hear our season's greetings

Click here to listen to your friends at the Kelly Writers House hoping you'll find a good spot to read and write over the holidays. Be sure to have a look at our January calendar and plan to join us at 3805 Locust again in early 2010. We'll see you there!

Oates, Howe, Milch

We here are all looking forward to this winter/spring's annual Kelly Writers House Fellows: Joyce Carol Oates in February, Susan Howe in March and David Milch in April. Each visit enables two public events--a Monday evening reading/talk and a Tuesday morning interview/conversation. Seating is limited. Reservations: whfellow@writing.upenn.edu or (215) 573-9749.

student voices on XPN

Our pals in the Critical Writing program sponsor a course with XPN radio (xpn.org) and here are some of the radio pieces the students reported, wrote, and performed on the air. The course is led by Roger Lamay, XPN's general manager.

KWH'er along the Mississippi

Have you read the amazing Mississippi Project blog lately? You really should go back to it. KWH-affiliated guy (splendid writer) Gabe Crane and several friends took canoes down the Big Muddy a few summers back and blogged all the way (using a Palm Treo smartphone, mostly, and sometimes writing from inside the boat). Click here for the introduction and then link to the blog itself. On the blog, of course, you should read backwards--earliest entries first.

we remember Bob Lucid

The man in the center is Bob Lucid at Penn - escorting Norman Mailer and Richard Wilbur through campus. Bob died suddenly a few years ago, and we miss him. It was Bob who first cleared the way politically for the possibility of a house for writers, and who then advocated for the space at 3805 Locust and supported those of us--the original "hub" group--who convened in the old dilapidated cottage in October '95 to begin the planning process. And through the first ten years of KWH, Bob was here often. In his memory, we host an annual event featuring a novelist. (Bob was the first member of the English faculty at Penn who regularly brought contemporary writers to campus - to meet with classes, including undergraduate classes. He did this so often, in fact, that his courses were like Writers Houses.) Bob long dreamed of what he called "a loft space" - a non-curricular intellectual utopia in which people of all academic castes could gather, write, think and plan their interventions against literary obviousness. Be sure to check out our Bob Lucid memorial page.

Ted Solotaroff was here

The late Ted Solotaroff--one of the most important literary editors of the '60s and '70s--visited us in 2003. He had recently published his very frank memoir, First Loves. He had been an editor of Commentary and the editor of Bookweek before he founded the influential literary journal New American Review. He is the author of The Red-Hot Vacuum, A Few Good Voices in My Head, and First Loves: A Memoir. He taught at the University of Chicago, Yale, Columbia, the City College of New York, and the University of California at Berkeley. He lived in East Quogue, Long Island, and in Paris. It was in the pages of the New American Review where one might have found Max Apple's amazing short fiction for the first time. Even then, as one handled the paperback-formatted and -sized magazine, one had a sense of Solotaroff's editorial presence. It was strong and clear somehow.

[] Solotaroff at the Writers House: LINK
[] audio recording of his talk: LINK
[] New York Times obit: LINK

talkers talk a poem

On 11/30 we released the 26th episode of the PoemTalk podcast series. This one's a 25-minute conversation at the Writers House about Vachel Lindsay's wildly performed poem "The Congo." The talkers are Al Filreis (host), Michelle Taransky, Charles Bernstein and (visiting us from Penn State) Aldon Nielsen. Have a listen. PoemTalk is co-sponsored by the Kelly Writers House, PennSound and the Poetry Foundation. Above and at left: Aldon, Michelle, and Charles in Al's office on KWH's third floor.

Tuesday 6 PM: poet & performance artist

On Tuesday, December 1, poet & performance artist Ursula Rucker is with us, starting at 6 PM. She has enchanted critics and fans across the globe with her diverse repertoire, captivating vocals, and accessible poetic verse. Born and raised in Philadelphia, she began documenting her observations of the world when she was just a girl. After graduating from Temple University's journalism program and a stint at The Painted Bride Art Center, Ursula made her debut in 1994 at Philadelphia's famed jazz venue, Zanzibar Blue. Click here for more info about the event. This is the fourth annual Caroline Rothstein Oral Poetry Program at KWH. Click here for much more about the series--including links to recordings of the three previous sessions.

