February 2019
Friday, 2/1
Saturday, 2/2
Sunday, 2/3
Monday, 2/4
A reading by Nathan Long
12:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
hosted by: Karen Rile
rsvp: wh@writing.upenn.edu or (215) 746-POEM
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
Nathan Alling Long's work has appeared on National Public Radio and in over fifty publications, including Tin House, Glimmer Train, Story Quarterly and The Sun. His story “Reception Theory” won the 2017 international OWT Story Prize and “Arctic” won the 2015 international Open Road fiction award. The Origin of Doubt, his collection of fifty flash fiction, was released in 2018 from Press 53, and his second manuscript, Everything Merges with the Night, was a finalist for the Hudson Book Manuscript Prize and a semifinalist for the Iowa Fiction Award. He is also the recipient of a Mellon grant, a Truman Capote literary fellowship, and three Pushcart nominations. He lives in Philadelphia and teaches creative writing and women, gender, and sexuality studies at Stockton University.
A meeting of the Writers House Planning Committee
5:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
rsvp to: jalowent@writing.upenn.edu
Join us for a meeting of the Writers House Planning Committee (also known as "the Hub")— the core group of engaged students, staff. faculty, and volunteers who help make things happen at Writers House. Anyone is welcome to become a Hub member by participating in Hub activities and helping out. Members of the Hub plan programs, share ideas, and discuss upcoming projects.
Tuesday, 2/5
Five Up on Walt
Davy Knittle, Ujjwala Maharjan, Frank Sherlock, Ron Silliman, and Simone White
6:30 PM in the Arts Cafe
supported by: The Sussman Poetry Program
Five Up on Walt will feature five people — poets and members of the Kelly Writers House community — each talking briefly about a Walt Whitman poem that has meant something to their poetry or writing practice. Part of Whitman at 200: Art and Democracy, a region-wide initiative organized by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, with major support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, to mark the 200th anniversary of Whitman's birth, this event will bring together writers from multiple genres and generations, each sharing and reckoning with the legacy of Whitman as a poet and as an American.
Whitman at 200: Art and Democracy is a year-long series of cultural events and artistic commissions generated by University of Pennsylvania Libraries and partner organizations to mark the bicentennial of Walt Whitman, America's “poet of democracy,” who was born on May 31, 1819. Whitman lived the last two decades of his life in Camden, across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. In 2019 we recognize his connection to the region and his far-reaching relevance today.
Ujjwala Maharjan is a spoken word poet and art educator from Kathmandu, Nepal. In 2010, she co-founded Word Warriors, a poetry group leading the Nepali spoken word movement. She was the Program Coordinator for Write to Speak, a spoken word poetry project that introduces the art form to youth from diverse communities, focusing on marginalized groups whose voices have been traditionally suppressed, to bring out their stories. She recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education where she was the 2017-'18 UNESCO Fellow at the International Education Development Program. She is currently interested in exploring art and expression based tools to assist students' socio-emotional learning and literacy skills.
Ron Silliman has written and edited 40 books, most recently if wants to be the same as is: Essential Poems of David Bromige, co-edited with Jack Krick & Bob Perelman, from New Star Books, and had his poetry and criticism translated into 16 languages. Silliman was a 2012 Kelly Writers House Fellow.
Davy Knittle is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in English who works in the fields of feminist, queer, and trans theory, urban studies, and experimental American writing. His dissertation is entitled "Queer with the City: Deviance and the Politics of Urban Change," and uses experimental work by queer and trans authors to read the history of revitalization and redevelopment in major American cities after urban renewal as co-constitutive of queer and trans conceptions of selfhood and space. He is the author of the chapbooks "empathy for cars / force of july" (horse less press 2016) and "cyclorama" (the operating system 2015). Recent writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Recluse, AModern, Fence, and The Brooklyn Rail. He is a reviews editor for Jacket2, curates the City Planning Poetics talk and reading series at the Kelly Writers House, and organizes with Penn's Trans Literacy Project. He is grateful to the coordinators of Poetry and Poetics and Gen/Sex for gathering folks for this event.
Wednesday, 2/6
Speakeasy Open Mic Night
7:30 PM in the Arts Cafe
Our student-run open mic night 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.
Thursday, 2/7
Heled Travel grant presentation: Caroline Harris (C'19)
12:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
rsvp: wh@writing.upenn.edu
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
Winner of the 2018–2019 Heled Travel and Research Grant, Caroline Harris is a senior studying English and Creative Writing. She is passionate about poetry. This summer she traveled to Japan to research the haiku poet Matsuo Basho. Caroline hiked over 100 miles of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage, beginning in Osaka and ending in Ise. As part of her research, Caroline stayed in Buddhist monasteries and learned about Zen Buddhism. Her project investigated the intersection of poets and pilgrims, and the significance of pilgrimage in the 21st century.
Print Show: Alyson del Pino, Harry Galiano, Bronwyn Katz, and Heidi Lee
Brodsky Gallery Opening
6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe and throughout the first floor
A showcase of student work featuring prints by Alyson del Pino, Harry Galiano, Bronwyn Katz, and Heidi Lee. Join us at a reception to meet the artists and chat about print work and printing practice at Penn.
