new PoemTalk: Howe's Dickinson

From left to right: Marcella Durand, Jessica Lowenthal, Jennifer Scappettone. They're in the faculty director's office at the Writers House, having just finished discussing Susan Howe's reading of Emily Dickinson's "My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun." It's the 32nd episode of the PoemTalk podcast. Please have a listen.

Beth Kephart at Alumni Day

At left is Beth Kephart, reading from her work at KWH on Alumni Day, Saturday May 15. She read with Alice Eliot Dark--a fantastic pair of readings. Afterwards photos were taken as Al Filreis and Moira Moody gathered 'round with Beth and Alice. Then separately, Al and Beth went home and blogged about the gathering. Bear with us, as now you read what Al wrote in his blog and follow the link to Beth's blog:

Just a few hours ago today at the Writers House, with me from left to right: Alice Eliot Dark, Moira Moody, Beth Kephart. Alice and Beth read beautifully from their work. I was ready to explain the interlocking connections of these four, and planned to link from here to Beth's blog, which I read regularly. So naturally I went to Beth's blog to pick up the URL for the link and, lo and behold, Beth had driven home and had already written out the merge. So I need only refer to you her blog, which I do so happily. Let me only add that I've been a pleased and moved reader of Alice's "In the Gloaming" for years and was gratified that she chose to read from that very story this afternoon at KWH. Pretty soon we'll have a recording available and you can listen too.

summertime & beyond

Audio announcement about summertime at the Writers House and a glimpse at our 2010-11 program year: mp3. We're closed for programs from mid-May until early September, but watch this space for various updates and announcements. And of course you can call us any time at (215) 746-POEM. When you do call that number, hit "3" to hear a poem from the PennSound archive, or "4" to hear a poem performed by a member of the Writers House community. You can always reach us too at wh@writing.upenn.edu.

apprenticeships

The current issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette includes a story about our apprenticeships program. Here are a few paragraphs:

The apprenticeship program began taking shape in 2002, when faculty member and novelist Max Apple approached Al Filreis, the director of the Kelly Writer’s House. Apple had been at work on a short-story collection, and was looking for a fresh reader who could offer some perspective on how to organize it. “I thought, we’ll call this an apprenticeship, and we’ll put the word out about it,” says Filreis.

Then he went one step further. He decided to form a new program, and found two other faculty members working on their own projects who could use some help. As soon as word got out, “the students applied in droves,” he recalls. “They wanted this.”

After all, this sort of real world “lab experience” is already available to students in the hard sciences. “Typically, the physics student realizes that his own professor is actually working on some very important, cutting-edge research,” he says, and from that point there’s a well-defined path for the student trying to get from the classroom to doing advanced research in a working lab. The apprenticeship model provides the missing link for a writing student trying to make the leap from an undergrad workshop class to the professional craft. “I think with this program we’ve proved … there is such a thing as advanced research experiences in the world of writing,” he says.

By establishing the Bassini Apprenticeships under the umbrella of CPCW, these courses could become credit bearing, says Filreis. The center is devoted to pedagogy that “really works” for the education of young writers, including experiences that might not necessarily take place inside a traditional classroom. “We believe very firmly that students learn best when they are essentially getting a one-on-one experience,” Filreis says, a philosophy that he compares to the intimate size of the Kelly Writer’s House. The largest room can barely hold a few dozen audience members, and “more often it’s one person talking to five people,” he says. “Narrow that down to its extreme, it’s one person talking to one person.”