Thanksgiving podcast

Our friends at PennSound have prepared a new episode in the PennSound Podcast series - this one just in time for Thanksgiving. Yes, we hope you'll have a PennSound Thanksgiving. Listen and hear six poets giving thanks.

foxtrot johnson debuts edit

The photo at right: earlier this week, at the inaugural "EDIT" event: Jeremy James Foxtrot Johnson. He is an instructor at New York's Center for Book Arts as well as curator for the TEXTFORM reading series. He was born in Los Angeles, CA, and now resides in Queens. Through his own Auto Types Press he prints broadsides and other text-centric ephemera, including collaborative prints with poets Edwin Torres, Joan Retallack, David Lehman and Charles Bernstein, among others.

Writers House in SoHo

At left: Charles Bernstein presenting at our annual "Writers House New York" event at Meisel Gallery in SoHo; photo taken by Arielle Brousse. We've been gathering every November at Meisel Gallery since 2002, and we're grateful to Susan & Lou Meisel for turning over their place to us--125 or so friends and affiliates of the Writers House project. This year, in addition to Charles, we were delighted by readings by Liz Van Doren, Tracie Morris, Lily Applebaum, and Molly Johnsen. And Al Filreis as always led us in a collaborative close reading of a poem - this time, Cid Corman's "It isn't for want..."

the green couch

Eric Karlan was and is a denizen of KWH and a regular resident of the famous Green Couch in our living room. In fact Eric is probably the main reason why the couch is so widely known; first-time visitors often ask where the couch is, and, having it pointed out to them, walk over to stare with a sense of recognition at its velvety greenness. In April 2007 Eric published an essay about the couch in the Pennsylvania Gazette. Click here and listen to Eric read a passage from that essay.

a PhillySound mainstay

Frank Sherlock has read at the Writers House a number of times over the years. In April 2009 he was back again - this time to read from his recent poetry. Here is a video recording. Frank is the author of Over Here (Factory School 2009) and the co-author of Ready-To-Eat Individual (Lavender Ink 2008), a collaborative work with the Poet Laureate of Dumaine Street, Brett Evans. A duet with CAConrad entitled The City Real & Imagined: Philadelphia Poems is forthcoming from Factory School in fall 2009. Frank is a mainstay of the PhillySound scene and can often be found in Writers House audiences. He, Tom Devaney and Fran Ryan joined together to co-host an over-the-phone reading by the great Cid Corman (who was calling from Kyoto) in November '01, one of our most memorable events.

democracy at 10th & A

Today marks the release of episode 25 of our PoemTalk (full name: "PoemTalk at the Writers House") podcast series, co-sponsored by PennSound and the Poetry Foundation of Chicago. This episode features a discussion of Alice Notley's poem "I the People." You can find the link to this new podcast and the 24 other episodes by going to the PoemTalk site. Be sure, too, to check out Alice Notley's PennSound page and note there that you'll find recordings of Notley's fine reading at the Writers House.

featured in iTunes

As of this writing (Friday morning), the Kelly Writers House is featured on iTunes - in the music store under "writers & writing." Click here and you'll be taken to a link directly to iTunes. Writers House audio in iTunes: a sampling of 50 of our programs, and the complete run of our podcast series.

conversation about crime fiction Nov 10

Our annual "Bernheimer Symposium" (held in memory of Penn Comparative Lit professor Charles Bernheimer, who died tragically young) this year happens on Tues Nov 10 at 6 PM. This year the program is a conversation about crime fiction - with Lenny Cassuto and S.J. Rozan (pictured at right). Cassuto has published among other books an anthology of American crime fiction. Rozan is a New Yorker & author of 11 crime novels. Thanks to Kate Levin for making this ongoing annual event possible. Here is your link to our calendar entry - all info.

