Alumni Visitors Series

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Alumni Visitors Series
May 17, 2025
: Betsy Andrews, Lolis Eric Elie, Sanaë Lemoine, Louisa Shafia, and Pete Wells
Betsy Andrews (C'85)
is a James Beard, IACP, and SATW awarded journalist
and the co-author, with chef Scott Clark and photographer Cheyenne Ellis, of
Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip
(Chronicle, 2025). She is contributing editor at
Food & Wine
Imbibe
Alcohol Professor
, and
SevenFifty Daily
. She writes
for many other publications, including
Saveur
Bon Appétit
Serious Eats
Plate
The Wall Street Journal
Travel & Leisure
, and
Condé Nast Traveler
Betsy is the former executive editor of
Saveur
and a former
New York Times
dining critic.
She created
Food & Wine
's very first blog,
On the Line
in New Orleans
, for which she worked in restaurant kitchens and wrote about the rebuilding of the
restaurant industry after Hurricane Katrina. She is also a poet. Her books include
Crowded
(Nauset Press, 2023);
The Bottom
, winner of the 42 Miles Press Prize; and
New Jersey
, winner of the Brittingham Prize.
Lolis Eric Elie (W'85)
is a New Orleans born, Los Angeles based writer. A
co-founder of the Southern Foodways Alliance, he is the co-author of
Rodney Scott's
World of Barbecue: Every Day's a Good Day
and
Smokestack Lightning: Adventures
in the Heart of Barbecue Country
. He has appeared on
Ugly Delicious
Chef's Table
Iron Chef
and numerous other
food-related TV shows. A contributing writer to
The Oxford American
, his work
has appeared in
Gourmet
The Washington Post
The New York Times
Bon Appetit
Downbeat
and
The San Francisco Chronicle
Sanaë Lemoine (C'11)
is a novelist and cookbook author, collaborator, and
ghostwriter. She is the author of the novel
The Margot Affair
, a
New York Times
Editors' Choice, and the co-author of the cookbook
Hot Sheet
, which was named
one of the best cookbooks of the year by
Bon Appétit
Food & Wine
, and
Saveur
. She has worked as a cookbook editor at Martha Stewart and Phaidon
Press. In 2022, she was a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow. Born to a Japanese
mother and French father, she was raised in France and Australia, and now lives in Brooklyn.
Louisa Shafia (C'92)
is the author of
Lucid Food:
Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life
, and
The New Persian Kitchen
, winner
of
Food52
's Piglet award. Her writing and
recipes have been featured in
BBC Travel
The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal
The New Yorker
Food & Wine
, and on
National Public Radio
In addition to her extensive writing on Iranian cuisine, Louisa cooks Persian guest chef dinners at
restaurants around the country, including Maydan in Washington, DC, Zahav in Philadelphia, and
Kismet in LA. Feast by Louisa is her online store where she sells handmade Persian culinary goods.
Currently a resident of Nashville, she serves as Culinary Liaison for the Tennessee Immigrant and
Refugee Rights Coalition, both cooking for and organizing events that feature chefs from Nashville's
diverse immigrant community.
For twelve years,
Pete Wells
was the restaurant critic of the
New York Times
, where he continues to write about food and culture. He was
food editor of the
Times
from 2006 through 2011. He wrote the Cooking for
Dexter column for the
Times Magazine
and a column for
Food & Wine
called Always Hungry. He lives in Brooklyn.
April 15, 2025
: Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve and Kate Meyers
Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve (C'88, W'88)
is a novelist, screenwriter, film producer and
teacher. Her most recent work is
Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge
the 2020 Children’s History Book Prize winner, which was co-written with Erica Armstrong Dunbar.
