Kelly Writers House Daily

virtual KWH? yup

2009-06-23T18:37:00.001-04:00

Our faculty director and a few KWH pals have gone into Second Life to check out a virtual Writers House. Click here and find out a little more about this project. We think we'll be offering a poetry seminar in our virtual KWH sometime in October. Stay tuned. Meantime, if you are interested, write Al at afilreis AT writing DOT upenn DOT edu.

incoming students

2009-06-22T18:17:00.002-04:00

New to Penn? Do you want to get involved in this student-centered, participant-driven project? You can join the Planning Committee, attend a reading, write for a KWH-affiliated lit mag, or join our staff (for work-study eligible undergraduates). Contact us at wh@writing.upenn.edu -- we'd be thrilled to tell you how you can get involved in these and other ways and to give you the lowdown on writing at Penn. Don't be shy! We want to hear from you.

summer staffers

2009-06-02T14:34:00.002-04:00

We use our summers at the KWH to prepare for the upcoming year. If you stop by you'll find us researching visiting authors, scouring literary magazines, organizing closets, cleaning databases, and planning events for the fall (including a fakers and hoaxes night and a medieval feast). To get this all done, we have a fantastic team of staffers and interns, including: Max McKenna ('10), Kristen Martin ('11), Lee Huttner ('10), Pamela Takefman ('09), and Chris Milione (C'10). Stop by and say hello!

Arielle Brousse joins our staff

2009-05-19T12:51:00.003-04:00

We are delighted to announce that we at the Kelly Writers House have a new Assistant Director for Development. On July 1, Arielle Brousse is making her return to the Writers House after several years of superb work on the staff of the development department at The Franklin Institute here in Philadelphia. Having been a work-study student at the Writers House for four years as an undergraduate, and an active member of the “hub” (our Planning Committee) Arielle is “thrilled to bring my experience back home.” At The Franklin Institute, Arielle worked on everything from non-preferred State appropriations and competitive federal government grants to designing punchy flyers, writing custom-tailored proposals, and helping to plan cultivation events. The switch from working at a science museum to working once again for a literary arts center might require a bit of re-adjustment, but she is confident she'll be able to handle it: if anyone in the hub ever needs a Spock costume or a Galilean thermometer, she's got you covered.

did you miss Nick?

2009-05-19T06:42:00.002-04:00

Did you miss public radio's Nick Spitzer at KWH this past Saturday? Not to worry. The video recording is already available: here. A bio and more links can be found as usual on our web calendar. It was Alumni Day and we were delighted by a large happy audience--some alumni, some non-Penn-affiliated Philadelphians. And Nick was generous and kind, and wowed us with a great selection of New Orleans music.

ArtsEdge

2009-05-14T19:17:00.003-04:00

Greg Romero has been our first ArtsEdge artist-in-residence. Today there was a blog entry about his recent staging at the Writers House. Al Filreis' blog tells more.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

2009-05-12T13:18:00.004-04:00

We're hiring two part-time (non-student) assistants for the Fall -- one morning shift, one evening shift -- to help manage our busy second floor office. For information about each job and details about how to apply, visit our job opportunities page. We'll be reviewing applications through June 10th. Don't be shy about spreading the word! We look forward to welcoming two new friendly faces to our staff.

RealArts intern wins screenplay award

2009-04-30T13:00:00.001-04:00

Benjy Brooke, the 2009 RealArts intern with Stern and Gibbs writing team, has won the award for best undergraduate screenplay at the Ivy Film Festival at Brown University. The Ivy Film Festival is the world’s largest entirely student-run film festival. Its mission is to encourage the creative efforts of undergraduate and graduate student filmmakers by acting as a quality venue for their work and by creating opportunities to learn from one another and talented professionals. The festival strives to garner recognition for student filmmakers by means of a panel of celebrity judges including: directors, producers, writers, and agents who will view the top films from the festival.

top 100 student journalists

2009-04-26T21:29:00.003-04:00

UWire is a national collegiate journalism organization (and site). UWire has chosen this year's top 100 student journalists, and we are proud that our Julie Steinberg is among them. Julie is, among other things, a student of Paul Hendrickson. And while we're talking about Paul's excellent mentorship, we should add that Paul's own son John, a Penn State student, is among the top 100 too! Congrats from all of us at KWH to Julie and John.