transcribing the world

Kenny Goldsmith, every other year, teaches a year-long seminar which is a collaboration of the Writers House/Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW) and the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art). We at KWH adore what Kenny's doing in this course. This year Kenny and the students are transcribing the world. Yes, that's what they're doing--no more or less than that. Next year Kenny will be teaching his famous "Uncreative Writing" course. If you are interested in taking it, contact Gregory Djanikian at (215) 573-CPCW.

last night's Second Life poetry session

Here's our Faculty Director's avatar - Alf Fullstop - teaching modernist poetry last night to a group of folks from around the world (one from Puerto Rico, another from Hong Kong) in Second Life's virtual Kelly Writers House.

put down the cheese, Alf

At left you see an avatar, Alf Fullstop, preparing to lead a seminar in the virtual Kelly Writers House in Second Life this very night - Thursday, October 29. The poem on the wall, WCW's "Between Walls," is the third of three poems Alf will be teaching. This is our first quasi-formal venture into Second Life with friends of the Writers House. SL gurus we know have built a gorgeous Writers House there, with an Arts Cafe, a living room with a green couch, an upstairs seminar room, a garden. Quite nice. The other night Alf was "in there" and saw wine and cheese on a table in the living room. He learned to "pick up" the cheese and began eating it. Two days later he was back in SL, trying to interact with another avatar, and found that he was still eating the cheese. We need to teach Alf how to put down the cheese.

fall comes to 3805 Locust

Today we release the 22nd in our series of Kelly Writers House podcasts. This one features 5 excerpts from the vast archive of our programs - all having, in one way or another, to do with autumn. Autumn comes to 3805 Locust. Have a listen. The podcast features Ellen Yin (founder of Fork restaurant), Tom Devaney (from his poem "At Franklin's Grave"), former longtime KWH director Kerry Sherin Wright ("Autumn Lullaby"), Eileen D'Angelo ("Love Letter to a Moody Sea") and Ben Lerner (excerpt from "Doppler Elegies").

new Facebook page

We at KWH are pleased to announce that we have a new Facebook page. Here it is. Please have a look and become a friend. You'll find announcements of upcoming events, links to audio and video clips, comments and updates from members of the KWH community, photos, of course a list of and links to our many friends: poets worldwide, students, Penn alumni, emergent writers and eminent writers, prospective students, supporters...

KWH & Inquirer join forces

We're pleased to announce a new partnership between the Kelly Writers House and the Philadelphia Inquirer, a project coordinated on our side, in part, by Povich Writer-in-Residence Dick Polman. This collaboration has now produced the Penn page in "Student Union 34": college.philly.com/penn. Through this effort, young Penn journalistic writers will be regularly published in the city's premier newspaper. (Do, please, check the web address above regularly for new entries, stories, essays, and features.) Today the site features Steven Waye's article about how pop culture-infused sermons abound in Fishtown.

Jen Scappettone

Our friends at PennSound were pleased a few months back to add a new author page: that of Jennifer Scappettone. Jen has been to the Writers House twice recently. Her page now includes a Segue/Bowery Poetry Club reading; both audio and video of a session she did at KWH with Lyn Hejinian, hosted by Rachel Levitsky; another session in which she read a series of her poems; and a conversation, done as a PennSound podcast.

New Zealander hung out

Wystan Curnow, art critic and poet, last spring spoke at the Writers House on curating as a critical practice. The event was shown live on KWH-TV and is already available as a video recording. Wystan was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1939, and studied English and History at the University of Auckland, and took his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Yes, Penn. So his two-week visit here was actually a return to his alma mater many many years later. One afternoon during his visit he joined Al Filreis, Charles Bernstein and Bob Perelman to record a PoemTalk episode on a poem by Louis Zukofsky--which was released recently. Then everyone went downstairs for his very good talk on curating. Have a look.

