Kelly Writers House Daily

Pico Iyer, shadowing Graham Greene

2012-02-09T07:41:00.000-05:00

Pico Iyer visited KWH on February 8, 2012, and spoke about his remarkable new memoir (a kind of "Secret Sharer"/doppelganger story about his shadowy connection to Graham Greene). Rolf Potts, with him in this photo, invited him and introduced the event.

Gay Talese at KWH in 2007

2012-02-05T21:11:00.004-05:00

Back in 2007, Gay Talese visited the Writers House and talked about - and read from - his then-current work. Here is the web calendar entry for that event, and here is the audio recording. Talese had spent a great deal of time at the Writers House in 1999. That was the very first year we ran the Kelly Writers House Fellows program. In its first year, Talese taught the course and was himself the Fellow. Our Dick Polman - now a member of our faculty - was actually a student in that class.

Amze Emmons currently in our gallery

2012-02-01T22:06:00.002-05:00

The first Brodsky Gallery exhibition of 2012 currently feature drawings and prints by artist Amze Emmons. Born in 1974, in Amsterdam, NY, Emmons is a Philadelphia-based, multi-disciplinary artist with a background in drawing and printmaking. Emmons received a BFA from Ohio Wesleyan University and a MA and MFA from the University of Iowa. He has held solo exhibitions at Space 1026, Philadelphia; OHT Gallery, Boston; and Works on Paper Gallery, Philadelphia. His work has been exhibited in group exhibitions including EFA Project Space and the International Print Center, New York; the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington; the Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines; Wendy Cooper Gallery, Chicago; and The Print Center, Philadelphia. Emmons has received numerous awards including a Fellowship in the Arts from the Independence Foundation; an Individual Creative Artist Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Arts Council; and a Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony. His work has received critical attention in New American Paintings, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe,among other publications. He has taught at the University of Vermont and the University of Iowa and is currently an associate professor of art at Muhlenberg College. Emmons is also a co-founder and contributor of the popular art blog, Printeresting.org.

Murat Nemet-Nejat on Tuesday at 6 PM

2012-01-28T18:59:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, January 31, A poetry reading by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe. Poet, translator and essayist, Murat Nemet-Nejat's most recent work includes the poem The Spiritual Life of Replicants (Talisman House, 2011), the translation of the Turkish poet Seyhan Erozçelik's Rosestrikes and Coffee Grinds (Talisman House, 2010), and the memoir/essay "Istanbul Noir" (in Istanbul: Metamorphoses In an Imperial City, Talisman House, 2011). Nemet-Nejat's translation of the Turkish poet Birhan Keskin's book Y'ol (Ro(a)de) will be published in 2012. He is presently working on "Things," part VI of the seven part poem, "The Structure of Escape," of which The Spiritual Life of Replicants is part V.

Murat Nemet-Nejat in the last few years also edited and largely translated Eda: An Anthology of Contemporary Turkish Poetry (Talisman House, 2004), translated Orhan Veli, I, Orhan Veli (Hanging Loose Press, 1989), and Ece Ayhan, A Blind Cat Black and Orthodoxies (Sun and Moon Press, 1997). He is the author of the essay The Peripheral Space of Photography (Green Integers Press, 2004), the poems "steps" (Mirage, 2008), "Prelude" (2009), "I Did My Best Work During a Writer's Block" (First Identity, 2009), "Disappearances" (Zen Monster, 2010), and the collaboration with Standard Schaefer, Alphabet Dialogues/Penis Monologues (Karaub, 2010).

mind of winter 1/26/12

2012-01-21T09:41:00.003-05:00

Al Filreis will once again (as he does annually) lead a discussion of "The Snow Man" by Wallace Stevens at our annual "Mind of Winter" celebration on Thursday, January 26, starting at 5:30 PM.

Nora Magid Mentorship Prize for 2012

2012-01-10T11:58:00.002-05:00

The Nora Magid Mentorship Prize for 2012 has been awarded to Jessica Goodman, Stephen Fried announced on behalf of the former students of Nora Magid.