The Phillyiad

2009-04-24T13:30:00.004-04:00

Listen to re-renderings of the Iliad, Philly style: wildly creative versions of Book One by students in Bob Perelman's course, "Poetry, Music, Sound." Rhapsodes include Chris Milione, whose Greekified "American Pie" concludes the show. (And bodiless "gossip god," James LaMarre, punctuates the reading with sassy asides).

prospective students

2009-04-09T17:53:00.003-04:00

It's time for Penn Previews! We hope all prospective students interested in writing at Penn will visit the Writers House. Find out about student-run magazines, creative writing classes, readings and happenings, digital media and more. Open House: 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM on April 9, 10, 13, 16, 17, 20. If you can't visit us then, please feel free to stop by another time. We'd be happy to see you.

welcome to the writers' block

2009-03-29T06:48:00.005-04:00

KWH is affiliated with the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW). So are the Critical Writing Program, the Creative Writing Program, PennSound, RealArts@PENN and a series of special programs and projects. It's all situated in two old houses along 38th Street: 3805 Locust, 3808 Walnut. The writers' block.

Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve and Tom McCarthy

2009-03-23T14:12:00.002-04:00

Join us at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, March 25th, for a conversation about film with Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve and Tom McCarthy. In addition to being a novelist, film producer, and screenwriter, Kathy DeMarco is famous at Penn for her intense and rewarding screenwriting workshops. She's a dedicated teacher who meets with students for hour-long, individual critique sessions. EVERY week. Tom McCarthy is an actor, writer, and director, whose award-winning films The Station Agent and The Visitor set the indie film-biz abuzz. You'll also know him from season five of The Wire, in which he played the unethical journalist Scott Templeton (but don't hold it against him).

KWH now twittering

2009-03-15T22:01:00.004-04:00

We're now twittering. Click here and follow us! Our tweets will tell you what's coming up on our calendar, will point you toward fabulous and surprising highlights from our archive, will highlight some extraordinary member of the extended Writers House community.

University of Pennsylvania ArtsEdge Residency

2009-03-04T21:53:00.002-05:00

We are pleased to announce we are accepting applications for the second year of the Penn ArtsEdge Residency project -- a collaboration of the Kelly Writers House, the Fine Arts Department of the School of Design, and Penn's Facilities & Real Estate Services (FRES) -- that supports the work of emerging writers and artists by creating a live/work environment that will inspire interdisciplinary exploration. Through ArtsEdge Residencies, we offer two one-year residencies in a live/work space near Penn's campus. Residencies last for one year and include a dedicated studio for each writer/artist, living space, and close affiliation with the writing and artistic communities at Penn. During the course of their residencies, writers and artists will develop at least one collaborative project with the Writers House or Fine Arts Department. Qualified applicants may also be considered to teach one course at Penn in the spring semester. Check out a project by current ArtsEdge resident Greg Romero. For more information about the residencies and to find out how to apply, visit the project page.

we're on the radio

2009-03-03T21:29:00.002-05:00

The November 2008 episode (number 73 overall) of our radio show, "Live at the Writers House," is now available in downloadable recordings. Check them out on our "Live" web page, and while you're there, scroll down and back in time...perhaps all the way to episode 1, recorded on February 15, 1997. Back in those days, by the way, "Live" was actually live!

Rachel on Ron (video)

2009-02-22T13:06:00.002-05:00

The other night we celebrated Ron Silliman's big book, The Alphabet. Rachel Blau DuPlessis couldn't be there and so she sent greetings from afar. You can watching a video of Rachel's hello to Ron (it's really a review of the book) by clicking here.