ArtsEdge residency supports artists

Last year was the first year of our ArtsEdge artist-in-residence program, which we're doing in collaboration with the department of fine arts in Penn's School of Design. We offer housing, workspace, and a significant rent subsidy--and, if apt, a course to teach. Greg Romero was our first ArtsEdge-er, a playwright. During his time as artist-in-residence he staged a play-in-progress at the Writers House and, at the time, the Philly Fringe Festival blog ran an entry about it.

when George Oppen turned 100

Our pal Tom Devaney organized a celebration of George Oppen's 100th birthday - and the event happened at the Writers House in April '08. Soon after, we set up a special PennSound page with links to audio recordings of the presenters. Now we've released a PennSound podcast featuring a 23-minute excerpt from that event. The photo here was taken that night - George Economou, Michael Heller, Tom Devaney and Tom Mandel, listening to Ron Silliman present on Oppen.

My Third Eye Sees...

Last Friday, Write-On! head coaches Rachel Shepard (C'11), Collin Schenk (C'11), and Zachary Lyons (C'12), introduced a group of Lea Elementary School 6th, 7th and 8th graders to their third-eyes. Using a writing exercise adapted from Kenneth Koch's Wishes, Lies and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry, Lea students and their Write-On! coaches collaborated to write a series of poems that discover and reveal the differences between what is seen, what is known, and what is imagined. You can read their poems here, on the Lea Elementary page. We hope you'll check the page regularly for new student poems. Write-On! is Kelly Writers House's literacy outreach program that introduces West Philadelphia students to reading and discussing literature, as well as writing and presenting their own creative writing. Write-On! is supported by The Esther T. Saxon Fund, established by Penn alumni Brian (W'90)and Jerilyn Perman (C'91).

Jerome Rothenberg today

Today: Jerome Rothenberg and others will talk about romantic & postromantic poetry at 5 PM. Join us! Click on the calendar entry for this program and find out more. Come at 5 PM and stay for the reception at 6:30 (good eats) and then stay for the 7 PM poetry reading. Jerome Rothenberg is an internationally known poet with over eighty books of poetry and several assemblages of traditional and avant-garde poetry such as Technicians of the Sacred (1968, Doubleday), Shaking the Pumpkin (1972, Doubleday), Revolution of the Word (1974, Seabury-Continuum Books), and Poems for the Millennium Volumes 1 and 2 with Pierre Joris (1995 and 1998, University of California Press). A Book of Witness, his twelfth book of poems from New Directions, appeared in 2002 (New Directions), and a thirteenth book, Triptych, appeared in 2007 (New Directions). A first translation into French of Technicians of the Sacred was published by Jose Corti in Paris in 2008, and a nineteenth-century prequel to Poems for the Millennium, co-edited with Jeffrey Robinson, appeared in early 2009. His second collection of literary essays, Poetics & Polemics 1980-2005, appeared at the end of 2008, and new books of poems scheduled for 2009 and 2010 include Gematria Complete, Concealments & Caprichos, and Retrievals: Uncollected & New Poems 1955-2010.

the sun is not the sun

Last spring, Matthew Abess, Cecilia Corrigan, Ned Eisenberg, Kim Eisler, Trisha Low, and Kaegan Sparks explored the topography of testimony to life in extremis (in particular, the Holocaust). This followed from the course on the problems of representing the Holocaust, taught every other year in the Writers House, where the issue is most discernible in discussions of Claude Lanzmann's Shoah, the poems of Paul Celan, the study of survivors made by Terrence Des Pres, and the videotaped survivor testimonies housed at Yale University. That's the intellectual geneology or paths that converged, roughly speaking, and this group, led by Matt, journeyed along it quite a bit further. They made a presentation at the Writers House; now we have both audio and video recordings of the event available. The Holocaust course is being taught again in KWH's Arts Cafe. Anyone who wants to sit in on a session should call (215) 573-9749.

invisible cities - puppet show

Last spring Tom Devaney's creative writing class created and performed a puppet show in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), called "New Invisible Cities." The project was inspired by Italo Calvino's dream-like masterpiece, Invisible Cities. The students and Tom worked with Beth Nixon's Ramshackle Enterprises. Now you can watch a video that will give you a good sense of the project and the show.

Nick Spitzer was here

Nick Spitzer, an musical ethnographer who loves to talk about the nexus of cultures that is New Orleans, came to the Writers House back in May (Alumni Day) to tell some "stories and songs from the road." He's of course the producer and host of public radio's "American Routes." Of course we made a video of the event - also downloadable audio. Our Faculty Director Al Filreis happily introduced Nick, grateful that a few years ago he found us at the Writers House and instantly understood the experiment in creative learning community we were trying.