A Penn senior studying Creative Writing, with a minor in Gender, Culture and Society, Jessica Goodman has been an intern and researcher for Rolling Stone magazine and the editor-in-chief of 34th Street magazine and its blog, Under The Button. She began in journalism at Penn as a freshman copy editor at Street and later food editor, and she spent a summer at Estee Lauder working on a breast cancer awareness campaign. Then, as a junior, she won the prestigious RealArts@PENN internship—allowing her to work at Rolling Stone, and also do research for author and Inside Edition TV producer Charles Lachman. As editor of Street, she managed a staff of 30 and wrote features, including “There’s Something About Molly,” an excellent in-depth look at the use of the drug MDMA among college students.

A native of Muttontown, NY on Long Island and a graduate of Friends Academy in Locust Valley, Jessica is a dogged reporter, a stylish writer and a smart, intuitive and generous editor and colleague—both at Street and in her non-fiction writing classes. She clearly has the passion, professionalism and curiosity that Nora Magid so valued in non-fiction writers and editors. While her mentorship will begin immediately, she will receive her award at a reception in New York which is being organized for March.

Goodman was recommended to the Nora Magid Prize committee by Anthony DeCurtis. The other finalists for the award were Katie Sanders, Brian Kotloff and Samantha Sharf. Our thanks to all the Penn seniors who applied for the award this year, to the Penn faculty who wrote recommendations, and to everyone who has generously supported the prize fund.

About the Prize: Nora Magid was an extraordinarily gifted and giving teacher of non-fiction writing at the University of Pennsylvania from the mid-1970s until her death in 1991. During those years, she nurtured an amazing number of students, many of whom went on to some of the top jobs in magazines, newspapers, book publishing and broadcasting. In 2003, a group of "Nora-ites" came together to create The Nora Magid Mentorship Prize, which is now given every year to a senior at the University of Pennsylvania who shows exceptional ability and promise in non-fiction writing and editing, and who would benefit most from combined mentorship of Nora's network of former students and their colleagues. The prize is $1000, which is used as a stipend for transportation, lodging and meals as the student travels to New York, Washington and elsewhere to develop professional contacts. The Nora Prize is given in partnership with the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, the Daily Pennsylvanian and the Kelly Writers House.

Where our previous winners are now:
*Matt Flegenheimer, 2011: metro reporter, New York Times
* Jamie France, 2010: executive assistant to NBC's President of Entertainment and Digital Networks/Integrated Media; former executive assistant to Today Show executive producer, former intern at The New Yorker.
* Gabe Oppenheim, 2009: published first novel, How Delightful is the Day, freelance writer; former intern Washington Post, Esquire
* Jessica Sidman, 2008: reporter at Bisnow Media, editor of DiningBisnow and runs popular blog Frozen Fix; former intern at Washingtonian and Dallas Morning News
* Jason Schwartz, 2007: senior editor, Boston Magazine
* Melody Joy Kramer, 2006: associate producer, "Fresh Air"; former producer at "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me," Kroc Fellow at NPR
* Ashley Parker, 2005: campaign reporter, New York Times; former assistant to columnist Maureen Dowd
* Rebecca Klein, 2004: freelancer for Brides and Everyday with Rachel Ray; former associate editor, Quick & Simple
* Dan Kaplan, 2004: product marketing manager, Twilio, former freelance tech writer and director of marketing at VentureBeat

The Nora Magid Mentorship Prize Scholarship Advisory Committee is: Stephen Fried, author, adjunct professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, 215-592-1662, stephenfried@comcast.net; Eliot Kaplan, executive director, talent acquisition, Hearst Magazines, 212-649-2064 ekaplan@hearst.com; Miriam Arond, director Good Housekeeping Research Institute; Barri Bernstein, executive director, Tennessee Bar Foundation; David Borgenicht, president and publisher, Quirk Books, author; Sandee Brawarsky, author, book columnist, The Jewish Week, editor Text/Context: Fresh Encounters with Jewish Tradition; Jean Chatzky, author, Today Show financial correspondent, Newsweek magazine personal finance contributor; Lisa DePaulo, correspondent, GQ, contributing editor, Elle; Stefan Fatsis, author, sports commentator, All Things Considered, NPR; Loren Feldman, online editor, small business, New York Times; Lisa Green, head of communications, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, former NBC News legal analyst and Weekend Today senior producer; Randall Lane, editor-in chief, Forbes magazine, author; John Prendergast, editor-in-chief, Pennsylvania Gazette; Joel Siegel, head writer and producer, ABC Weekend World News