Never Caught
was also named to Reader’s Digest’s List of the 106 Best
Children’s Books of All Time. Her most recent screenplay,
Femesis
, was
co-written with Aline Brosh McKenna, the writer of
The Devil Wears Prada
and
My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
. Her middle grade novel
Drizzle
won the Keystone State Reading Award and received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, The Bulletin
for the Center of Children’s Books and School Library Journal. Her debut novel,
Cranberry Queen
was published in over twelve countries and was optioned by Miramax Films. For over a decade, she worked
with actor/producer/playwright John Leguizamo and with him produced several movies, including the
Sundance Film Festival screenwriting winner,
Joe the King
, and the
award-winning film,
Pinero
. DeMarco Van Cleve graduated from Penn with a
dual degree from the College of Arts & Sciences (Creative Writing) and Wharton.
Kate Myers (C'08)
is the author of the national bestseller
Excavations
Her writing has appeared in
Elle
, and
Self
magazines,
as well as on
BuzzFeed
. She studied archaeology at the University of
Pennsylvania and has lived in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, where she's worked for CBS and
for CollegeHumor. Her debut novel,
Excavations
, is being turned into a Peacock
series starring Amy Poehler. She now resides in Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband, daughters, and dog.
April 7, 2025
: Kyra McGrath
Kyra McGrath (L'81)
is the Executive Vice President and President of New
Ventures and Enterprises for WHYY, Inc. She previously worked as WHYY’s Chief Operating Officer and Vice
President for Strategic Projects and General Counsel. She serves on the board of Public Radio Exchange
and was President of the Forum of Executive Women. She has won the Women of Distinction award from
The Philadelphia Business Journal
and the Take the Lead Award from the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
March 4, 2025
: Shelly Zhang
Shelly Zhang (GR'22)
is a creative writer, musician, and researcher. She is
currently the Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Rutgers University, New Brunswick and the
President of the Association for Chinese Music Research. In 2022, she curated the multi-disciplinary
event, “Li Delun in Philadelphia: Ethnography, Archives, and Music across the Pacific,” which included a
symposium, recital, and pop-up exhibit at Penn’s Kislak Center. In 2023, her poem, “The Price of Ambition,”
was commissioned for a music composition, which premiered in 2024. Her academic articles can be found in
the internationally peer-reviewed journals,
Ethnomusicology Forum
and
Journal of Material Culture
. She is currently working on her first monograph,
Millennial Migration: Chinese Musicians after the Cultural Revolution
, and
developing a second project on Asiatic femininity and issues of performance.
March 4, 2025
: Daniel Gurevitch
Daniel Gurevitch (C'24)
majored in political science and psychology with
minors in computer science and cognitive science (a long way of saying his grandmother is proud of him).
Daniel’s adventures have included everything from interning at The White House to starting his own band
despite having minimal music talent. He recently started working as employee #2 at Velocity Partners,
a strategic advisory firm based in DC.
February 20, 2025
: Julia Bloch and Sarah Dowling
Julia Bloch
is the author of
Lyric Trade: Reading the
Subject in the Postwar Long Poem
and three books of poetry. A Pew Fellow in the Arts, she directs the
Creative Writing Program at Penn.
Sarah Dowling
is the author of
Here Is a Figure:
Grounding Literary Form
, and
Translingual Poetics: Writing Personhood under
Settler Colonialism
, as well as three books of poetry. Sarah teaches in the Centre for Comparative
Literature and Victoria College at the University of Toronto.
February 10, 2025
: Stephen Fried and Henry Platt
Henry Platt (‘21)
is a singer, songwriter, and music industry
professional. He currently works in Creative Services at Warner Chappell Music, helping
songwriters and emerging artists to develop their careers. Outside of work, you can find Henry
performing around
New York, bored riffing on TikTok, and dedicating himself to mental health advocacy. He tells
his powerful story of mental illness challenges while an undergrad at Penn, as one of the twelve
characters in the new acclaimed book
Profiles in Mental Health Courage
by Patrick J. Kennedy & Stephen Fried.
Stephen Fried (’79)
is an award-winning journalist and bestselling
author who teaches at Penn and Columbia. His eight nonfiction books include the healthcare narratives
Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia
(1993),
Bitter Pills: Inside the Hazardous World of Legal Drugs
(1998) and
RUSH: Revolution, Madness and the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father
(2018), as well as the mental health and addiction books he co-authored with Patrick Kennedy,
A Common Struggle
(2015) and
Profiles in Mental Health Courage
(2024). He is teaching Writing About Mental Health and Addiction this semester. Fried lives in
Philadelphia with his wife, author Diane Ayres.
