FACULTY NEWS: Alicia Kozameh will Represent CU in France

Author/Professor Alicia Kozameh has been invited to the Belles Latinas Festival, a yearly event that takes place simultaneously in different cities in France during the month of November, for Latin American authors translated into French. She will be presenting her poetry book Mano en vuelo (Hand in Flight), in French Main in vol, written during the beginning of the war in Iraq, and her story "Bosquejo de alturas" (Impression of Heights), in French Esquisse des hauteurs, an account of the time she spent imprisoned with other women in the basement of the headquarters of the Police Station in Rosario, Argentina, as a political prisoner during the last dictatorship.

Both books were translated by Anne-Claire Huby and published by L'atelier du tilde, Lyon, France.

She will be doing presentations at the Université Lumiére, Bron, Université de Poitiers, Archivos Poitiers, L'AmphiOpéra de Lyon and the Médiathèque Municipale, Valence. Alicia will end her tour with a reading and lecture at the University of Milano, Italy. 

EVENT NEWS: Award-Winning Fiction Writer Richard Bausch: A Reading & Talk, Sept. 29

Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of English is excited to host Richard Bausch on Thursday, Sept. 29 at noon in the Wilkinson Chapel.

Join Richard Bausch, a master of the short story, for a reading and discussion. His latest collection is Something Is Out There (Vintage 2010), his work has appeared in the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly, and he edited (with R.W. Cassill) The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction (2006). His novels include Hello to the Cannibals (2002) and Violence (1992). Bausch currently holds the Moss Chair of Excellence in the Writing Program at the University of Memphis.

This event  is free and open to the public.

EVENT NEWS: Tabula Poetica, Amy Newlove Schroeder, Sept. 13

Chapman University, Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of English would like to invite you to the 2011 Tabula Poetica series, starting Tuesday, September 13 with Amy Newlove Schroeder.

Amy Newlove Schroeder’s book The Sleep Hotel (Oberlin College P) won the Field Prize. A founding editor of Pool, Schroeder has published poetry and prose in The Boston Review, Ploughshares, Colorado Review, Seneca Review, American Poetry Review and Denver Quarterly. Her work appears in both Turkish and English in the Turkish journal Cevrem Edebiyati. She earned her Ph.D. from USC, after which she lived and taught in Istanbul for a year. A Los Angeles native, she currently teaches at the University of La Verne.

All poetry talks will begin at 1 p.m. in the Wilkinson Chapel and readings will being at 7 p.m. in Henley Room in Leatherby Libraries. These events are free and open ot the public.

This series is sponsored by the Department of English, Leatherby Libraries, Department of History, Conservatory of Music and supported by Poets & Writers, Inc.

For more information, please visit the Tabula Poetica.  

STUDENT NEWS: MFA student's poem published

MFA student Calvin Pennix ('11) recently learned that his poems, "Lost in the Cycle in the Cycle" and "I Leave You with a Blemish" will be appearing in the June 2011 issue of UCITY Review, which will be both online and print.

His two other poems, "Exalted in Beginnings" and "Ruptures with Spontaneity," will be appearing in A Few Lines Magazine.

Congratulations, Calvin!

STUDENT NEWS: Wilkinson student accepted into Marquettte

Congratulations are in order for Collin Pointon (double major in English literature and Philosophy).

He has been accepted into the MA in Philosophy program at Marquette University and will be starting in the fall.

ALUMNI NEWS: Mary Plummer ('07) shines in the NYT, May 18

Please join me in congratulating journalism alum and former Panther Editor-in-Chief  Mary Plummer ('07) whose piece on aging appeared in the New York Times May 18.

Click here to Read!

After earning her MSJ from Columbia University, Mary completed a fellowship with ABC News in London and is now working with ABC News in Los Angeles.

To learn more about Mary’s career since she left Chapman and for her contact info,  logon to her website: http://www.maryplummer.net/.

FACULTY NEWS: Professor Lehnhof's personal essay in CHE

Kent Lehnhof, associate professor of English, has published a personal essay about commencement in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Check out the essay here: http://chronicle.com/article/Why-a-Comfortable-Commencement/127518/

FACULTY NEWS: Faculty publishes book

On May 24, 2011 and through the month of June, Alicia Kozameh, assistant professor of English will be traveling to Argentina, on a book tour for her latest novel, recently published in Spanish. She will be visiting five Argentine cities: Buenos Aires, Rosario, Córdoba, Paraná and Concepción to present her new book.