happy holidays from all of us

2011-12-21T10:56:00.003-05:00

Happy holidays to all our presenters, audience members, friends and supporters from all of us at 3805 Locust Walk in Philadephia. By the way, are you following us on Facebook yet? Great way to keep up with what's going on here: click here for a direct link.

Talking about the art of Sigmund Laufer

2011-12-16T09:31:00.001-05:00

Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee talk about Susan's father, Sigmund Laufer, whose art is currently on exhibit at KWH's Brodsky Gallery.

Stefan Sagmeister visits KWH

2011-12-10T10:07:00.003-05:00

At right: Stefan Sagmeister, the designer-artist, being introduced by Kenny Goldsmith. Claudia Gould, director of the Jewish Museum and until recently director of the ICA here in Philly, then interviewed Sagmeister for an hour--part of a great day of events around Sagmeister's visit to Penn. The designer's work is central to the two-semester seminar being taught by Goldsmith as a collaboration between CPCW and the Writers House and ICA, co-sponsored by Penn's provost and by the School of Arts & Sciences. The next time the course will be offered is academic year 2013-14.

video interpretation of a poem

2011-12-02T09:12:00.005-05:00

Several of our students have made this video interpretation of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe: "Bells."

RealArts@PENN summer internships

2011-11-28T17:06:00.003-05:00

Here is a video introduction to our "RealArts@PENN" summer internship program. Click here for more.

Amina Gautier on November 29

2011-11-23T21:31:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, November 29, starting at 6 PM, our "Cheryl Family Fiction Series" presents Amina Gautier. Amina Gautier is the winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for her short story collection At-Risk (University of Georgia Press). Over sixty-five of Gautier's stories have been published, appearing in Best African American Fiction, Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, North American Review, and Southern Review among other places. Her work has been honored with scholarships and fellowships from Breadloaf Writer's Conference, Ucross Residency, and Sewanee Writer's Conference and has been awarded the William Richey Prize, the Jack Dyer Award, the Schlafly Microftiction Award, the Danahy Fiction Prize, and a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Gautier teaches at DePaul University.

new PoemTalk episode now out

2011-11-12T07:43:00.003-05:00

PoemTalk is a series of 30-minute podcasts/radio shows recording at the Writers House monthly. The format is simple: four people from the world of poetry and poetics gather to talk about a single poem for which there's a recording in the vast PennSound archive. Recently the 47th PoemTalk episode was released. Click here and have a listen!

Jennifer Egan back at KWH

2011-11-04T06:51:00.001-04:00

our Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing

2011-10-22T07:57:00.004-04:00

The Kelly Writers House is affiliated with CPCW, the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing. KWH was founded in 1994-95; then, in 2003, all of Penn's writing programs converged to form a center with associated organizations: the Creative Writing Program, the Critical Writing Program, the Writers House, and then, soon, PennSound (now the largest archive of recorded poetry anywhere), the Bassini Writing Apprentices, the CPCW/ICA yearlong seminar on contemporary art and writing, the PoemTalk podcast series, RealArts@Penn, and others. All friends and denizens of the Writers House are invited to explore our community, and give us a call at 215-746-POEM or stop by 3805 Locust if you ever have any questions about how to take fullest advantage of the resources of our writing block down here at 38th.