Fanny Howe's "2002"

Back in October 2003 the Writers House hosted a weekend-long gathering called "Poet-invasion Poetics." On Friday night we went around the room (Arts Cafe at KWH) and most participants read and/or talked. We recorded this session. The next night we held a giant group reading. Among the seminar participants: Rod Smith, Mark McMorris, Ron Silliman, Michael Fried, Erica Hunt, Tracie Morris, Saskia Hamilton, Tim Carmody, Jo Park, Jessica Lowenthal, Kathy Lou Schultz.

Recently our friend Jenny Lesser went back to Fanny Howe's Friday night reading. Jenny listened to the recording and segmented the two poems. They are: "Far and Near" and the poem called "2002". Of course we've added these to PennSound's Fanny Howe page.

proudly Penn

Each year Penn publishes a booklet-sized guide called Proudly Penn, and we at KWH are proud once again to be in it. Prouder still to be paired on a page with our friends at XPN 88.5 FM. (We've been partners with XPN in producing "Live at the Writers House" monthly since 1997.) Our entry features our "Writers without Borders" series--our effort to introduce local audiences to international writers in our usual intimate give-and-take setting. Our first "Writers without Borders" event takes place on October 13. Join us! Click on the image above for a larger view.

we remember Gil Ott

Gil Ott died in 2004 and is sorely missed in Philly poetry scenes, and (to be specific about one of many such sites where we miss Gil) at the Writers House where Gil was fairly regularly a member of audiences for PhillyTalks, poetry readings, book celebrations for poetry-world colleagues (especially Philly poets). Original Writers House hub member and poet Kristen Gallagher edited a book of commentary and critical response to Gil's work (published by Chax Press) and in the fall of '01 we hosted a Gil Ott celebration, co-organized by then-director of KWH Kerry Sherin and also Kristen Gallagher. For about a year PennSound's Gil Ott page featured the whole recording of the 1.5-hour event and also segmented single mp3s of each reader. But today we're releasing the 17th PennSound podcast - a 23-minute excerpt of the whole event, edited by Steve McLaughlin. Here's a link to the PennSound podcast page.

the digerati came in '99

At left: John Brockman with Warhol and Dylan on the day Dylan visited The Factory.

John Brockman's world in the 1960s was a humming electronic world, in which multiple films, tapes, amplifiers, kinetic sculpture, lights and live dancers or actors are combined to involve audiences in a total theater experience. His Intermedia Kinetic Experiences permitted audiences simply to sit, stand, walk or lie down and allow their senses to be Saturated by Media. His 1969 book was By the Late John Brockman.

Yes, Brockman, the sci/tech literary uber-agent, the Happenings organizer in the 1960s and in recent years the creator of "Third Culture" and a leader of the digerati (cyber-intellectuals), came to the Writers House in 1999 along with six of the digerati. John Brockman & Al Filreis co-moderated a discussion about digital culture.

The digerati we met that night were: Maris Bowe of word.com; Jason McCabe Calacanis, a Silicon Alley Reporter; Luyen Chou of Learn Technologies; Steven Johnson of feed.com; Katinka Matson of EDGE; Frank Moretti of Columbia University's Center for New Media, Technology and Learning; Stefanie Syman of feed.com; Bob Stein of Night Kitchen. At left: John Brockman in '99.

See more:

[] the KWH calendar entry for this event: LINK
[] the KWH digerati page: LINK
[] Daily Pennsylvanian article covering the event: LINK
[] Wired exec ed Kevin Kelly's essay about Third Culture: LINK
[] an account of the day Dylan visited the Factory and Brockman was there: LINK

Volume Zero: Uncovering Louis I. Kahn's Baltic Origins

On Monday, October 5 at 6 pm in the Arts Cafe, Becca Kantor (C '10), granddaughter of architect Louis I. Kahn (B.Arch '24), will present on her trip to Estonia to research Kahn's early years. Funded by a grant from Kelly Writers House, Kantor explored rural farmhouses, art nouveau apartments, and a castled island as part of her research towards writing a novel. Kahn was the Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture at the School of Design from 1957 until his death in 1974 and The Richards Medical Research Laboratories on Hamilton Walk is among Kahn's most influential works. His extensive archives are a part of the Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania.

