collection, “Near/Miss,” was published last year.

Louisa Shepard

Bollingen Prize in American Poetry and nominees for the National Book Critics Circle and Edgar Allan Poe Awards are announced

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.”