December 2015

Tuesday, 12/1

The Body Electric

Poetry reading and performance

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

The Body Electric is a poetry collective of undergraduate students seeking to foster a love of poetry and writing across The University of Pennsylvania campus. Every Wednesday at 8:00 PM in Room 202, we meet for workshops, in which we peer edit, collaborate, and participate in prompted writing sessions. One Sunday per month we meet for a poetry appreciation gathering, in which members share their own work or other poems they love and/or want to discuss. The Body Electric also runs a blog of our poets’ work, attends events within the Philadelphia poetry community, and performs a show of our members’ work once per semester. Our name comes from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, whose break from tradition and linking of all life to poetry and beauty inspire us. We accept all poetic forms, from innovative to traditional, spoken word to graphic poetry, and we strive to cultivate an all-embracing spirit.

Wednesday, 12/2

The Economy of Prestige: Literary Prizes in the 21st Century

Jim English, Al Filreis, and Michael Kelleher in conversation

12:00 PM in the Arts Cafe

rsvp: wh@writing.upenn.edu or (215) 573-9748
watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen to an audio recording of this event

Jim English is John Welsh Centennial Professor of English at Penn, Director of the Penn Humanities Forum, and Director of the Price Lab for Digital Humanities. His main fields of research are the sociology and economics of culture; the history of literary studies as a discipline; and British fiction, film, and television since the 1930s. His books include Comic Transactions: Literature, Humor, and the Politics of Community in Twentieth-Century Britain (Cornell 1994), The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value (Harvard 2005), and The Global Future of English Studies (Blackwell, 2012).

Michael Kelleher is director of the Windham-Campbell Literature Prizes at Yale University and the former Artistic and Associate Director of Just Buffalo Literary Center in Buffalo, NY. His third poetry collection, Visible Instruments, is forthcoming from Chax Press. From 2008-2013 he produced Aimless Reading, a blog project in which he photographed, catalogued, and wrote about the more than 1200 titles in his library.

Old English Live

6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe

co-sponsored by the English Department
hosted by: Emily Steiner
watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen to an audio recording of this event

Come hear Penn poets, musicians, and medievalists respond to the great Anglo-Saxon elegy called “The Ruin."

Time stands still, but lichen grows on the wall. Who but giants could have built these ancient stones?

Thursday, 12/3

RealArts@Penn Internship Info Session

Hosted by Anthony DeCurtis

12:00 PM in the Arts Cafe

RSVP: wh@writing.upenn.edu or call (215) 746-POEM
watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen to an audio recording of this event

Have you been dreaming of the perfect summer internship? The one that will change your life forever? RealArts@Penn can help make that dream a reality! RealArts@Penn offers paid summer internships in publishing, TV and film, journalism, public relations, talent management, music, theater, and museums. Premier partner/host organizations have included Viacom, McSweeney’s, Penguin Random House, and Disney Television Animation. The project draws upon a vast network of creative alumni who help enable hands-on and face-to-face interactions between students and the people who make arts and culture their business. Join us for an informal conversation with past RealArts interns to learn more about the project and the application process.

Friday, 12/4

Penn Plays workshop reading: Mirrors

A play by Micahel Lobman

1:00 PM in the Arts Cafe

Sponsored by the Theatre Arts Program and Kelly Writers House, The Penn Plays Fellowship features opportunities for an emerging playwright to develop a script through critical feedback by Penn faculty, professional writers, and dramaturges, including a workshop reading at KWH, and culminating in a workshop production of the winning work as part of a two-night festival to be staged in the Bruce Montgomery theatre.

This year's winning play is Mirrors by Michael Lobman. As a junior at Penn, Michael Lobman is double majoring in English and Cinema Studies with a concentration in Creative Writing. Although Mirrors is his first venture into playwriting, Michael has written a feature length neo-noir screenplay — Chiaroscuro — and several short film scripts.

Saturday, 12/5

Sunday, 12/6

Monday, 12/7

CAKE HEADS, ZEPPELINS, AND THE LOLLIPOP MURDERS

Karen Rile's Advanced Fiction Writing Class

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

Come hear Kea Edwards, Sophia Lee, Meg Pendoley, Kaitlin Moore, Casey Lynch, and David Silbert read highly original short stories created in Karen Rile’s English 115 Advanced Fiction Writing Class. Our work is inspired by our idols: Zadie Smith, Steven Millhauser, Lydia Davis, George Saunders, and more (Lorrie Moore, that is.) Monday, December 7, 2 PM at Kelly Writers House. Open to the public. Amazing refreshments will be served. Join us!

Tuesday, 12/8

Entrepreneurial Journalism Pitch Night

A Creative Ventures Program

6:30 PM in the Arts Cafe

watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event.

Penn's Entrepreneurial Journalism students have spent the semester dreaming up new journalism platforms. Tonight they'll present their ideas to a panel of distinguished journalists, venture capitalists, and Internet pioneers. With $7,500 in seed money on the line, it's going to be an exciting evening for anyone interested in the future of journalism.

Wednesday, 12/9

Creative Writing Students Reading

Melissa Jensen's Writing for Children Class

2:30 PM in the Arts Cafe

watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event

From hatted cats to Sorting Hats, we've read and written the gamut: love and magic (sometimes they are not the same thing), wrestling and monsters, even some good fart jokes. Come hear readings from this term's Writing for Children class. There will be Happily Ever After. Or maybe wolves.

Non-Fiction Now

Lorene Cary's Writing for Children Class

4:30 PM in the Arts Cafe

watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event

Students in "Non-Fiction Now" write for Medium.com/Safe-Kids- Stories, a website that gathers and disseminates writing, illustrations, video, audio, and blogs on the subject of how we can make our children feel safe in a dangerous world. Essays and blogs tackle this question with thoughtful reporting, memoir, naughty satire, and prose that runs from gentle to fierce.

Thursday, 12/10

Creative Writing Students Reading

Kitsi Watterson's 145: Art of the Personal Essay

12:30 PM in the Arts Cafe

watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event

Ron Silliman's Poetry & Poetics class reading

2:30 PM in the Arts Cafe

watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV
listen: to an audio recording of this event

How does a tradition of poetry predicated on the metaphor of scientific investigation respond to a nation of continually increasing diversity as the world heats up & institutions melt down? Ron Silliman’s writing class offers five ways of looking at the new in this post-conceptual landscape. With Zoe Stoller, Nancy Wong, Hector Roman, Ariel Resnikoff & Amanda Silberling.

Friday, 12/11

Saturday, 12/12

Sunday, 12/13

Monday, 12/14

Tuesday, 12/15

Wednesday, 12/16

Thursday, 12/17

Friday, 12/18

Saturday, 12/19

Sunday, 12/20

Monday, 12/21

Tuesday, 12/22

Wednesday, 12/23

Thursday, 12/24

Friday, 12/25

Saturday, 12/26

Sunday, 12/27

Monday, 12/28

Tuesday, 12/29

Wednesday, 12/30

Thursday, 12/31