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Kelly Writers House

Mentor support for the first-generation college experience
two people standing outside back to back smiling at camera

Senior Rachel Swym (left) was a summer intern with alumna Leanne Huebner at the educational nonprofit Minds Matter, and they have continued their connection ever since.

Mentor support for the first-generation college experience

Three decades apart, senior Rachel Swym and alumna Leanne Huebner found a common bond in their rural backgrounds and first-generation, highly aided college experience.
Alumni Award of Merit and Creative Spirit Awards honor seven alumni
Judith Bollinger, Al Filreis, Stephen Goff, Ghislain Gouraige, Mike Kowalski, Clemson Smith Muniz, Ashley Zampini Ritter, and John Vosmek.

Top row, left to right: Judith Bollinger, Al Filreis, Stephen Goff, and Ghislain Gouraige. Bottom row, left to right: Mike Kowalski, Clemson Smith Muniz, Ashley Zampini Ritter, and John Vosmek.

Alumni Award of Merit and Creative Spirit Awards honor seven alumni

Stephen Goff is awarded Creative Spirit Award and Al Filreis is to receive the Faculty Award of Merit.
Al Filreis dwells in possibility
Al Filreis standing in front of the Kelly Writers House

Al Filreis, an English professor at Penn since 1995, founded the Kelly Writers House on Locust Walk in 1995 and has since served as the faculty director.

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Al Filreis dwells in possibility

Celebrating poetry and literature at Penn since 1985, Al Filreis continues to create community at the home for writers he founded in a Locust Walk house a quarter-century ago.
Ilyse Reisman summer in the writers’ room
student standing outside with hill in the background

Senior Ilyse Reisman, an English and cinema studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences, was a summer intern at the film studio Indigenous Media in Los Angeles.

Ilyse Reisman summer in the writers’ room

An aspiring comedy writer, senior Ilyse Reisman got a chance to be on set and in meetings to pitch production ideas during her RealArts@Penn summer internship at the film studio Indigenous Media in Los Angeles.
People and Places at Penn
people and places

People and Places at Penn

In anticipation of the return to campus, undergraduates introduce their favorite spots.

Kristina García

Professors on the importance of integrating the arts into life and work
Six professors on a videoconference

A virtual discussion with Penn faculty about pursuing both their artistic and academic interests was held by the Kelly Writers House for Homecoming, featuring (left-right, top-bottom) English Professors Al Filreis, Simone White, Herman Beavers, and History Professor Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet from the School of Arts & Sciences, and Fine Arts Professors Ken Lum and Sharon Hayes from the Stuart Weitzman School of Design. 

Professors on the importance of integrating the arts into life and work

While there are some challenges, universities provide an environment for faculty to pursue both their artistic creativity and academic scholarship, said Penn professors in a Homecoming discussion led by Al Filreis of the Kelly Writers House.
‘Beauty alone’ is a reason to read Q-INE
Three blackboards in front of Claudia Cohen Hall say "I identify as..." with various descriptors written in colorful chalk (mormon, human, FGLI, queer, etc)

Untitled photography by Anthony Scarpone-Lambert.

‘Beauty alone’ is a reason to read Q-INE

A new student-run magazine highlights perspectives from the Penn LGTBQ+ community.

Kristina García

Kelly Writers House forum amplifies ideas and voices on racial justice
Six people on a videoconference

Penn's Kelly Writers House held a forum on racial justice featuring authors, students, faculty, and staff reading works written by themselves or others. 

Kelly Writers House forum amplifies ideas and voices on racial justice

Kelly Writers House held a forum on racial justice featuring faculty, students, staff, and alumni reading written works, their own and those by others, that speak to these times.
Virtual visitors at the Kelly Writers House
Four people speaking from home each on the computer screen in a videoconference

Two of the three Kelly Writers House Fellows public conversations were held remotely this year, livestreamed online. April’s guests were Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham (top row, left to right) who produce The New York Times podcast “Still Processing.” The question and answer session was managed by Penn’s Julia Bloch, Creative Writing Program  Director, and Lily Applebaum of the Kelly Writers House (bottom row, left to right). 

Virtual visitors at the Kelly Writers House

The Kelly Writers House Fellows course continued remotely this semester for the class sessions and public conversations. Last week’s guests were Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham of The New York Times podcast “Still Processing.”