Video excerpt from a celebration of Gertrude Stein

2011-10-18T19:39:00.001-04:00

Dylanfest on October 20 at 6 PM

2011-10-08T19:31:00.002-04:00

Nine Dylanists each talk about - and briefly play - one favorite Dylan song. It's Thursday, October 20, at 6 PM, to help celebrate Dylan's 70th birthday. We've got quite a line-up. Cecilia Corrigan on "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat"; Anthony DeCurtis on "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar"; Greg Djanikian on "Señor"; Al Filreis on "Series of Dreams"; John Giannotti on "Bob Dylan's Dream"; Jessy Ginsberg on "Up to Me"; Alan Light on "Where Are You Tonight"; Ralph Rosen on "Idiot Wind"; Nina Wolpow on "Don't Think Twice." And Jessy Pepi Ginsberg will perform her own arrangement of "Up to Me."

Beijing-based journalist for "Science" - October 6

2011-09-29T08:02:00.000-04:00

October 6, a lunch talk with Mara Hvistendahl, supported by the Maury Povich Fund for Journalism Programs, 11:30 AM in the Arts Cafe.

Mara Hvistendahl is a Beijing-based correspondent for Science. Her first book, Unnatural Selection, is a captivating and at turns sinister technological history that examines not only the consequences of the misbegotten policies underlying sex selection but also the West's role in creating them. Her award-winning writing has also appeared in Harper's, Scientific American, Popular Science, The Financial Times, and Foreign Policy. Proficient in both Spanish and Chinese, she has spent half of the past decade in China, where she has reported on everything from archaeology to the space program. A former contributing editor at Seed magazine and journalism professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, Hvistendahl sits on the advisory board of Round Earth Media, an organization founded to promote international journalism.

lunchtime seminar on pastoral

2011-09-21T20:39:00.000-04:00

“PASTORAL ORIGINS,” A CONVERSATION WITH ANNIE SEATON

12:00 PM in the Arts Cafe

rsvp: email wh@writing.upenn.edu or call 215-746-POEM

Since Theocritus, the pastoral has been about origin, loss, and difference. This stands against the cliched image of the pastoral as idealized nature scenes of frolicking, hyper-sexual shepherds. In fact, those cliches, along with the dryly canonical nature of much of the secondary literature on the pastoral, have encouraged the neglect of some important and interesting themes. Quietly influential, the pastoral affect is, in fact, one of the dominant cultural modes by which the West represents itself — and it may even, in fact, be one of the earliest sources of the mythopoetic fashioning of cultural nationalism, considered broadly. This talk will consider passages from Theocritus to Heidegger, to read the pastoral as a search for lost origins vs. a clash with "difference." After a brief introductory talk by Annie Seaton, participants will be invited to consider and discuss passages.

Ann Seaton worked with Mary Lefkowitz and Frank Bidart at Wellesley, where she was a two-time undergraduate Academy of American Poets Prize winner and a Mellon Fellow. At Harvard, she studied American, French, and English literature and literary theory with Barbara Johnson. Subsequently, Annie was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Brown, and has taught at Skidmore, CUNY, and Bard College, where she is presently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities. Annie is working on a book-length project, Pastoral Origins. Her main interests are in Ancient Greek, English Renaissance, French 18th and 19th century, and American 18th-20th century literature.

Susan Schultz visits the Writers House

2011-09-03T08:17:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday, September 14, join us for a poetry reading given by Susan Schultz. It begins at 6 PM. Susan M. Schultz teaches at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. She has edited Tinfish Press, which publishes experimental poetry from the Pacific, since 1995. Among her books of poems and poetic prose is Dementia Blog (Singing Horse Press, 2008). She is also the author of A Poetics of Impasse in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry (University of Alabama Press, 2005), and of the Tinfish Editor's Blog, among other work. Susan will be spending the better part of a week with us, while she begins her sabbatical leave from teaching and makes her way from poetry spot to poetry spot on the US mainland. Susan Schultz's book, Dementia Blog, is an innovative look at the way memory works and, at once, a memoir of her mother's struggles with Alzheimer's Disease. An episode of PoemTalk was devoted to that work. Please listen.