Kathleen Fraser video

What a treat for us last night! Kathleen Fraser, the great poet who lately has been doing a lot with visual art (and the making of artbooks), was visiting us, having come all the way from the Bay Area. She gave a reading from a series of visual poetic texts. Which is one reason why we're glad we have a video record of the event, so you can see what we saw live in the Arts Cafe. Click here and watch. Fraser was introduced by our own Michelle Taransky.

we're on TV

In 1999 KWH was into one of its innovations, as usual. This time it was online pre-freshmen advising. Students admitted through the early-decision process (in mid-December) who expressed an interested in KWH and in writing were assigned to our Faculty Director Al Filreis as advisees, and (although they were all over the country) the advisory group formed around a series of lively email exchanges. The local ABC TV affiliate picked up the story and ran this piece, which we've preserved in video. Click here to watch.

3 KWH'ers featured in new PoemTalk

Three KWH regulars (Al Filreis, Charles Bernstein & Bob Perelman) and one visitor (New Zealander Wystan Curnow) are featured in the newly released 22nd episode of the "PoemTalk" series. This time the PoemTalkers talk about a poem by Louis Zukofsky (pictured at right). If you want to learn a "difficult" modern poem, hear this 25-minute discussion! Wystan spent two weeks with us last spring as part of our "Writers without Borders" program which brings to KWH international writers who are little known in the U.S. but should be well known. Wystan is a 5th-generation New Zealander but in fact took his PhD here at Penn.

Kelly Writers House On Your iPod

Click here to connect to free, downloadable Kelly Writers House podcasts in iTunes. You'll find PennSOUND programs including PoemTalk and Close Listening there, as well.

we're in the City Paper

We were pleased today to see that The City Paper has a piece about our 2010 Writers House Fellows program. We've had many dozens of articles in local and national newspapers and magazines and you can always find them all on our news page. As for KWH Fellows, you need only look here.

video excerpt

Today's online Daily Pennsylvanian features a video excerpt from Adina Hoffman's reading at the Writers House. The event took place last April 21. Check out our calendar entry for that or any other event. Links from the web calendar entry take you to audio (mp3) and streaming video (.mov) of the entire reading.

creative writing at Penn

We at KWH have long been partners with Penn's Creative Writing Program, led by poet and original KWH guy Greg Djanikian. On the CW site you find lists of courses, prizes, bios of faculty writers - many of them stalwart members of the KWH community. All CW readings take place at 3805 Locust & are co-hosted.

we like Erica Baum

Erica Baum is a photographer and conceptual artist - at once. We at KWH have been fans and supporters of her work since 2000. She came in November 2000 and later, in '08, our art gallery featured her work. We're pleased to see her new work, called "Dog Ear".

dial us

Dial 215-746-POEM now and listen to news of our next program, selected upcoming events, a recording of a poem performed at KWH, or a 1-minute performance by a KWH activist.

post-9/11 at KWH

After 9/11 we at KWH organized a program called "Finding the Words." Believe it or not, readings and commentaries started with the WWII wartime/home-front experience of that seemingly nonpolitical poet, Marianne Moore. Click here and listen to some of the talks and readings.

Come Speakeasy, Welcome New Students @ KWH this Saturday

Our annual NSO Speakeasy takes a moonlit twist this year, as we welcome new students to the Writers House community for a late-night open mic session under the stars.

Announcing: 2009-10 Online Book Groups

Though the Writers House has just 14 rooms, we think of our Online Book Groups as connecting our rooms to your rooms-- via 10-day "close reading" groups on singular short stories or pairs of poems and month-long discussions on longer works.