February 5, 2025
: Jessica Goodman
Jessica Goodman
is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of
The Counselors
The Legacies
They’ll Never Catch Us
, and
They Wish They Were Us
. She is the former op-ed editor at Cosmopolitan magazine.
Her work has also been published in
Marie Claire
Entertainment
Weekly
The Cut
, and
Glamour
. Follow
Jessica on Twitter @jessgood and on Instagram @jessicagoodman.
February 3, 2025
: Joshua Bennett and Carlos Andrés Gómez
Dr. Joshua Bennett
is the author of
The Sobbing School
(Penguin, 2016)
— which was a National Poetry Series selection and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. He is also the
author of
Being Property Once Myself
(Harvard University Press, 2020),
Owed
(Penguin, 2020),
The Study of Human Life
(Penguin, 2022) and
Spoken Word: A Cultural History
(Knopf, 2023).
He has received fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Whiting Foundation,
the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. He is a
Professor of Literature and Distinguished Chair of the Humanities at MIT.
Carlos Andrés Gómez
is a Colombian American poet, speaker, actor,
and inclusion strategist from New York City. He is the author of
Fractures
, winner of the Felix
Pollak Prize in Poetry,
Hijito
, winner of the Broken River Prize and a #1 SPD bestseller, and the
memoir
Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood
, released by Penguin Random House. A star of HBO’s
Def Poetry
Jam
, TV One’s
Verses and Flow
, and Spike Lee’s #1 box office movie
Inside Man
with Denzel Washington,
Carlos is one of the highest booked acts in the history of the college market and among the most
sought-after keynote speakers in the world. Carlos’ honors include the Sandy Crimmins National Prize
for Poetry,
Atlanta Review
International Poetry Prize, Foreword INDIES Gold Medal, and the International
Book Award. A genre-transcending multi-hyphenate, he partnered with John Legend on Senior Orientation,
a program to counteract bullying and champion inclusive masculinity among high school students.
Carlos is a proud father of two.
January 30, 2025
: Meg Gladieux and Taja Mazaj
Meg Gladieux
is an educator and freelance writer. She currently
works at Healthy NewsWorks, a non-profit which teaches journalism in Philadelphia-area schools,
and as an assistant to author and journalist Stephen Fried. At Penn, she co-founded
The Woodlands Magazine
and was a features writer and editor at
34th Street Magazine
. She is the 2024–2025 Junior Fellows Prize winner
at the Kelly Writers House, developing a project that focuses on personal essays and reported
memoir about grief, loss, and mental illness.
Taja Mazaj (C’24)
graduated from Penn with a major in Political
Science and a minor in English. As an artist, she has long been interested in the intersections
of art and politics and has explored this through pieces of literary journalism and creative
nonfiction. For her Creative Ventures project, Mazaj is investigating craftwork communities
(with a particular focus on embroidery) from across the world, from Palestine to Romania to
the Americas.
January 28, 2025
: Kathy Lou Schultz and Jane Malcom
Hosted by KWH Faculty Director Al Filreis, PoemTalk features a lively roundtable discussion of
poetry in the PennSound archive. Please join us in the Arts Café for a special episode of PoemTalk
about Muriel Rukeyser, featuring Jane Malcolm, Kathy Lou Schultz, and Evie Shockley.
All are welcome! Lunch will be served.
January 21, 2025
: Kristen Martin
Kristen Martin (C'11)
is a writer and critic based in Philadelphia.
Her work has appeared in
The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post,
The Atlantic, The New Republic, NPR
, and elsewhere. She received an MFA in nonfiction writing from
Columbia University. Her debut narrative nonfiction book,
The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow
, will be
published by Bold Type in January 2025.