2011-12 KWH online book groups announced

2011-08-05T15:00:00.002-04:00

Shakespeare - David Foster Wallace - John O'Hara - Bob Dylan - romanticism
poetics & motherhood - John Barth - Lorrie Moore

We are pleased to announce our slate of 2011-2012 alumni online book discussion groups. All Penn alumni (and parents of current students) are eligible to participate. We have hosted these groups every year since 1999, and thousands of alumni have enjoyed wide-ranging conversations about books with Penn faculty.

Go here to see this year's groups. Sam Apple discusses David Foster Wallace. John Richetti, distinguished professor of English emeritus, leads a conversation about Shakespeare's sonnets. Myra Lotto and Michael Gamer team up to talk about romanticism. Patrick Bredehoft will lead a 10-day discussion of Bob Dylan's "talkin' songs." I will lead a month-long online seminar on the short fiction of John Barth. And more.

No special software or applications needed. All you need is a working email address. To register, write to whbook@writing.upenn.edu. We continue to be grateful for the generous support of David Roberts (W'83) who makes KWH Book Groups possible.

Jacket2

2011-06-18T12:17:00.003-04:00

KWH regulars already know how proud and happy we are about Jacket2, a new poetry/poetics magazine which launched in April and is already going strong. J2 is edited and published out of the Writers House in close association with PennSound, PoemTalk and other Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing projects. Recently J2 released the newest episode of PoemTalk - on a poem by John Wieners - which was recorded at KWH. J2's feature on poetry in 1960 is based on a symposium held at the Writers House last December. We hope all fans and friends of the Kelly Writers House will have a look at Jacket2, and let us know what you think of our newest venture.

1960 symposium published as J2 feature

2011-06-06T07:52:00.002-04:00

Back in December 2010, some 60 people gathered in our Arts Cafe to talk about the poetry and poetics of the year 1960 - 50 years later. They heard short presentations by various poets, each having written in effect a retrospective review of a book of poems published that year. Then there was a lively Q&A in the usual KWH style. The entire event was recorded; the presentations made available to us as typescripts; the Q&A was transcribed. New materials were added. Others wrote responses and additional retrospective reviews. And the whole thing - a big "feature" - was recently published in Jacket2. Go here and have a look at - and listen to - the feature.

Goldsmith goes to Washington

2011-05-13T17:15:00.002-04:00

At right is a photograph taken of Kenneth Goldsmith at the White House - yes, the White House. On May 11, Kenny (who teachers here at CPCW and is a longtime friend and affiliate of the Writers House) performed his poetry (and that of Whitman and Hart Crane) along with several other poets, including Elizabeth Alexander, Rita Dove, and Billy Collins. He also co-led a poetry workshop for schoolchildren, a session hosted by Michelle Obama. We're quite tickled that this "weird" conceptual poet was invited to such an event. Our friends at Jacket2 have somewhat "covered" this happening, so go here to J2 for a link to the video of the aforementioned workshop.

Jenny Egan and Sam Donsky, May 14

2011-05-02T10:00:00.003-04:00

Alumni Authors Spotlight: Jennifer Egan & Sam Donsky
May 14, 4:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
To RSVP: call 215-746-POEM. RSVP required.

Our Alumni Authors Spotlight reading will feature fiction writer Jennifer Egan (C'85) and poet Sam Donsky (C'07), who will read from their work then join us for a post-reading reception.

Jennifer Egan is the author of The Invisible Circus, which was released as a feature film by Fine Line in 2001, Emerald City and Other Stories, Look at Me, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 2001, and the bestselling The Keep. Her new book, A Visit From the Goon Squad, was published in June 2010. Also a journalist, she writes frequently in the New York Times Magazine.

Sam Donsky (C'07) is a second-year student at Penn Law School. He has been involved with Kelly Writers House since 2003 and first shared the KWH podium with Jennifer Egan in May 2005. Donsky's first poetry manuscript, Poems vs. the Volcano, is a collection of 100 poems -- one for each movie that he has seen since graduating from college.