Literature Blog

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
4:30 p.m.
Visual Arts Facility Performing Space, UCSD

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum is the author of the novels “Ms. Hempel Chronicles” and “Madeleine Is Sleeping”, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Kafka Prize for fiction by an American woman. Her work has appeared in several magazines and anthologies, including the New Yorker, Tin House, Georgia Review and the Best American Short Stories. The recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and a NEA Fellowship, she teaches writing and literature at the University of California, San Diego. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Sesshu Foster
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
4:30 p.m.
Visual Arts Facility Performing Space, UCSD

Sesshu Foster has taught composition and literature in East L.A. for more than 20 years. He’s also taught writing at the University of Iowa, the University of California, Santa Cruz and in the MFA program of the California Institute for the Arts. His work has been published in The Oxford Anthology of Modern American Poetry and, recently, Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond.Recordings of L.A. area readings are archived at www.sicklyseason.com. He is currently collaborating with artist Arturo Romo and other writers on the website, www.ELAguide.org. His most recent books are Atomik Aztex and World Ball Notebook http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100793060&fa=author&person_id=4880&publishergcoicode=87286.

Aaron Kunin
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
4:30 p.m.
Visual Arts Facility Performing Space, UCSD

Aaron Kunin lives in Los Angeles and is assistant professor of English at Pomona College, specializing in early modern literature and with broad research interests in poetry and poetics. He is a poet, critic, novelist, and author of a collection of small poems about shame, Folding Ruler Star (Fence Books, 2005); a chapbook, Secret Architecture (Braincase, 2006); and a novel, The Mandarin

Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco has been dead for 30-some years but the silence he imposed on his victims continues to reverberate. An international, interdisciplinary project headed by Luis Martin-Cabrera, assistant professor of literature at UC San Diego, is changing that with a digital audiovisual archive of testimonies.

Cabrera and a team of graduate students – drawn from the history, literature and visual arts departments, as well as CILAS – are, in collaboration with partners in Spain, recording the untold stories of survivors of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), which overthrew the democratically elected government of the Second Republic, and of Franco’s long regime (1939-75) that followed. The team is working urgently to capture the testimonies of the victims before too many more of them pass away. Read the rest of this entry »

External Faculty Fellowships: Open to scholars from humanities departments traditionally defined and to other scholars seriously interested in humanistic studies.
Fellowship term: September 2009-June 2010
Online application deadline: October 15, 2008

Digital Humanities Fellowship: Open to scholars whose research projects are critically shaped by information technology.
Fellowship term: September 2009-June 2010
Online application deadline: October 15, 2008

Arts Practitioner/Writer Fellowship: Open to an arts practitioner who is also a writer, scholar, or critic pursuing a research or critical project in the arts. The recipient will be in residence with other fellows at the Stanford Humanities Center and will be affiliated with one of three centers of the Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts (SiCa), the award co-sponsor.
Fellowship term: September 2009 – June 2010
Online application deadline: December 1, 2008

Please visit http://she.stanfrod.edu for details.
Questions?
Write to the Stanford Humanities Center, 424 Santa Teresa Street, Stanford CA 94305-4014
Or call 650-723-3054
Or email she-fellowships@stanford.edu

Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Associate Professor in the Department of Literature and Director of the new Writing MFA at UCSD, is published in the New Yorker. YURT is a short story about the social lives and love affairs of elementary school teachers.

“A year ago, Ms. Duffy, the fifth-grade English and history teacher, had come very close to losing it, what with her ill-advised affair with Mr. Polidori coming to an end. But now, upon her return…

by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum

Scott Boehm, USCD Department of Literature Graduate Student, was an invited panelist at the conference “Políticas de Memoria y Construcción de Ciudadanía” in La Granja de San Ildefonso in Segovia, Spain (July 14-20).

New Poetic Brew July Feature—Heather Fowler
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
7:00 p.m.
Rebecca’s Coffee House, South Park, San Diego

Sponsored by San Diego Writers Ink., New Poetic Brew happens on the 3rd Tuesday of Every month at Rebecca’s Coffee House in South Park (San Diego), on the corner of Juniper & 30th… For the open mic, read up to 3 pieces or for a maximum of 3 minutes 33 seconds. Sign up starts at 6:30 p.m. Reading at 7:00 p.m., with 30 minutes featured reader, Heather Fowler, at 7:30 p.m. … Readings are recorded with authors permission and selected pieces will have audio posted online - stay tuned for link.

Kathryn Shevelow, author, invites you to Book Works for a party to celebrate the release of For the Love of Animals. Kathryn Shevelow will be there to discuss her book and sign copies.

Thursday, July10, 2008
7:00 p.m.
The Book Works
2670 Via de la Valle, Ste A230
Del Mar Ca 92014

“Thoroughly researched and impressively detailed…This is a fascinating, often disturbing and frequently funny book… a must read.” – Publishers Weekly

“Bright account of the much-reviled reformers who fought to end animal cruelty in England.” – Kirkus Reviews

“This mesmerizing history is full of colorful characters and anecdotes.” - Booklist

Small Deaths (Vancouver: Parentheses, 2008): Short Stories Pasquale Verdicchio and Roberto Marino

Object Lessons (Vancouver: Parentheses, 2008): Poetry Pasquale Verdicchio with Art by Lynn Susholtz

This Nothing’s Place (Toronto: Guernica, 2008): Poetry Pasquale Verdicchio

Three Department of Literature Professors are named among the 20 awarded the 2008-2009 Hellman Faculty Fellows Awards recipients. Professors Dennis Childs, Dayna Kalleres, and Margaret Loose will receive funding that supports their “research and creative activities and to enhance their progress toward tenure” (Jennings, 2008).

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The winners of the Stewart Prize in Poetry and the Milton Saier Award for Fiction were announced Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at the department’s annual  Spring Celebration of the Arts , recognizing the talents of Department of Literature undergraduate students.

Stewart Prize in Poetry
Winner: Thomas Trudgeon
Runners-Up: Tess Bryant, AC Castro

Milton H. Saier Award for Fiction
Winner: Felipe Martinez
Runners-Up: Kedar Reddy, Kate Hey
Honorable Mention: Taylor Christensen, AC Castro