November 16, 2024
: Beatrice Forman, Meg Gladieux, Taylor Hosking, Sam Yellowhorse Kelser, Amanda Silberling
Beatrice Forman
is a reporter at
The Philadelphia Inquirer
and a contributor to
Taylor Swift
, a retrospective on the pop star
published by Hearst earlier this year. At
The Inquirer
Beatrice specializes in coverage of her three favorite things: How people build community
on the internet, Philly's pop culture, and — yes — Taylor. She graduated from the University
of Pennsylvania in 2022, where she was editor-in-chief of
34th Street Magazine
Beatrice has reported on memes for
Vox
and
Cosmo
and was previously a deputy editor at
Billy Penn
and WHYY.
In her spare time, Beatrice is an at-large director for the Society of Professional
Journalists, coordinates the national journalism collaborative Democracy Day, and spoils Mango,
the West Philly stray cat she rescued.
Taylor Hosking
is a culture journalist and producer.
At Penn she started the DP's first culture podcast called
In the Cut
She came into national media as a writer in
The Atlantic
's
editorial fellowship program followed by becoming a culture staff writer at
VICE
covering entertainment and pop culture. Then she went into producing culture podcast talk
shows and audio documentaries for places like Netflix, HBO, SONY, NPR and Audible. She's
sold music culture related podcast documentaries to NPR and HBO, including an HBO podcast
Insecure Interludes about the music culture impact of Insecure's soundtrack. Now, she
develops and creates both podcasts and films as a freelance producer through her production company,
93rd Street Media, in New York City.
Samuel Yellowhorse Kesler
is an Assistant Producer at
Planet Money
based in Philadelphia. He studied English at
the University of Pennsylvania. While in school, he wrote for the
Daily Pennsylvanian
The Key
from WXPN,
34th Street Magazine
the
Penn Gazette
, and the WQHS Radio Blog. He was Programming
Assistant Intern at the World Cafe from WXPN for three years, and interned with NPR’s
Ask Me Another
in 2020. He was also Lead Producer for the podcast
Side Effects: A COVID-19 Diary
, and a News Assistant at NPR’s
All Things Considered
. He was also the inaugural
Code Switch
Fellow in 2021.
Amanda Silberling
is a senior reporter at
TechCrunch
covering the intersection of technology and culture. Through her writing, she analyzes
the inner workings of big tech and social platforms to explain how these powers shape our
lives, from entertainment to politics. Her work has also appeared on NPR, MTV,
Business Insider
Polygon
and the
Kenyon Review
Alongside sci-fi writer/attorney
Isabel J. Kim (C'18)
, she is
the co-host and co-creator of the internet culture podcast
Wow if True
, which is a Multitude member show.
(moderator)
Meg Gladieux
is an educator and freelance writer.
She currently works at Healthy NewsWorks, a non-profit which teaches journalism in
Philadelphia-area schools, and as an assistant to author and journalist Stephen Fried.
At Penn, she co-founded
The Woodlands Magazine
and was a features
writer and editor at
34th Street Magazine
. She is the 2024-2025
Junior Fellows Prize winner at the Kelly Writers House.
October 31, 2024
: Andrew Zitcer
Andrew Zitcer
is Associate Professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he directs the Urban Strategy graduate program.
October 24, 2024
: Rachel Tashjian
Rachel Tashjian
is a fashion writer for
The Washington Post
's Style section, covering fashion and style on the runway, red carpet and street, and in the media and politics. She is also the creator of
Opulent Tips,
an "invitation-only" newsletter with a cult following providing shopping and personal style advice. Previously, she was the fashion news director at
Harper's Bazaar,
where she profiled leading designers including Miuccia Prada, Maria Grazia Chiuri of Dior and Nicolas Ghesquière of Louis Vuitton. She was a 2023 ASME nominee for her reviews and criticism. Before that, she was
GQ
's Q's first fashion critic, writing about the evolution of streetwear and the fashion diplomacy of the Bidens, the Trump administration and the British royals. She has written for
Artforum, Bookforum
and
New York Magazine.
