Rufus at KWH

Rufus Wainwright was interviewed by Anthony DeCurtis at the Writers House last year, as part of our annual Blutt Singer-Songwriter Symposium. Watch the video here.

Pico Iyer, shadowing Graham Greene

Pico Iyer visited KWH on February 8, 2012, and spoke about his remarkable new memoir (a kind of "Secret Sharer"/doppelganger story about his shadowy connection to Graham Greene). Rolf Potts, with him in this photo, invited him and introduced the event.

Gay Talese at KWH in 2007

Back in 2007, Gay Talese visited the Writers House and talked about - and read from - his then-current work. Here is the web calendar entry for that event, and here is the audio recording. Talese had spent a great deal of time at the Writers House in 1999. That was the very first year we ran the Kelly Writers House Fellows program. In its first year, Talese taught the course and was himself the Fellow. Our Dick Polman - now a member of our faculty - was actually a student in that class.

Amze Emmons currently in our gallery

The first Brodsky Gallery exhibition of 2012 currently feature drawings and prints by artist Amze Emmons. Born in 1974, in Amsterdam, NY, Emmons is a Philadelphia-based, multi-disciplinary artist with a background in drawing and printmaking. Emmons received a BFA from Ohio Wesleyan University and a MA and MFA from the University of Iowa. He has held solo exhibitions at Space 1026, Philadelphia; OHT Gallery, Boston; and Works on Paper Gallery, Philadelphia. His work has been exhibited in group exhibitions including EFA Project Space and the International Print Center, New York; the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington; the Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines; Wendy Cooper Gallery, Chicago; and The Print Center, Philadelphia. Emmons has received numerous awards including a Fellowship in the Arts from the Independence Foundation; an Individual Creative Artist Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Arts Council; and a Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony. His work has received critical attention in New American Paintings, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe,among other publications. He has taught at the University of Vermont and the University of Iowa and is currently an associate professor of art at Muhlenberg College. Emmons is also a co-founder and contributor of the popular art blog, Printeresting.org.

Murat Nemet-Nejat on Tuesday at 6 PM

Tuesday, January 31, A poetry reading by Murat Nemet-Nejat, 6:00 PM in the Arts Cafe. Poet, translator and essayist, Murat Nemet-Nejat's most recent work includes the poem The Spiritual Life of Replicants (Talisman House, 2011), the translation of the Turkish poet Seyhan Erozçelik's Rosestrikes and Coffee Grinds (Talisman House, 2010), and the memoir/essay "Istanbul Noir" (in Istanbul: Metamorphoses In an Imperial City, Talisman House, 2011). Nemet-Nejat's translation of the Turkish poet Birhan Keskin's book Y'ol (Ro(a)de) will be published in 2012. He is presently working on "Things," part VI of the seven part poem, "The Structure of Escape," of which The Spiritual Life of Replicants is part V.

Murat Nemet-Nejat in the last few years also edited and largely translated Eda: An Anthology of Contemporary Turkish Poetry (Talisman House, 2004), translated Orhan Veli, I, Orhan Veli (Hanging Loose Press, 1989), and Ece Ayhan, A Blind Cat Black and Orthodoxies (Sun and Moon Press, 1997). He is the author of the essay The Peripheral Space of Photography (Green Integers Press, 2004), the poems "steps" (Mirage, 2008), "Prelude" (2009), "I Did My Best Work During a Writer's Block" (First Identity, 2009), "Disappearances" (Zen Monster, 2010), and the collaboration with Standard Schaefer, Alphabet Dialogues/Penis Monologues (Karaub, 2010).

mind of winter 1/26/12

Al Filreis will once again (as he does annually) lead a discussion of "The Snow Man" by Wallace Stevens at our annual "Mind of Winter" celebration on Thursday, January 26, starting at 5:30 PM.

Nora Magid Mentorship Prize for 2012

The Nora Magid Mentorship Prize for 2012 has been awarded to Jessica Goodman, Stephen Fried announced on behalf of the former students of Nora Magid.

