when the old house was renovated #KWH20

The Kelly Writers House​ is 20 years old this year. We started in 1995-96. During 1997 the 1851 Tudor-style cottage was renovated entirely—although the original design was untouched, it needed totally new wiring, plumbing, roof, re-supporting, HVAC, etc. A gift from the amazing Paul Kelly enabled all this. In late 1997, when it was all done & we opened up again, we had a huge celebration. Here are Shawn Walker​, the first director, and Kerry Sherin Wright​, Shawn's successor, showing Paul the plaque that honors his gift in memory of his parents. The plaque includes the text of Dickinson's "I dwell in possbility," which includes the KWH unofficial mantra: "Of visitors, the fairest. / For occupation--this." #KWH20

#KWH20

This year the Writers House is 20 years old! We're going to have a big gathering/party during Alumni Weekend/Graduation Weekend, May 14-15, 2016. Please plan to join us. Watch as here and there we feature audio, video and photographs from our two decades of event hosting and community building. Here are Eric Karlan and Kristen Martin, preparing a Writers House Fellows brunch in 2009. If you have photos please post them and use the hashtag #KWH20.

Walt Whitman video added to ModPo

Recently we made five new videos for ModPo. Zach Carduner is now uploading them to the ModPo '15 site. Here's a sneak preview of one of them—on canto 47 of Whitman's "Song of Myself," which will be added to the main ModPo syllabus for week 1. And....here's your link to the video. ModPo, hosted by the Kelly Writers House, is an open online 10-week course/symposium on modern and contemporary U.S. poetry. ModPo '15 begins on 9/12/15. Enroll (free) here.

Sam Apple is a rocket boy

In the New Yorker you can find Sam Apple's essay on growing up with the Houston Rockets and Max Apple. Max, of course, is Sam's father. Both of them teach Creative Writing at Penn and are regulars at the Kelly Writers House. Here is a link to the essay.

Kelly Writers House Fellow

The amazing novelist, poet, and playwright Jessica Hagedorn visits Writers House tonight (April 27) at 6:30 PM. Hagedorn is best known for her hip, funky, surreal epic novel about Manila, Dogeaters, and for editing the anthology Charlie Chan Is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction. But she's also the author of many other poems, novels, and plays -- and is currently writing a musical adaptation of Lysley Tenorio's acclaimed short story "Felix Starro." There are a few seats left. Email whfellow@writing.upenn.edu to reserve your seat.

Camara and Nadia!

Camara Brown and Nadia Laher after their fabulously good readings/performances the other day for a group of Trustee Council of Penn Women members gathered at Kelly Writers House.

great poet eyebrows

Great poet eyebrows belonging to two poets beloved by KWH'ers—Bob Perelman and Greg Djanikian. During our 4/9/15 celebration of Bob (who is retiring after this semester), Greg rose to toast him and remarked that one reason he (Greg) likes him (Bob) is his fabulous eyebrows. Later, during the reception, two posed for eyebrowish comparison.

leonard cohen celebration - video

The video recording of our recent Leonard Cohen festival is now available here. Here is a link to a preview of the event.

getting medieval - a new podcast

Episode #32 in the "Kelly Writers House podcast" series features a 20-minute excerpt from a program led by David Wallace and students in his medieval literature seminar in December 2013 - called "Getting Medieval": CLICK HERE TO LISTEN. You can also watch the video recording of the entire program by clicking here.

Heled Grant winner: Kristen Kelly

We are very pleased to announce that Kristen Kelly has won the Terry B. Heled Travel & Research Grant at the Kelly Writers House.  This year, we received dozens of fine applications for this award. Kristen (C'16) is majoring in Urban Studies and English. 

Supported financially by this grant, Kristen will travel to San Francisco and Seattle to research the history of Asian immigration (including its familial/personal impacts) into the US.  She will present her writing, the result of this research, next fall at the Kelly Writers House.

As a way of remembering her mother, Terry B. Heled - and of honoring the students of her alma mater in gratitude for the encouragement her own research and writing received while she was at Penn - Mali Heled Kinberg (C'95) has created this endowed fund at the Kelly Writers House that, each summer, enables a student to travel for the purpose of conducting the research leading to a significant writing project.

For more about the Heled Grant, see:  http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/involved/awards/heled/

Congratulations to Kristen! (And many thanks to Mingo Reynolds for once again coordinating the review of applicants and also, of course, to Mali Heled Kinberg for making possible this opportunity for a venturesome Penn student.)

should you get an MFA?

Should you get an MFA in writing? A panel discussion led by Karen Rile. Video recording of the session: http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/multimedia/tv/reruns/watch/186278 . And audio: https://media.sas.upenn.edu/writershouse/15A/Should-You-Get-An-MFA_KWH-UPenn_02-11-15.mp3 .

KWH people understand a Zen modernist gem

Our faculty director leads us in a collective collaborative close reading of Wallace Stevens's Zen modernist gem, "The Snow Man." The phrase we annually encounter in this poem, "the mind of winter," gives us the title of our wintry event. Click here to watch the video. Click here to listen to the audio.

february 2015 highlights (audio)

February 2015 highlights at the Kelly Writers House​ (1:14 audio): http://bit.ly/1D1GEON .