September 26, 2024
Jill Castellano, Matt Flegenheimer, Stephen Fried, Beatrice Forman, Ashley Parker, Sarah Smith
Jill Castellano
is the Data/Investigations Editor at
ConsumerAffairs. She has worked for
The Salt Lake Tribune
The Desert Sun
, inewsource and
USA TODAY
, earning a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2018 for her work on the
deaths of undocumented border crossers. Jill graduated from Penn with degrees in
psychology and criminology and was editor-in-chief of the Daily Pennsylvanian.
Matt Flegenheimer
(C'11) is a correspondent at
the
New York Times
. His primary focus is long-form profiles of
notable figures –in politics and otherwise – for the
Times
and
Times Magazine
. Since joining the paper in 2011, he has covered
two presidential campaigns, the Trump era in Washington, New York City transportation and City Hall.
Beatrice Forman
is a reporter with
The Philadelphia Inquirer
where she gets paid to cover her two favorite things: How people make meaning on the internet,
and Taylor Swift. She also handles breaking news. Beatrice graduated from Penn in 2022 with
degrees in communications and political science. A former
34th Street
editor-in-chief, Beatrice also served as the
diversity chair of
The Daily Pennsylvanian
, where she
co-created a fellowship program for BIPOC student journalists committed to advancing
equity and inclusion at the newspaper. Beatrice was previously deputy editor of Billy
Penn and a newsletter editor for CNN pundit Michael Smerconish. In her spare time,
Beatrice coordinates a collaborative of newsrooms dedicated to covering threats to
democracy and is a loving aunt to all of her friends' pets.
Ashley Parker
is senior national political correspondent
for the
Washington Post
, and a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner.
Most recently, she served as the White House bureau chief, covering the first two years
of the Biden presidency, as well as the entirety of the Trump presidency. In 2019, Parker
served as one of the moderators for the Democratic presidential primary debate in Atlanta,
hosted by the
Washington Post
and MSNBC, and she is
an NBC/MSNBC senior political analyst. She joined the
Post
in 2017, after 11 years at the
New York Times
, where she covered the 2012 and 2016
presidential campaigns, and Congress, among other things.
Sarah Smith
is a senior reporter with the
Houston Chronicle
focused on immersive narrative storytelling. Past lives have found her at
ProPublica
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
, and the
Associated Press
. She's written everything from
investigations into church sexual abuse, the failures of public housing oversight, and
Mississippi's struggles to provide mental health evaluations to a narrative story told
entirely in the second person and a piece with no fewer than five metaphors for the
weather. She won first place in the national Society of Features Journalism contest
for general features portfolio, was a Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism
and a finalist for the Livingston Award. She somehow graduated from Penn in 2015 with a
double major in English and Political Science after spending most of her days in the
Daily Pennsylvanian
office instead of going to class.
Whatever she's doing, she'd probably rather be reading with a snack.
September 23, 2024
Alina Grabowski
Alina Grabowski
(C’16) grew up in coastal Massachusetts
and holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University.
Her writing has appeared in
Story, The Masters Review, Joyland,
The Adroit Journal,
and
Day One.
She has received
scholarships from Aspen Summer Words, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Squaw Valley
Community of Writers, and the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. She lives in Austin, Texas.
May 18, 2024
: Nate Chinen,
Lauren Francis-Sharma, Natalie Eve Garrett, Amiee Koran, Catherine Ricketts, Joseph Earl Thomas
Nate Chinen (C'97)
is the author of
Playing Changes: Jazz For the New Century
He served as the first assistant coordinator at the Kelly Writers House, before becoming a
columnist for
JazzTimes
and a music critic for
The New York Times
. Nate is now editorial director at WRTI,
a regular contributor to NPR, and proprietor of
The Gig
a Substack publication. A thirteen-time winner of the Helen Dance–Robert Palmer Award for
Excellence in Writing, he is also coauthor of George Wein's
Myself Among
Others: A Life in Music
Lauren Francis-Sharma (C'94)
is the author of
Book of the Little Axe
, the 2020 ALA “Libraries Transform Book Pick”
and a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award in Fiction. Her first novel,
Til the
Well Runs Dry
was awarded the Honor Fiction Prize by the Black Caucus of the American
Library Association and short-listed for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.