The novel, titled Natatio aeterna, deals with two fundamental concepts: identity and belonging. It takes the reader through the obsessions of ten separate characters, each of them a part of different and varied social groups; one a neurosurgeon with his team, another a drummer with visceral ties to the Venice Beach drum circle, and another a ballet dancer and her company, for example. The characters do not interact with each other, but, rather, become one another as each of their stories unfold, forming an eternal circular movement that represents life.

The novel is being published by the Argentine publishing house, Alción.

STUDENT NEWS: English Major Presents Paper at Conference

On March 26, 2011, Andrew Mauzey ('11) presented his paper titled, "The Economics of Black Masculinity in For Colored Girls and Topdog/Underdog," at the Claremont Graduate University Student Research Conference (pictured below).

The conference theme was The Balancing Act: Theory and Practice and Mauzey was on a panel with Chapman alumns Jenny Lau ('09) and Danielle Medina ('11).

Danielle Walters ('11), Andrew Mauzey ('11) and Jenny Lau ('09).

Mauzey's paper was published as part of the CGU student research conference proceedings in April 2011.

STUDENT NEWS: Students do well at the Sigma Tau Delta International Convention

At the 2011 Sigma Tau Delta Gala where awards were announced. 
(Top L to R): Pace Gardner, Michael Schulze,
Christian Bourgeois, Dr. Brian Glaser. (Bottom): Sara Hunt,
Nicki Quinn, Lauren Benke, Sarah Faulkner.

Congratulations are in order for graduate student Pace Gardner, who won 2nd Place in Original Fiction for his piece "First Step", winning $250 at the 2011 Sigma Tau Delta International Convention which took place in Pittsburgh, March 23-26.

"There were only around 20 awards in different categories given and over 1,000 students present, so Pace winning one was a huge accomplishment," said Sarah Faulkner, a junior English Literature major with a minor in Art History and currently the President of Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society here at Chapman.

Faulkner was also a big winner, learning she was granted with the Regent Scholarship for the Far Western Region. She was awarded with $1,000 which she will use to pursue a Master's degree after graduating Chapman and eventually earning her Ph.D.

"The award is extremely appreciated," said Faulkner.

In addition to that, Faulkner was elected by her peers to be the Student Representative of the Far Western Region to the International Board of Directors.

"I was elected through a speech and a ballot vote," said Faulkner.

She will serve on the Student Leadership Committee as well as two others, will assist in planning the 2012 International Convention in New Orleans, and will monitor the operations of all chapters within the nine states of the western region.

"At the Chapman level, I hope to host a Regional Conference in the Fall," said Faulkner. "I am very excited about the opportunity to increase communication and the sharing of ideas between Sigma Tau Delta chapters throughout our region, and would be thrilled to host a Regional Conference for this purpose.

Congratulations are in order for both of these students and their accomplishments!  

STUDENT NEWS: Wilkinson Student wins Fulbright Scholarship to further jazz-era research

Ada “Bricktop” Smith made a cameo appearance in a Woody Allen movie, helped American jazz leap across the Atlantic to find a second home in 1920s Paris and was a legendary doyenne of French café society.

But little has been written about Smith, an African American woman who defied the social, cultural and economic conventions of her day. Until now. Chapman University student Tracey Swan MFA/MA ’11 has received a Fulbright Scholarship to further her research of Smith in the coming academic year at the University of Paris and the Quai Branly Museum, under the supervision of Professor Ludovic Tournès, author of New Orleans on the Seine: The History of Jazz in France.

Read more in happeings ...

John Fowles Center Presents, Erri De Luca, Apr.4

The John Fowles Center for Creative Writing promotes and advances the discipline of creative writing in all its aspects: fiction, poetry, drama, creative nonfiction and screenwriting. For fourteen years the center has invited international writers to Chapman as: Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, Salman Rushdie, Maxine Hong Kingston among others. This year's 2011 literary series is devoted to Italian authors. On Monday, April 4, Erri De Luca!

Erri De Luca, defined as “the writer of the decade” by Corriere della Sera literature critic Giorgio De Rienzo, once worked as a truck driver, a mason and a blue collar at the Fiat factory. Now De Luca is better known for his bestselling novels, his first being published in 1989, Non ora, non qui (Not now, not here). Many more books followed after that and were translated and published in Spain, Portugal, Germany, Holland, USA, Brazil, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Romania, Greece and Lithuania. De Luca is self-taught in several languages including Ancient Hebrew and Yiddish and currently lives in a remote cottage in the countryside of Rome.