A Penn senior studying Creative Writing, with a minor in Gender, Culture and Society, Jessica Goodman has been an intern and researcher for Rolling Stone magazine and the editor-in-chief of 34th Street magazine and its blog, Under The Button. She began in journalism at Penn as a freshman copy editor at Street and later food editor, and she spent a summer at Estee Lauder working on a breast cancer awareness campaign. Then, as a junior, she won the prestigious RealArts@PENN internship—allowing her to work at Rolling Stone, and also do research for author and Inside Edition TV producer Charles Lachman. As editor of Street, she managed a staff of 30 and wrote features, including “There’s Something About Molly,” an excellent in-depth look at the use of the drug MDMA among college students.

A native of Muttontown, NY on Long Island and a graduate of Friends Academy in Locust Valley, Jessica is a dogged reporter, a stylish writer and a smart, intuitive and generous editor and colleague—both at Street and in her non-fiction writing classes. She clearly has the passion, professionalism and curiosity that Nora Magid so valued in non-fiction writers and editors. While her mentorship will begin immediately, she will receive her award at a reception in New York which is being organized for March.

Goodman was recommended to the Nora Magid Prize committee by Anthony DeCurtis. The other finalists for the award were Katie Sanders, Brian Kotloff and Samantha Sharf. Our thanks to all the Penn seniors who applied for the award this year, to the Penn faculty who wrote recommendations, and to everyone who has generously supported the prize fund.

About the Prize: Nora Magid was an extraordinarily gifted and giving teacher of non-fiction writing at the University of Pennsylvania from the mid-1970s until her death in 1991. During those years, she nurtured an amazing number of students, many of whom went on to some of the top jobs in magazines, newspapers, book publishing and broadcasting. In 2003, a group of "Nora-ites" came together to create The Nora Magid Mentorship Prize, which is now given every year to a senior at the University of Pennsylvania who shows exceptional ability and promise in non-fiction writing and editing, and who would benefit most from combined mentorship of Nora's network of former students and their colleagues. The prize is $1000, which is used as a stipend for transportation, lodging and meals as the student travels to New York, Washington and elsewhere to develop professional contacts. The Nora Prize is given in partnership with the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, the Daily Pennsylvanian and the Kelly Writers House.

Where our previous winners are now:
*Matt Flegenheimer, 2011: metro reporter, New York Times
* Jamie France, 2010: executive assistant to NBC's President of Entertainment and Digital Networks/Integrated Media; former executive assistant to Today Show executive producer, former intern at The New Yorker.
* Gabe Oppenheim, 2009: published first novel, How Delightful is the Day, freelance writer; former intern Washington Post, Esquire
* Jessica Sidman, 2008: reporter at Bisnow Media, editor of DiningBisnow and runs popular blog Frozen Fix; former intern at Washingtonian and Dallas Morning News
* Jason Schwartz, 2007: senior editor, Boston Magazine
* Melody Joy Kramer, 2006: associate producer, "Fresh Air"; former producer at "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me," Kroc Fellow at NPR
* Ashley Parker, 2005: campaign reporter, New York Times; former assistant to columnist Maureen Dowd
* Rebecca Klein, 2004: freelancer for Brides and Everyday with Rachel Ray; former associate editor, Quick & Simple
* Dan Kaplan, 2004: product marketing manager, Twilio, former freelance tech writer and director of marketing at VentureBeat

The Nora Magid Mentorship Prize Scholarship Advisory Committee is: Stephen Fried, author, adjunct professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, 215-592-1662, stephenfried@comcast.net; Eliot Kaplan, executive director, talent acquisition, Hearst Magazines, 212-649-2064 ekaplan@hearst.com; Miriam Arond, director Good Housekeeping Research Institute; Barri Bernstein, executive director, Tennessee Bar Foundation; David Borgenicht, president and publisher, Quirk Books, author; Sandee Brawarsky, author, book columnist, The Jewish Week, editor Text/Context: Fresh Encounters with Jewish Tradition; Jean Chatzky, author, Today Show financial correspondent, Newsweek magazine personal finance contributor; Lisa DePaulo, correspondent, GQ, contributing editor, Elle; Stefan Fatsis, author, sports commentator, All Things Considered, NPR; Loren Feldman, online editor, small business, New York Times; Lisa Green, head of communications, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, former NBC News legal analyst and Weekend Today senior producer; Randall Lane, editor-in chief, Forbes magazine, author; John Prendergast, editor-in-chief, Pennsylvania Gazette; Joel Siegel, head writer and producer, ABC Weekend World News