January 2014
Wednesday, 1/1
Thursday, 1/2
Friday, 1/3
Saturday, 1/4
Sunday, 1/5
Monday, 1/6
Tuesday, 1/7
Wednesday, 1/8
Thursday, 1/9
Friday, 1/10
Saturday, 1/11
Sunday, 1/12
Monday, 1/13
Tuesday, 1/14
Wednesday, 1/15
Thursday, 1/16
Friday, 1/17
Saturday, 1/18
Sunday, 1/19
Monday, 1/20
Tuesday, 1/21
Poets & Composers
CANCELED
co-sponsored by: The Curtis Institute of Music
This event has been CANCELED.
Working with local poets Julia Bloch, CA Conrad, Pattie McCarthy, and Taije Silverman, student composers from the Curtis Institute of Music set poems to music, developing new works over the course of the fall semester. Join us for a p review of some of the resulting song cycles and a discussion of the collaborative process.
Creative Ventures supports creative collaborations across discipline, emphasizing evolution and innovation, convergence, creative process, and imagination.
Wednesday, 1/22
Roberto Bolaño's last years
Heled Travel Grant presentation by Shaj Mathew
12:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
RSVP: wh@writing.upenn.edu
Shaj Mathew is a senior Comparative Literature major with concentrations in Spanish and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. The Heled Travel Grant allowed him to travel to Barcelona in the summer of 2013 to research the life and work of novelist Roberto Bolaño for a literary essay melding travelogue, literary criticism, and personal reflection. Deeply interested in the violence of Bolaño's work, Mathew re-traced Bolaño's last years last years, visited an exhibition of Bolaño's previously unpublished manuscripts at the Barcelona Contemporary Culture Center, and spent time developing impressions of Barcelona.
Speakeasy Open Mic
7:30 PM in the Arts Cafe
hosted by: Rosa Escandon and Isa Oliveres
Our Speakeasy Open Mic Night is held once a month. We invite writers to share their work, or the work of others, in our Arts Cafe. Speakeasy welcomes all kinds of readings, performances, spectacles, and happenings. Bring your poetry, your guitar, your dance troupe, your award-winning essay, or your stand up comedy to share. You should expect outrageous (and free!) raffles for things you didn't know you needed, occasional costumes, and, of course, community members who love writing.
Thursday, 1/23
Mind of Winter
5:30 PM in the Arts Cafe
watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event
In January of every year, the Writers House Planning Committee embraces the post-holiday doldrums with a celebration of winter's comforts, inspired by Wallace Stevens's chilly poem, "The Snow Man." We gather here at the Writers House, stoke a big fire in the parlor, simmer several big pots of soups and stews, and share our favorite winter-themed readings with one another. Let it snow! Please RSVP to wh@writing.upenn.edu or call 215-746-POEM.
Friday, 1/24
PENN PLAYS FELLOWSHIP:
Workshop Reading of Kate Herzlin's (C'14) Princess
2:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event
The Theatre Arts Program and Kelly Writers House have sponsored a collaborative fellowship project open to current Penn students, faculty, and staff. The PENN PLAYS FELLOWSHIP features opportunities for the winning playwright to develop their script through critical feedback by Penn faculty, professional writers, and dramaturges, and will culminate in a workshop production of the winning work as part of a two-night festival to be staged in the Bruce Montgomery theatre.
Saturday, 1/25
Sunday, 1/26
Monday, 1/27
LIVE at the Writers House
7:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
LIVE at the Writers House is a long-standing collaboration between the Kelly Writers House and WXPN FM (88.5). Six times annually between September and April, Michaela Majoun hosts a one-hour broadcast of poetry, music, and other spoken-word art, along with one musical guest, all from our Arts Cafe onto the airwaves at WXPN. LIVE is made possible by generous support from BigRoc. For more information, contact Producer Alli Katz (katza@writing.upenn.edu).
Tuesday, 1/28
A Reading by Suppose an Eyes
6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event
Suppose An Eyes is an ongoing workshop for poets sponsored by the Kelly Writers House. Formed in 1999, the group meets two evenings per month, providing a workshop for poets to explore, share and improve their work as part of a supportive community of writers. Though often full, the group is open to anyone interested in writing poetry—any type of poetry, from traditional forms to "found" poetry, flarf, and even computer-generated work. In addition to workshop meetings, Suppose an Eyes participates in readings at various locations in the greater Philadelphia area.
Suppose an Eyes takes its name from a portrait in Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons:
Suppose it is within a gate which open is open at the hour of closing summer that is to say it is so.
All the seats are needing blackening. A white dress is in sign. A soldier a real soldier has a worn lace a worn lace of different sizes that is to say if he can read, if he can read he is a size to show shutting up twenty-four.
Go red go red, laugh white.
Suppose a collapse in rubbed purr, in rubbed purr get.
Little sales ladies little sales ladies little saddles of mutton.
Little sales of leather and such beautiful beautiful, beautiful beautiful.
Wednesday, 1/29
Brodsky Gallery Opening
Prize Every Time, Artist Talk with Ryan Collerd
6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe and throughout the first floor
watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event
Join us for the opening of this exhibition of recent work by Philadelphia-based photographer Ryan Collerd. A brief artist's talk will be followed by a reception with time to view and enjoy the art.
Ryan Collerd grew up in Northwest Jersey next door to an old volcano (it's true look it up) and not far from the Appalachian Trail. He's currently a freelance photographer in Philadelphia whose clients include The New York Times, The Wall St. Journal, Monocle, Philadelphia Magazine, and more. When he's not making pictures for them you can find him floating on a river in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey in his one-person canoe. No it's not a kayak.
The Brodsky Gallery is an art gallery integrated with the ground floor of the Writers House. Up to six exhibitions take place during the academic year from September through May. Openings feature a reception for the artist and an accompanying program; examples include panel discussions, poetry readings, film screenings, and technique demonstrations by the artist. Through exhibiting a diverse array of art media and cross-disciplinary programming, the Brodsky Gallery at KWH seeks to engage Penn students and the broader Philadelphia community with the interrelationships between literary and visual arts. Thanks to the generosity of Michael and Heidi Brodsky, whose support makes our gallery space possible, the Brodsky Gallery is a permanent project of Kelly Writers House.
Thursday, 1/30
Imagining the Future: Artists and Writers on the World to Come
Beltran Family Program
5:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
RSVP: wh@writing.upenn.edu
watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event
Anthony DeCurtis, a distinguished lecturer in Penn's creative writing program and winner of the 2013-14 Beltran Award for innovative teaching, has commissioned new work that speculates on the shape of things to come. Apocalypse or utopia? Events out of control or the realization of shimmering possibilities? Hear and see a group of writers and artists share new work that will provoke your thinking and inspire you to engage the future with boldness and creativity.
- Anthony DeCurtis, Moderator
- Nathalie Anderson, Poet and Professor of Creative Writing, Swarthmore College
- Zach Djanikian, Singer-songwriter
- Greg Maughan, Founder, Philly Improv Theater
- Carrie Rickey, Film Critic
- Joseph Tirella, Author of Tomorrow-Land: The 1964-65 World's Fair and the Transformation of America