This is the 10th year of the program and in that time more than 1,500 alumni and Penn families have joined heady, thoughtful online discussions of stories, poems, novels and films led by Penn faculty and other Writers House-affiliated teachers and writers. Thanks to the continued support of Wharton alumnus and Penn parent, David Roberts, we are offering eight groups for the 2009-2010 academic year.

To participatate, email Michelle Taransky at whbook@writing.upenn.edu.

1999 admissions video

In a 1999 Penn admissions video, KWH was featured - in particular George "Chip" Blaustein who was a KWH mainstay. For a link to the video and a little more about Chip, go here.

looking for a job?

At the Writers House, our undergraduate staff members do everything from writing PR to preparing fancy finger foods. We're on the lookout for talented, work-study-eligible undergrads to join our staff. We're especially interested in creative-minded, community-oriented, energetic folks who want to get involved with the literary arts at Penn. Are you interested in recording and editing video? Do you have HTML-skills or want to learn? Do you have strong ideas about community outreach or arts programming or database management? Are you a master baker? Are you ready to put your love of writing to good use? Please contact Program Coordinator Erin Gautsche (gautsche@writing.upenn.edu) to let her know you want to hear more about our available jobs.

virtual KWH? yup

Our faculty director and a few KWH pals have gone into Second Life to check out a virtual Writers House. Click here and find out a little more about this project. We think we'll be offering a poetry seminar in our virtual KWH sometime in October. Stay tuned. Meantime, if you are interested, write Al at afilreis AT writing DOT upenn DOT edu.

incoming students

New to Penn? Do you want to get involved in this student-centered, participant-driven project? You can join the Planning Committee, attend a reading, write for a KWH-affiliated lit mag, or join our staff (for work-study eligible undergraduates). Contact us at wh@writing.upenn.edu -- we'd be thrilled to tell you how you can get involved in these and other ways and to give you the lowdown on writing at Penn. Don't be shy! We want to hear from you.

summer staffers

We use our summers at the KWH to prepare for the upcoming year. If you stop by you'll find us researching visiting authors, scouring literary magazines, organizing closets, cleaning databases, and planning events for the fall (including a fakers and hoaxes night and a medieval feast). To get this all done, we have a fantastic team of staffers and interns, including: Max McKenna ('10), Kristen Martin ('11), Lee Huttner ('10), Pamela Takefman ('09), and Chris Milione (C'10). Stop by and say hello!

Arielle Brousse joins our staff

We are delighted to announce that we at the Kelly Writers House have a new Assistant Director for Development. On July 1, Arielle Brousse is making her return to the Writers House after several years of superb work on the staff of the development department at The Franklin Institute here in Philadelphia. Having been a work-study student at the Writers House for four years as an undergraduate, and an active member of the “hub” (our Planning Committee) Arielle is “thrilled to bring my experience back home.” At The Franklin Institute, Arielle worked on everything from non-preferred State appropriations and competitive federal government grants to designing punchy flyers, writing custom-tailored proposals, and helping to plan cultivation events. The switch from working at a science museum to working once again for a literary arts center might require a bit of re-adjustment, but she is confident she'll be able to handle it: if anyone in the hub ever needs a Spock costume or a Galilean thermometer, she's got you covered.

did you miss Nick?

Did you miss public radio's Nick Spitzer at KWH this past Saturday? Not to worry. The video recording is already available: here. A bio and more links can be found as usual on our web calendar. It was Alumni Day and we were delighted by a large happy audience--some alumni, some non-Penn-affiliated Philadelphians. And Nick was generous and kind, and wowed us with a great selection of New Orleans music.

ArtsEdge

Greg Romero has been our first ArtsEdge artist-in-residence. Today there was a blog entry about his recent staging at the Writers House. Al Filreis' blog tells more.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

We're hiring two part-time (non-student) assistants for the Fall -- one morning shift, one evening shift -- to help manage our busy second floor office. For information about each job and details about how to apply, visit our job opportunities page. We'll be reviewing applications through June 10th. Don't be shy about spreading the word! We look forward to welcoming two new friendly faces to our staff.

