the longest island

Poetry Workshop Students Publish Anthology "Rona Writing"

2020-12-22T11:35:00.023-05:00

Students in Barbara Henning's Fall 2020 Poetry Workshop

collect their writing in a class anthology.

Click here for the pdf. "Rona Writing"

Humanities Division Award Ceremony 2019-2020

2020-05-15T15:56:00.001-04:00

On Thursday, May 14th, the Department of English, Philosophy, and Languages hosted the annual Awards Ceremony in which we recognized those graduating from our undergraduate and graduate students. This ceremony celebrated all students graduating September 2019, January 2020, and May 2020.

Below, you'll find a list of all students recognized at the ceremony.

GRADUATING ENGLISH MAJORS / GRADUATE STUDENTS

Undergraduate

SUMMER 2019
Rachel Balagot
Cheyenne Thornton

FALL 2019
Dewyna Ahmad *
Martha Roldan *
Valerie Soto
Samson Ventress
Stacey Watson *

SPRING 2020
Ashton Burton
Ashvini Coomarsingham *
Tori Gray
Skyluar James *
Samantha Offenback
Lenah Spencer
Amber Wright *

* Sigma Tau Delta member

Graduate

FALL 2019
Breana Ricketts (MFA)
Carol Telpha (MFA)

SPRING 2020
Shuvanna Alam (MA, Literature)
Joseph Mannino (MFA)
Ogochukwu Bibiana Ossai (MFA)

ENGLISH MINORS
Kyleigh Barao

GENDER STUDIES MINORS
Sophia Joy Cox-Wright
Nicole Price
Stacey Watson

POPPER-EDELMAN AWARD WINNERS
First Year Writing: Zachary Embry (ENG 16)
Core Literature: Hannah Fleshyman (ENG 64)
Upper Division: Sara Mohamed (ENG 178)

ESTHER HYNEMAN GRADUATE AWARD IN POETRY
Joey Mannino

MARILYN BOUTWELL GRADUATE AWARD IN FICTION
Ogochukwu Bibiana Ossai

Recognition was also paid to former beloved members of the department who passed away: Seyemour Kleinberg (1933-2020) and Kimarlee Nguyen (1986-2020). The department also honored Lewis Warsh on the occasion of his retirement and Jacob Matkov for his service to the department.

Watch the slideshow presented during the ceremony here:

New books from Andrea Clark Libin, John High, and Michael Sohn!

2020-05-06T15:03:00.000-04:00

Three former beloved members of our department have books forthcoming from Wet Cement Press! Andrea Clark Libin, John High, and Michael Sohn created hybrid works, "each mixing writing and visual art in a unique way."

Please see below for book covers and visit the Wet Cement Press website for information on ordering.

“A living, breathing, hybrid work unlike anything I've ever read—an orphan's notebook exhumed from the Moscow station and entrusted to your own red heart. An astonishing evocation of the subterranean universe of childhood, at once devastating and inspiring, a young girl's yearning for the world she's lost, for fresh strawberries, her birth name, and love; a fractured song of forgetting and remembering, and a testament to the death-defying power of art. ” —Karen Russell, author of Orange World and Other Stories and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.

“the hurricane’s eye of feeling, / whirl inside whirl, world / within world in John High’s / lush color incantations / hang like moons over the road / of his handwritten words / and their moments of attention / come alive within us as though / we were all nested in each other.” —Forrest Gander, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and author of Be With.

“Michael Sohn enlaces new meaning into language by interweaving letters with careful attention to their structure. Serifs, thicks and thins of strokes, ascenders and descenders, and the negative spaces of counters repeat in patterns obscuring words’ expected sounds and meanings and highlighting the visual potential of language. Sohn’s project moves past the manipulations of concrete poetry and into the landscape of formal beauty and the plastic arts." —Jaime Robles, author of Hoard and editor / designer of Cobalt Blue: Writings from the Papers of Sam Francis.