Bronwyn Katz is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences studying art history and fine arts. She is from Atlanta, GA, and has been printmaking since high school.
Heidi Lee is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Fine Arts with a minor in Consumer Psychology. She works with drawing, painting, screen printing, and with film photography. Her work has been influenced by and is often drawn from photographic images drawn from her own personal archive. She is from Los Angeles, California and her work often ties back to her childhood in South Central LA.
Alyson del Pino is a sophomore English major concentrating in Book History. Her love for print culture began in her hometown of Miami, Florida, where print works from hodge-podge zines to careful, artisan ephemera coexist in a loving community. Between her roles as studio assistant for the Common Press and co-curator of the KWH Zine Library, she finds herself engaging with print culture every day. In her work, Alyson looks to printmaking's unique relationship to repetition to explore identity in an immigrant city under the constant gaze of tropical sun.
Friday, 2/8
Saturday, 2/9
Sunday, 2/10
Monday, 2/11
A reading by John R. Keene
Kelly Writers House Fellows Program
6:30 PM in the Arts Cafe
rsvp required: whfellow@writing.upenn.edu
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
JOhn R. Keene, born in St. Louis in 1965, is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, translator, and professor best known for his fictions, Annotations (1995, New Directions) and Counternarratives (2015, New Directions). The latter book received an American Book Award. Keene received his bachelor's degree from Harvard College, and an MFA from New York University, where he was a New York Times Fellow. In 1989, Keene joined the Dark Room Writers Collective, and has been a Graduate Fellow of the Cave Canem Writers Workshops. He is the author of the poetry collection Seismosis, with artist Christopher Stackhouse, and a translation of Brazilian author Hilda Hilst's novel Letters from a Seducer. Keene received a 2005 Whiting Writers Award for fiction and poetry. He has had his work published in a wide array of journals, including African-American Review, AGNI, Encyclopedia, Gay and Lesbian Review, Hambone, Indiana Review, Kenyon Review, Mandorla, Ploughshares, and Public Space. He teaches at Rutgers-Newark where he is an Associate Professor of English, chair of the Department of African American and African studies. He also teaches in the MFA program in Creative Writing. John Keene is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow.
Tuesday, 2/12
A brunch conversation with John R. Keene
Kelly Writers House Fellows Program
10:00 AM in the Arts Cafe
rsvp required: whfellow@writing.upenn.edu
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
John R. Keene, born in St. Louis in 1965, is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, translator, and professor best known for his fictions, Annotations (1995, New Directions) and Counternarratives (2015, New Directions). The latter book received an American Book Award. Keene received his bachelor's degree from Harvard College, and an MFA from New York University, where he was a New York Times Fellow. In 1989, Keene joined the Dark Room Writers Collective, and has been a Graduate Fellow of the Cave Canem Writers Workshops. He is the author of the poetry collection Seismosis, with artist Christopher Stackhouse, and a translation of Brazilian author Hilda Hilst's novel Letters from a Seducer. Keene received a 2005 Whiting Writers Award for fiction and poetry. He has had his work published in a wide array of journals, including African-American Review, AGNI, Encyclopedia, Gay and Lesbian Review, Hambone, Indiana Review, Kenyon Review, Mandorla, Ploughshares, and Public Space. He teaches at Rutgers-Newark where he is an Associate Professor of English, chair of the Department of African American and African studies. He also teaches in the MFA program in Creative Writing. John Keene is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow.
Wednesday, 2/13
A reading by Morgan Parker
Feminism/s series
6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
Morgan Parker is the author of Magical Negro (2019), There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonc&ecaute; (2017), and Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night (2015). Her poetry and essays have appeared in Tin House, the Paris Review, The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip Hop, Best American Poetry, The New York Times, The Nation, and more. She is the recipient of a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts in Literature Fellowship, winner of a 2016 Pushcart Prize, and a Cave Canem graduate fellow.
Thursday, 2/14
Fan-Fic Fest
6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
The first annual Fan-Fic Fest, hosted by Jacob Kind (C'20) and Zoe Braccia (C'20), will be held this Valentine's Day. Mark your calendars...and your hearts. Submit your fan-fic for the KWH fan-fic zine. Read your own fan-fic at the event in an open-mic style.
Friday, 2/15
Saturday, 2/16
Sunday, 2/17
Monday, 2/18
LUNCH WITH JOURNALIST HELEN UBIÑAS
Sponsored by the Povich Journalism Program
12:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
Hosted by: Dick Polman
RSVP: wh@writing.upenn.edu or 215-746-POEM
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
HELEN UBIÑAS is an award-winning columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com. Prior to coming to Philadelphia, Ubiñas was a longtime reporter and columnist for the Hartford Courant, Connecticut's longest continuously published newspaper, where she was awarded numerous honors, including a team Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in 1999. Ubiñas was born in New York City. She received her bachelor's degree from Boston University and her master's degree from Trinity College. In 2000, she became the Courant's first Latina news columnist. In 2007, she was one of 12 US journalists awarded the prestigious John S. Knight journalism fellowship at Stanford University. She's also received several awards since becoming a columnist in Philadelphia, including first place in column-writing at the 2014 Keystone Press Award. In 2017, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists awarded her top honors for her columns.