RealArts intern wins screenplay award

Benjy Brooke, the 2009 RealArts intern with Stern and Gibbs writing team, has won the award for best undergraduate screenplay at the Ivy Film Festival at Brown University. The Ivy Film Festival is the world’s largest entirely student-run film festival. Its mission is to encourage the creative efforts of undergraduate and graduate student filmmakers by acting as a quality venue for their work and by creating opportunities to learn from one another and talented professionals. The festival strives to garner recognition for student filmmakers by means of a panel of celebrity judges including: directors, producers, writers, and agents who will view the top films from the festival.

top 100 student journalists

UWire is a national collegiate journalism organization (and site). UWire has chosen this year's top 100 student journalists, and we are proud that our Julie Steinberg is among them. Julie is, among other things, a student of Paul Hendrickson. And while we're talking about Paul's excellent mentorship, we should add that Paul's own son John, a Penn State student, is among the top 100 too! Congrats from all of us at KWH to Julie and John.

The Phillyiad

Listen to re-renderings of the Iliad, Philly style: wildly creative versions of Book One by students in Bob Perelman's course, "Poetry, Music, Sound." Rhapsodes include Chris Milione, whose Greekified "American Pie" concludes the show. (And bodiless "gossip god," James LaMarre, punctuates the reading with sassy asides).

prospective students

It's time for Penn Previews! We hope all prospective students interested in writing at Penn will visit the Writers House. Find out about student-run magazines, creative writing classes, readings and happenings, digital media and more. Open House: 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM on April 9, 10, 13, 16, 17, 20. If you can't visit us then, please feel free to stop by another time. We'd be happy to see you.

welcome to the writers' block

KWH is affiliated with the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW). So are the Critical Writing Program, the Creative Writing Program, PennSound, RealArts@PENN and a series of special programs and projects. It's all situated in two old houses along 38th Street: 3805 Locust, 3808 Walnut. The writers' block.

Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve and Tom McCarthy

Join us at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, March 25th, for a conversation about film with Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve and Tom McCarthy. In addition to being a novelist, film producer, and screenwriter, Kathy DeMarco is famous at Penn for her intense and rewarding screenwriting workshops. She's a dedicated teacher who meets with students for hour-long, individual critique sessions. EVERY week. Tom McCarthy is an actor, writer, and director, whose award-winning films The Station Agent and The Visitor set the indie film-biz abuzz. You'll also know him from season five of The Wire, in which he played the unethical journalist Scott Templeton (but don't hold it against him).

KWH now twittering

We're now twittering. Click here and follow us! Our tweets will tell you what's coming up on our calendar, will point you toward fabulous and surprising highlights from our archive, will highlight some extraordinary member of the extended Writers House community.

University of Pennsylvania ArtsEdge Residency

We are pleased to announce we are accepting applications for the second year of the Penn ArtsEdge Residency project -- a collaboration of the Kelly Writers House, the Fine Arts Department of the School of Design, and Penn's Facilities & Real Estate Services (FRES) -- that supports the work of emerging writers and artists by creating a live/work environment that will inspire interdisciplinary exploration. Through ArtsEdge Residencies, we offer two one-year residencies in a live/work space near Penn's campus. Residencies last for one year and include a dedicated studio for each writer/artist, living space, and close affiliation with the writing and artistic communities at Penn. During the course of their residencies, writers and artists will develop at least one collaborative project with the Writers House or Fine Arts Department. Qualified applicants may also be considered to teach one course at Penn in the spring semester. Check out a project by current ArtsEdge resident Greg Romero. For more information about the residencies and to find out how to apply, visit the project page.

we're on the radio

The November 2008 episode (number 73 overall) of our radio show, "Live at the Writers House," is now available in downloadable recordings. Check them out on our "Live" web page, and while you're there, scroll down and back in time...perhaps all the way to episode 1, recorded on February 15, 1997. Back in those days, by the way, "Live" was actually live!

Rachel on Ron (video)

The other night we celebrated Ron Silliman's big book, The Alphabet. Rachel Blau DuPlessis couldn't be there and so she sent greetings from afar. You can watching a video of Rachel's hello to Ron (it's really a review of the book) by clicking here.