Reminder: 2020 Paumanok on Monday, March 2!

2020-02-27T11:06:00.003-05:00

Don't forget our annual Paumanok event is taking place on Monday, March 2! Professor Parascandola will be in conversation with Tina Chang, Susan Choi, and Monique Truong in the Kumble Theater. They will also read from their work and sign books after the event.

Please see the flier for more details!

Annual Paumanok Reading Series on March 2!

2020-02-13T13:59:00.001-05:00

Our annual Paumanok series returns to LIU Brooklyn on March 2! We are delighted to announce three Asian American writers, Tina Chang, Susan Choi, and Monique Truong, living in Brooklyn will be taking the stage with Professor Louis Parascandola to give a reading and answer questions about their work.

For more information on the readers and the event, please see the flier below and visit co-sponsor Greenlight Bookstore's website.

See you on March 2!

Need a class? Try ENG 175!

2020-01-15T13:37:00.000-05:00

Still looking for a class to round out your Spring 2020 schedule? Consider taking Professor Michael Bokor's ENG 175!

Please find more details on the flier below!

Voice of Lefferts Reading

2020-01-10T11:20:00.002-05:00

On January 7, English Professor Deborah Mutnick hosted an event for her Voice of Lefferts project at Greenlight Bookstore.

Photo: Liz Dory

The event received publicity in Gothamist, stating "This ongoing community writing and documentary project celebrates the working-class, multiracial community in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens through writing, poetry, and art."

Photo: Liz Dory

Neighborhood authors such as Dianna Sapp, Marcia Lloyd, Bernie Jones, Bob Marvin, and more were featured.

Photo: Liz Dory

Professor Mutnick is the series editor and director for Voices of Lefferts. You can like and follow the Facebook page and share it widely!

Photo: Liz Dory

Lewis Warsh & Bernadette Mayer at Poetry Project

2019-12-02T11:14:00.000-05:00

Faculty member Lewis Warsh and frequent guest Bernadette Mayer will be reading from their newly published collaborative collection of prose poems, entitled Piece of Cake at the Poetry Project on Friday December 6 at 8 PM. You can find more details and purchase tickets here.

Please see below for information on the book. Congratulations, Lewis and Bernadette!

From Station Hill Press: "Bernadette Mayer and Lewis Warsh wrote PIECE OF CAKE as a work of collaborative prose poetry, based on a process of each writing on alternate days in the course of August of 1976. It recounts the quotidian nuances of young, married-with-child life, the artistic path and citizenship in the town of Lenox, Massachusetts. It has the 'I did this, I did that; of a New York School poetry text, as characterized by the poetry of Frank O'Hara, and is somewhat reminiscent of Mayer's work STUDYING HUNGER JOURNALS, written not long before taking up PIECE OF CAKE. As Mayer writes on August 24th, 'I will go just one step further and take the liberty of saying that writing this book is different, for me, so completely different from any other experience I have ever had with writing. Now, when I sit down to write I tremble with fear before the page, and from the reactions of my body I can tell that the possibility of finally telling everything, and telling it as if it were all a series of plain household events, is at last coming closer.' This work is also distinguished as arguably the first significant male-female collaboration in 20th-century American poetry. Regarding the possible derivation of the work's title, and also exemplary of the work's tenor, is the start of Warsh's entry of August 29: 'I also recall getting up and eating a piece of left-over cake (a very sweet store-bought cake with green or possibly pinkish icing) and drinking a glass of milk at the kitchen window. Empty streets, no moon. Michael and Twinkie asleep on the floor of Bernadette's room, Guy and Karen in mine, Bill on the couch in the living room. Marie in her crib. Everyone "dead to the world," a phrase I dislike, what a full house.' This book also includes a section of photographs taken within the family from the period of PIECE OF CAKE’s composition."

Africa Forum on Friday Nov 15 at LIU!

