The buzz began early for VCU alumnus Kevin Powers’ debut novel, The Yellow Birds, a story of a young soldier’s experience serving in the United States Army during the Iraq War. At the start of 2012, Entertainment Weekly placed the book on its short list of the most promising new novels for the year.
For more information, see this news report.
The Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies announces their monthly fall brown-bag luncheon series. The first lunch will be on September 10th at 12:00 pm in Crenshaw House. Cristina Stanciu, Assistant Professor in the Department of English will discuss “An Indian Woman of Many Hats: Laura Cornelius Kellogg’s Embattled Search for an Indigenous Voice.” Upcoming dates and topics can be found on the CHS blog.
Some news from recent undergraduates…
Rising undergrad senior Nicole “Nikki” Fernandes has been accepted into the Rutgers REDI program (Rutgers English Diversity Institute), a summer program for minority students interested in academic careers. The program accepts only 12 students, and Nikki won out in national competition. In addition to an intensive seminar, students get a $500 stipend and attend a Broadway show. Here’s the link for more info about REDI: http://redi.rutgers.edu/about.
Cindy Kim (class of 2012) was accepted into the Summer Publishing Institute at New York University, as well as into their Master of Science Program in Publishing, which she will begin this fall.
Cole Cridlin (class of 2011) has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study in France,which he will begin this fall.
Cory MacLauchlin (VCU BA in English, 2002) has just published his book, Butterfly in the Typewriter: The Tragic Life of John Kennedy Toole and the Remarkable Story of A Confederacy of Dunces (Da Capo Press).
MacLauchlin draws on scores of new interviews with friends, family, and colleagues as well as full access to the extensive Toole archive at Tulane University, capturing his upbringing in New Orleans, his years in New York City, his frenzy of writing in Puerto Rico, his return to his beloved city, and his descent into paranoia and depression.
Cristina Stanciu has co-authored an essay about part of the process that job-seekers go through when they send out a number of applications. The rejection part. Apparently, departments at many universities are insensitive and sometimes are downright rude in saying No. Or they don’t say anything at all. So Cristina and her colleague Melissa Girard, who’s now at the U of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, wrote a good-natured piece a few weeks ago and sent it to The Chronicle of Higher Education. It made the front page earlier this week and was one of the most popular pieces when it came out. You can read “The Art of Rejection” at The Chronicle online.
Then a few days ago Issues in Higher Education picked it up. Christina reported that there was a lot of good feedback from across the country–obviously many people thought the matter needs attention. And Cristina said that there was at least one good comment about the way we here in English do our rejections.
In truth, we go to special efforts to be considerate in our rejections, which applicants have said they appreciate. Glad to hear that we received some public notice for it.
VCU graduate and English major Kevin Powers is receiving high acclaim for his debut novel about the Iraq war, The Yellow Birds. Bookseller.com published the notice and we’ve been informed by Kevin that the publisher will bring out editions of Birds in 13 countries besides the US. As you recall, Kevin was one of our undergraduates, with a BA in English in 2008. Several of you know Kevin from classes with him. He is now a Michener Poetry Fellowship in the University of Texas-Austin’s MFA program. Entering his final semester, Kevin will graduate in May with an MFA in poetry.
Under the guidance of Professor David Coogan, Alpha Rho, the VCU chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, began a service project with Linwood Holton Elementary School in October. To date, Alpha Rho members have logged in over 60 hours, helping more than 100 students in five classrooms with their reading and writing skills, and continue to visit the school each week. According to VCU undergraduate and Sigma Tau member Michelle Palmer, the chapter hopes to assist in a local elementary school each semester.
The VCU Department of English is pleased to host a lecture by Professor Les Harrison as a part on its ongoing “First Friday” lecture series. The lecture will take place Friday, February 4th at 3pm in Hibbs 308. Topic: “Textual Fluidity and the Digital Edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” All First Friday events are free and open to the public.
A special congratulations goes out to Professor Kathleen Graber, whose poetry collection, The Eternal City (Princeton University Press), was just selected a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry.
For more details please see the National Book Award website.
The VCU Department of English is pleased to host a lecture by Assistant Professor Kathleen Graber as a part of its ongoing “First Friday” lecture series. The lecture will take place this Friday, Ocotber 1 at 3pm in Hibbs 308. Topic: “In Dwelling: Stephen Dunn in Deadwood.” All First Friday events are free and open to the public.
Vivian Davis (BA in English 2003) is completing at PhD in English at UCLA; her dissertation is titled “Tragic Laughter/Comic Tears: Genre and Feeling in the Eighteenth Century.” In Fall 2010 she returns to VCU and is offering a course for English majors in Eighteenth-Century Women Writers.
The VCU Department of English is pleased to host a lecture by Professor David Latane as a part on its ongoing “First Friday” lecture series. The lecture will take place Friday, April 9 at 3pm in Hibbs 308. Topic: “Being and Event — Browning and Schlegel in the 1830s.”
All First Friday events are free and open to the public.
The VCU Department of English is pleased to host a lecture by Assistant Professor and Director of the Writing Center, Patricia Strong, as a part of its ongoing “First Friday” lecture series. The lecture will take place Friday, March 5th at 3pm in Hibbs 308. Topic: “OMG! Texting Toward Illiteracy?: LOL. Why Social Writing Trumps School Writing.”
All First Friday events are free and open to the public.
Max Watman (BA in English), has recently published his second book with Simon and Schuster, titled Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur Outlaw’s Adventures in the Moonshine Trade. He’ll be talking about his work in two panel discussions during the Virginia Festival of the Book, March 17-21.
The VCU Department of English is pleased to host a lecture by Professor Rivka Swensen as a part on its ongoing “First Friday” lecture series. The lecture will take place this Friday, November 6 at 3pm in Hibbs 308. Topic: “Vulnerable Subjects: Theorizing the Eighteenth-Century Gaze.”
All First Friday events are free and open to the public.