Time: Monday, April 4, 7:00 PM

Location: Doy and Dee Henley Reading Room, Leatherby Libraries

Contact: Tracey Swan
Phone: (714) 532-6026
Email: swan103@mail.chapman.edu]

Web: http://www.chapman.edu/fowles/


Coming up ...
April 11: Paoloa Giordano
April 25: Giuseppe Conte
All the events begin at 7 p.m. and are held in the Henley Reading Room on the second floor of the Leatherby Libraries. The readings and lectures are free and open to the public.

FACULTY NEWS: English Department

Scott Martelle, adjunct faculty for the English Department, was featured in the Sunday, March 27, 2011 edition of the Los Angeles Times Opinion Section.

His article titled, "The collapse of Detroit" De-industrialization, racism, stagnation — is the Motor City our future?" is about vacant homes, businesses and factories in Detroit. According to the 2010 U.S. Census Data there has been a 25 percent drop in the population in the last decade.

Take a look ...  

FACULTY NEWS: Where Are We Going Next? A Conversation about Creative Writing Pedagogy (Pt. 2)

Where Are We Going Next? A Conversation about Creative Writing Pedagogy (Pt. 2) By Cathy Day, Anna Leahy (Chapman Univesity, pictured left) & Stephanie Vanderslice

This is Part II of a conversation between creative writing teachers Cathy Day, Anna Leahy and Stephanie Vanderslice.

FACULTY NEWS: Where Are We Going Next? A Conversation about Creative Writing Pedagogy with Anna Leahy and friends (Pt.I)

Where Are We Going Next? A Conversation about Creative Writing Pedagogy (Pt. 1) By Cathy Day, Anna Leahy (Chapman Univesity, pictured left) & Stephanie Vanderslice

The three authors in this conversation essay contributed to Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom (edited by Anna Leahy), which launched the New Writing Viewpoints series in 2005.

It’s time to get on with creative writing pedagogy. Can creative writing be taught? Yes, we’re not charlatans, though teaching looks different here than in other disciplines. Should college-level teachers of creative writing be practicing writers? Yes. Though being a great writer doesn’t make you a great teacher, creative writing teachers are strengthened by engaging in the practice themselves. What’s the relationship between creative writing and composition studies? While creative writing is not in opposition to composition studies, neither is it a variation of or sub-discipline within composition studies. Should we grade creative writing? If we are working in institutions that require grading, of course. There exist ways to approach the evaluation of students’ skills and written work that can be minimally intrusive on the writing process and even useful. Is the workshop monolithic? No, the workshop is an adaptable model.
Why do thousands of creative writing instructors who teach courses professionally — who speak and write about teaching creative writing — proceed as if this growing body of pedagogy doesn’t exist? We need this conversation — we need it now — to examine the current state of creative writing pedagogy and propose several areas for further investigation. Let’s get started.

Continue Reading Part 1...

FACULTY NEWS: English Department

Cristina Bruns, adjunct instructor in English presented a paper in a session she organized and chaired at the Modern Language Association’s convention in Los Angeles in January. The session was entitled “Why Literature Matters,” and its three papers were “Literature as Alternative Reality,” given by Gregory Jusdanis, Professor and Director of the Modern Greek Program at The Ohio State University,  “Literature as Formative Experience,” given by Cristy, and “Literature as Other to Our Age,” given by Mark W. Roche, Rev. Edmund P. Joyce Professor of German Language and Literature at University of Notre Dame. Cristy’s paper and the focus of the session were drawn from her book, Why Literature? The Value of Literary Reading and What It Means for Teaching, due out this May with Continuum.

FACULTY NEWS: Department of English

Bohemia in America 1858-1920, by Joanna Levin, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of English, Wilkinson College, has been selected as one of CHOICE Magazine’s 2010 Outstanding Academic Titles

FACULTY NEWS: Axelrod chosen for ‘Discourses on MetaDiscourses’ roundtable

Mark Axelrod, Ph.D., professor, Department of English, Wilkinson College, is one of three prestigious professors chosen for a roundtable at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17, at Cal State L.A. titled “Discourses on MetaDiscourses.”

Read more in happenings

FACULTY NEWS: Dr. Logan Esdale presented a paper at MLA Conference

Logan Esdale, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, English, recently presented a paper at the annual MLA Conference, which this year was held in Los Angeles. The paper, “The Bervin Fascicles,” was part of panel on contemporary re-imaginings of Emily Dickinson's writing. As well, last fall he published two book reviews, one on Reading Emily Dickinson’s Letters: Critical Essays, edited by Jane Donahue Eberwein and Cindy MacKenzie, published in The Emily Dickinson Journal, and the other on Catherine Morley’s The Quest for Epic in Contemporary American Fiction: John Updike, Philip Roth and Don DeLillo, published in Modern Fiction Studies.