2019-11-01T10:29:00.002-04:00

The English, Philosophy, and Languages Department, along with the Department of Social Sciences presents Africa Forum. The topic The Chinese in Africa: A 21st Century Phenomenon. Students can take this course for 1 credit.

English Professor Michael Bokor will be presenting along with Professor Yusuf M. Juwayeyi. All pertinent details can be found on the flier. If you have any questions, please contact Professor Juwayeyi at yusuf.juwayeyi@liu.edu or 718-488-1168.

Jake Matkov reading for Same Page

2019-10-28T14:50:00.001-04:00

Jake Matkov, current Academic Advisor for the English, Philosophy, and Modern Languages department, will be reading poetry at the Same Page Reading Series on November 13 at KGB Bar.

Please see the flier below for more information!

Screening of new Esther Hyneman Documentary

2019-10-28T14:42:00.000-04:00

Professor Emerita Barbara Henning will be hosting an on-campus screening of Professor Emerita Esther Hyneman's documentary From the Afghan People for Americans. The screening will take place on campus in HC-222 (located in the Media Arts department) on November 13 at 3 PM.

Both Professors Emerita Henning and Hyneman were long time faculty members in the English department.

Please see the flier for more information and bring friends!

Undergraduate Courses: Spring 2020

2019-10-07T10:52:00.000-04:00

English Majors & Minors Mixer on October 10!

2019-10-03T10:44:00.000-04:00

Join us on Thursday October 10 for a department mixer! If you are an English major or minor, or interested in majoring / minoring in English, please come attend! You will have the opportunity to snack on light refreshments, meet faculty, and mingle with your classmates.

All information is on the flier below. Please contact Jacob Matkov (jacob.matkov@liu.edu) if you have any questions.

Flier by: Patrina Gourdet

Join us for a Reading & Talk with Harry Garuba!

2019-09-27T11:42:00.000-04:00

Flier by: Patrina Gourdet

New book from Professor Schweizer!

2019-09-09T11:28:00.001-04:00

Former faculty member, Bernard Schweizer, is pleased to announce the publication of his newest book, Christianity and the Triumph of Humor: From Dante to David Javerbaum.

You will find more information about Professor Schweizer's new book both on the flier below and by clicking on this link to the book's official page on the Routledge website.

Congratulations, Professor Schweizer!

Jessica Hagedorn shortlisted for the Neustadt International Prize

2019-07-24T11:07:00.000-04:00

Former MFA faculty member Jessica Hagedorn was announced as one of the nine 2020 finalists for the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature. This prize is “one of the very few international prizes for which poets, novelists, screenwriters and playwrights are equally eligible.”

Jessica Hagedorn was the Parsons University Professor in Creative Writing from 2008 until 2016. Additionally, she served as MFA Program Director from 2013-2016.

The prize winner will be announced at the 2019 Neustadt Lit Fest on October 16.

You can read more about the prize and finalists at LitHub.

2019 Awards Ceremony

2019-06-17T11:34:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, May 9th, the Department of English, Philosophy, and Languages hosted the annual Awards Ceremony in which we recognized those graduating and academic excellence from our undergraduate and graduate students. This ceremony celebrated all students graduating September 2018, January 2019, and May 2019.

Below, you'll find a list of all students recognized at the ceremony.

GRADUATING ENGLISH MAJORS / GRADUATE STUDENTS

Undergraduate

Naima Akther (January ’19) *^

Michael Czerepka (January ’19)

Ralph Dorsinville (January ’19) *

Fatima Lundy (May ’19) *^

Zakee Marcinkiewicz (May ’19)

Destinee Rodriguez (January ’19)

Leslie Jo Wrightington (May ’19) *^

Graduate

Nikki Alimonda (January ’19)

Joseph Anderson (September ’18) *

Lida Colón (May ’19) *^

Alexander Dermody (May ’19)

