what is the "hub"?

From the time of its founding in 1995-1996, the Kelly Writers House has been run more or less collectively by members of its community. Our original team of intrepid founders—the group of students, faculty, alumni, and staff who wanted to create an independent haven for writers and supporters of contemporary writing in any genre—took for themselves the name "the hub." "Hub" was the generic term given by Penn's Provost, President, and other planners who hoped that something very innovative would be done at 3805 Locust Walk to prove the viability of the idea that students, working with others, could create an extracurricular learning community around common intellectual and creative passions. To this day, the Writers House Planning Committee refers to itself as "the hub"—the core of engaged faculty, student, staff, and alumni volunteers from whom the House's creative energy and vitality radiates

the hashtag

Madeleine Wattenbarger on the hashtag at the Kelly Writers House, "Seven-Up on Pound" (video): http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/multimedia/tv/reruns/watch/165063.

TC Boyle, KWH Fellow

TC Boyle with four members of the Writers House Fellows seminar at the March 31 dinner honoring Boyle during his two-day visit.

15 minutes with Buzz

A brand new Kelly Writers House podcast - number 40 if our ongoing series - features a 15-minute excerpt from the recent conversation we had with Buzz Bissinger during his February 17-18 visit as a Writers House Fellow. Click here to listen to the podcast, introduced by Allison Harris. 

Arielle Brousse wins fellowship

Kelly Writers House's own Arielle Brousse has been named a Fellow at this institute: Social Impact House. Well deserved and hooray!

Francie Shaw in new podcast

A new Kelly Writers House podcast is now out (#36 in our ongoing series). In this podcast, we hear an excerpt from an artist's talk by Francie Shaw, whose show was exhibited in our Brodsky Gallery in the late autumn of 2013. For more about the event, click here. To listen to the podcast, introduced by Allison Harris, click here. For a video recording of the full event, click here.

high-school student in Pakistan finds the Writers House

In the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, there is currently an article about how a high-school student in Lahore, Pakistan - Taha Tariq - discovered the Kelly Writers House and Penn through our free, open online course called "ModPo." A passage from the article: "He was also attracted by the bohemian culture of the Kelly Writers House – a literary salon on the Penn campus that hosts poetry readings, film screenings, lectures, and cultural events. It was founded by a group of students and faculty in 1995 in a spirit of cultural communitarianism. As a high school senior in his native Pakistan at Lahore Grammar School, a network of private schools that prepares students for British-style exams, Taha was struck by what he saw as a relaxed relationship between professors and students in the MOOC and at Kelly Writers House events." Click here for more.