Food Magazine and Blog

2009-02-10T21:49:00.003-05:00

Check out Penn Appetit, Penn's premiere food magazine and blog. Founded by Penn junior Emma Morgenstern after her inspiring experience in Thomas Devaney's food writing class, this great Writers House-supported publication consistently produces excellent writing, paired with mouth-watering design. Editors and writers can be found in the Writers House in any given week, developing business plans, reviewing and editing submissions, and working on layout ideas. The blog is updated daily, sometimes more often. Check back often!

family memoir - audio & video available

2009-02-07T10:56:00.002-05:00

The other night Lisa New read from her family memoir, and it was a reunion--for Lisa taught at Penn for many years, and many friends and family were in attendance. Her new book is called Jacob's Cane: One Family's Journey from the Four Lands of Lithuania to the Ports of Baltimore and London, A Memoir in Five Generations, and will be published in the fall 2009 by Basic Books. Our web calendar entry for this event includes links to audio-only and video recordings.

we've discovered dystopia

2009-02-05T08:03:00.003-05:00

Yes, deep in the archives, old audio recordings were discovered...of the radio program called "Dystopia." Here's what Dystopia's creators wrote about it: "Dystopia is a show whose goal is to bring local music to the radio and at the same time teach students how to organize and record a radio show." We've digitized and linked to the web all 7 Dystopia shows, and every segment of every show is available as a free mp3 download. Listen & enjoy!

Terry B. Heled Travel Grant

2009-02-03T11:59:00.003-05:00

On February 2, we celebrated the first ever recipient of the Terry B. Heled Travel and Research Grant. The Heled Travel Grant -- established by Mali Heled Kinberg (C'95) as a way of memorializing her mother, Terry B. Heled, and of honoring the students of her alma mater -- enables a student to travel for the purpose of conducting the research that will lead to a significant writing project. This year's winner, Alicia Puglionesi, spent the duration of her award interviewing WWII veterans and documentarians in her pursuit of a story on the "ghost army" of WWII, a unique camouflage unit whose main weapons were props, sound effects, and "crafty," homemade deception tools. Her piece "We are Ghosts: The Art of Deception in the Theater of War" represents a fine bit of writing; it's layered, detailed, historically deep, and formally challenging.

six-word memoirs

2009-01-31T14:08:00.004-05:00

Writers House people tried their hand at writing six-word memoirs. Jamie-Lee Josselyn's was: "These years writing about those ones." Kaegan Sparks: "On second blush, it reads more". Emma Morgenstern: "Yes or no, with exclamation points!" You can find more here.

alt-poetry, alt-pedagogy

2009-01-28T09:02:00.004-05:00

In early 2001 the Writers House held a symposium on the possible connection between experimental poetry and alternative pedagogy. It was webcast live and several dozen people participated from afar via email and telephone. The poet Joan Retallack came to KWH from Bard College and was moderator and featured reader. Yesterday we converted the old RealVideo stream into mp3 and then we segmented the long audio recording into 10-minute portions, by topic. Our Faculty Director, Al Filreis, blogged about this and has provided all the links you'll need to listen to this fascinating event.

Lisa New returns to Penn

2009-01-25T00:01:00.003-05:00

Lisa New was for many years a member of Penn's faculty, then left for Harvard. We miss her, but are pleased to announce that she's making a return visit. Join us at 6:30 PM on Thursday, February 5, when Lisa will talk about and read from her forthcoming book, which is called Jacob's Cane: One Family's Journey from the Four Lands of Lithuania to the Ports of Baltimore and London, A Memoir in Five Generations. For more information about the event, click here.

Dick Polman

2009-01-23T14:11:00.004-05:00

We're lucky to have Dick Polman, CPCW's Maury Povich "writer in residence," teaching journalism at Penn. He invites an extraordinary set of journalists to the Writers House each semester for frank talks about the industry, allowing us to get firsthand news about the news. Polman recently sat down with Penn Current to talk about his writing career, blogging, and the so-called "liberal media bias," and to offer advice for young journalists.