Christina Kellagher (January ’19) *

* Excellence in English

^ Sigma Tau Delta member

ENGLISH MINORS

Jade Muyambo (May ’19)

Gillian Vallaster (May ’19)

Olga Volosyanko (May ’19)

GENDER STUDIES MINORS

Abdulaziz Aljadany

Heather Rose Collick

Siobhan Macpherson

Samudra Kine Randazzo

Seneca Marisa Richards

Daria Sowa

SIGMA TAU DELTA INDUCTEES

Dewnya Ahmad

Ashvini Coomarasingham

Skyluar James

Amanda Peren

Amber Wright

POPPER-EDELMAN AWARD WINNERS

Developmental Writing: Al Qubli Nasser

Freshman Writing: Camilla Obidova

Senior Thesis: Naima Akther & Stacey Watson

THE JANET HAYNES SCHOLARSHIP

Daria Sowa

THE LOUIS & ANN PARASCANDOLA GRADUATE ENGLISH AWARD

Christina Kellagher

THE LIANG & BERNARD SCHWEIZER GRADUATE THESIS AWARD

Joseph Anderson & Lida Colón

ESTHER HYNEMAN GRADUATE AWARD IN POETRY

Melanie Neilson

MARILYN BOUTWELL GRADUATE AWARD IN FICTION

Kevin Xiong

Jacob Matkov reading on Saturday, June 15

2019-06-10T12:13:00.003-04:00

The Robert Giard Foundation is hosting a reading event on Saturday, June 15. New and emerging queer writers will read from their work, introduced by Christopher Bram, Joan Larkin, Jaime Manrique, and Pamela Sneed.

The event description follows: "These four established authors, whose portraits form part of Robert Giard’s exhibition of LGBTQ+ authors at Daniel Cooney | Fine Art, will invite us to hear published texts or works-in-progress by noteworthy younger writers on the contemporary scene. In the year of Stonewall 50, this will be an event to honor the queer literary past and look forward to the queer literary future."

Jaime Manrique (photo by Robert Giard)

Jaime Manrique has invited Jacob Matkov (MA '13, MFA '15, current department Academic Advisor and Assistant Adjunct Professor) to read at the event. Jaime Manrique (visiting writer in 2010) mentored Jacob during his Queer Art Mentor fellowship in 2015-16.

Jacob Matkov (photo by Eric McNatt)

The event details are below:

Saturday June 15

4:30 p.m.

Daniel Cooney | Fine Art

508 W 26th St, #9C

New York, NY 10001

You can find more details at this link.

Professor Haynes Named Distinguished Scholar of the Year

2019-06-10T11:38:00.000-04:00

Long Island University Professor of English and Film Studies Dr. Jonathan Haynes is the Lagos Studies Association’s 2019 Distinguished Scholar of the Year.

Paul Ugor, Associate Professor at Illinois State University, nominated Dr. Haynes, writing: “Prof. Haynes’ research work in African literature and cinema marks him out as a scholar of towering international reputation whose persistence of scholarly inquiry into African modes of self-expression has secured legitimation for a field of study now known globally as Nollywood studies. … What Prof Haynes has achieved in African studies is truly remarkable and unprecedented, for very few people who invented a discipline still live amongst us in flesh and blood.”

You can read the full citation here.

Congratulations, Professor Haynes! This fall, he will teach ENG 580, a graduate level seminar on the contemporary African novel.

Lewis Warsh and Barbara Henning reading at the Bobbie Louise Hawkins tribute

2019-04-22T11:55:00.002-04:00

Professor Lewis Warsh and Barbara Henning (Professor Emerita) along with previous guests of the Creative Writing MFA program, Anne Waldman and Brenda Coultas, will pay tribute to Bobbie Louise Hawkins at the Poetry Project on Wednesday April 24. You can find more information about the event and a link below.