Trisha Low and Stephen McLaughlin: a reading
Beltran Family Program
6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
Trisha Low is the author of The Compleat Purge (Kenning Editions, 2013) and Socialist Realism (Emily Books, 2019). She lives in the East Bay. Low graduated from Penn in 2011.
Steve McLaughlin is a programmer and poet based in Austin, Texas. His works include the hoax anthology Issue 1, co-authored with Jim Carpenter (Principal Hand Editions, 2008), and Puniverse, a 57-volume collection of computer-generated puns (Gauss PDF, 2014). Steve has contributed to PennSound and the Electronic Poetry Center since 2005, and his poetry interview series Into the Field is on Jacket2. In recent years, he has used machine learning to catalog public radio archives at WGBH and KUT. Steve has a B.A. in English from Penn and an M.S. in Information Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.
Tuesday, 2/19
Chili Cook Off
6:00 pm in the dining room
Our third annual Chili Cook Off (followed by a Chopped-style dessert round) is open to teams and individuals. To participate in the chili cook-off, please make a BIG BATCH of your best chili — all kinds of chili welcome — and bring it to the KWH (ready to eat!) by 6:00 PM for a community tasting. The two best chili-makers or chili-making teams will be elected by popular vote and will face-off immediately in a Chopped-style dessert throw-down in the KWH Kane-Wallace Kitchen.
IF YOU PLAN TO MAKE A CHILI, please email wh@writing.upenn.edu to let us know. To help in your efforts, we'll have a wide selection of chili and spices available in the KWH kitchen a week in advance. We'll also happily reimburse chili makers up to $40 PER BATCH (with receipt). And YES! you should encourage your chili-making friends to enter this competition.
Wednesday, 2/20
Thursday, 2/21
Friday, 2/22
Saturday, 2/23
Sunday, 2/24
Monday, 2/25
LUNCH WITH COMEDY WRITER CHRISTINE NANGLE
12:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
hosted by: Karen Rile
RSVP: wh@writing.upenn.edu or 215-746-POEM
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
Christine Nangle is a comedy writer, producer and actor living in New York City. She most recently served as Executive Producer and Head Writer of Netflix's late night variety show The Break with Michelle Wolf. Prior to that, she was Executive Producer and Head Writer of Comedy Central's Writers Guild Association (WGA) Award-nominated The President Show, a satirical late night talk show hosted by the President of the United States (as played by Anthony Atamanuik.) Nangle previously wrote for the network's groundbreaking and Emmy-winning Inside Amy Schumer, for which she received a Peabody Award, Writers' Guild Award, and four Emmy nominations. She has also written for Comedy Central's Kroll Show, USA's Playing House, Fox's The Mick, and NBC's Saturday Night Live. A Pennsylvania native, Nangle is a proud alumna of the Upright Citizens Brigade in NY. She can be found on Twitter at @nanglish.
LIVE at the Writers House
7:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
LIVE at the Writers House is a long-standing collaboration of the people of the Kelly Writers House and of WXPN (88.5 FM). Six times annually between September and April, the Writers House airs a one-hour broadcast of poetry, music, and other spoken-word art, along with one musical guest -- from our Arts Cafe onto the airwaves at WXPN. "LIVE" is broadcast on WXPN. "LIVE" is made possible through the generous support of BigRoc and is produced by Alli Katz.
Tuesday, 2/26
Kirwyn Sutherland
Caroline Rothstein Oral Poetry Program
6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
Kirwyn Sutherland is a Clinical Research Professional and poet who makes poems centering the black experience in America. He is a Watering Hole fellow and has attended workshops/residencies at Cave Canem, Winter Tangerine, Poets House, Philadelphia Sculpture Gym, and Pearlstein Art Gallery at Drexel University. Kirwyn's work has been published in American Poetry Review, Blueshift Journal, APIARY Magazine, MadHouse Magazine, Drunkinamidnightchoir, and The Wanderer. Kirwyn is currently serving as Editor of Lists/Book Reviewer for WusGood magazine and previously served as poetry editor for APIARY Magazine. Kirwyn's Chapbook Jump Ship is forthcoming February 2019 on Thread Makes Blanket Press.
Wednesday, 2/27
THE SENSIBLE NONSENSE PROJECT
sponsored by the Lucy F. DeMarco Fund for Youth Literature
6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe
hosted by: Arielle Brousse
watch: a video recording of this event
listen: to an audio recording of this event
Help us honor the humor, pathos, and enduring wisdom of children's books through a celebration of The Sensible Nonsense Project, curated by Arielle Brousse. Six community members will share stories about their favorite books from childhood, what those books taught them, and how those lessons continue to influence their adult lives. Stay on after the readings for a delicious reception inspired by after-school snacks, and to get more information about how you, too, can participate in the project. In the meantime, visit The Sensible Nonsense Project at sensiblenonsense.us.