Bobbie Louise Hawkins (1930 - 2018) was the author of more than twenty books of poetry and prose and taught for more than thirty years at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. We are proud to remember Bobbie in this special event with readings and performances from Reed Bye, Brenda Coultas, Penelope Creeley, Sarah Hall Creeley, Jennifer Dunbar Dorn, Barbara Henning, Laird Hunt, Eileen Myles, Julie Patton, Eleni Sikelianos, Anne Waldman, and Lewis Warsh.

The event is free. You can find more details and register by clicking this link.

Update from Professor Haynes!

2019-04-18T13:23:00.002-04:00

Professor Jonathan Haynes, celebrating a 20 year milestone at LIU, has been on sabbatical for the past year. He has shared some updates and photos of the work he has done during this time.

With important people, including poet and Head of the UNILAG
English Department Hope Eghagha (left) and
poet and commentator Odia Ofeimun (center).

Professor Haynes has returned home after six months on a Fulbright at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He enjoyed the whole thing immensely. One of the best parts was a two-week trip to South Africa, sponsored by an additional Fulbright grant.

My research facility, UNILAG campus

Presentations delivered by Professor Haynes on his sabbatical:

“Storylines, Nigerian Filmmaking, and the Liberal Arts.” Keynote address, iRepresent International Documentary Film Festival, Lagos, March 2019.

“The Nigerian Film Industry.” Honours Programme, AFDA, Johannesburg, March 2019.

“No Condition is Permanent: Capitalist Integrations in Nollywood.” Keynote Address, Post-Graduate Conference, School of Communication, University of Johannesburg, March 2019.

“The State of Nollywood’s Art: Kemi Adetiba’s King of Boys.” Faculty of Arts Seminar, University of Lagos, February 2019; AC Jordan Chair in African Studies, Archie Mafeje Chair, English Department, and Centre for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape Town, March 2019; Department of African Literature, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, March 2019.

Celebrating the birthday of novelist Igoni Barrett (left)
with music producer Bassey (center)
and man of letters Adewale Maja Pearce.

With Yoruba film star Hafiz Oyetoro (Saka)

We're looking forward to welcoming Professor Haynes back to campus in the fall!

Cape Town is fun!

University of Cape Town

English / Philosophy / Foreign Languages Faculty Milestones!

2019-04-18T12:49:00.003-04:00

A hearty congratulations to our esteemed English / Philosophy / Foreign Languages faculty for reaching milestones in their teaching career at Long Island University's Brooklyn campus.

Professor Srividhya Swaminathan (English) was honored for 15 years at LIU Brooklyn!

Professor Swaminathan, front row on the far right in the gray cardigan.

Professors Margaret Cuonzo (Philosophy), Jonathan Haynes (English), and Gregary Racz (Foreign Languages) were honored for 20 years at LIU Brooklyn! Professor Haynes began his tenure at LIU Southhampton before its closure, then joining the faculty at Brooklyn.

Professor Racz, back row on the far left and Professor Cuonzo, back row on the far right.

Lastly, Professor Robert Pattison (English) was honored for an astounding 40 years teaching at LIU! He also began his tenure at LIU Southhampton before it closed, which is when he joined the faculty in Brooklyn.

Congratulations to our faculty, and thank you for your dedication to LIU students!

Paumanok Lecture with John Keene, April 10th.

2019-04-04T15:47:00.001-04:00

Please join us in the Kumble Theater on April 10 for this year's Paumanok lecture with novelist and 2018 MacArthur Fellow, John Keene!

This event is free and open to the public. Please find all pertinent details on the flier below.

Undergraduate Courses: Summer & Fall 2019

2019-03-29T12:23:00.003-04:00

One day fiction workshop with Idra Novey!

2019-03-27T13:31:00.001-04:00

Idra Novey is coming to LIU Brooklyn on Saturday, April 6 for a one day master class fiction workshop! This workshop is open to the public.

Please see the flier for all pertinent details.

You can RSVP by sending an email to bkln-creativewriting@liu.edu