Lauren is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan Law School,
and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Her next novel,
Casualties of Truth
based on her time at the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in South Africa, will be
published by Grove/Atlantic in February. Lauren is a book reviewer for the
San
Francisco Chronicle
and a MacDowell Fellow. She serves on the board of the PEN/Faulkner
Foundation, and is the Assistant Director of Bread Loaf Writers' Conference at Middlebury College.
Natalie Eve Garrett (MFA'04)
is an artist and a writer.
She's the editor of
The Lonely Stories
, a cathartic collection
of personal essays from 22 celebrated writers about the joys and struggles of being alone,
out now from Catapult. She's also the editor of
Eat Joy
(Catapult, 2019), a collection of stories exploring how food can help us cope in dark times,
and
The Artists' and Writers Cookbook
(pH Books, 2016), a
collection of stories with recipes. A graduate of Yale University and the University of
Pennsylvania's School of Design, Natalie lives with her husband, two children, and their puppy,
Zephyr, in a little town near DC, along the Potomac River.
Aimee Koran (MFA'17)
is a multi-disciplinary artist based out
of Philadelphia, PA. She holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania,
and a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts with a minor in textile design from Moore College of Art &
Design. Aimee explores the topic of motherhood focusing on the continuously shifting and
complex binaries that shape the role. Her work has been shown around the globe in venues such
as the Richard Saulton Gallery, London, UK; Mutter Museum, Philadelphia, PA; The Arlington Art
Center, Arlington, VA; and completed residencies at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia,
PA; The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY; and Project for
Empty Space, Newark, NJ. Her solo and group exhibitions have been featured in publications like
The New York Times
Vogue
Whitewall
Artslant
Artnet
News
, and
A Woman's Thing
. Aimee's work was recently acquired
for addition to the permanent contemporary collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
Catherine Ricketts (C'09)
writes about the arts, grief, joy,
and spirituality. She studied writing at the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MFA in
nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University. Her essays have appeared in
The Kenyon
Review Online
The Christian Century
Image
The Millions
Paste
, and the
Ploughshares
blog, among other publications. While writing,
she has supported the work of other practicing artists as a live arts presenter,
having held jobs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia's FringeArts, and the
public radio station WXPN. Ricketts lives with her family near Philadelphia and works in the
Villanova University Honors Program. Find her on Instagram at @bycatherinericketts.
Joseph Earl Thomas (G'24)
is the author of
Sink
a memoir, the novel
God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer
forthcoming next month,
and the story collection
Leviathan Beach
(Grand Central, 2025).
His prose, poetry and criticism has been published in
The Kenyon Review
Virginia Quarterly Review
Dilettante Army
and >span class="title">The New York Times Book Review
Sink
was
longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and shortlisted for the William Saroyan International
Prize for Writing. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame's MFA program in prose, he is earning
a PhD in English at The University of Pennsylvania. He will be teaching writing at Sarah
Lawrence College in the Fall, and also teaches courses in Black Studies, Poetics, Queer Theory,
Video Games and more at
The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
January 2024
: Jeff Barg
Jeff Barg (C’02, GCP’10)
(music and lyrics, original story)
is a composer and performer from South Philadelphia. He has composed the music and lyrics
for several musicals, including
The Ballad of King Henry
, a folk adaptation of Shakespeare's
Henry IV Part I
, co-created with Benjamin Kamine and Sally Ollove.
He started
The Angry Grammarian
as a newspaper column for
Philadelphia Weekly
in 2007, and in 2018, began publishing the
column in
The Philadelphia Inquirer
, where it runs biweekly.
He is a resident member of South Philadelphia's Raw Street Productions, where he performs
regularly. By day he is a director for Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy.
September 28, 2023
: Victor Bockris
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Victor Bockris
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
in 1971. After graduation, he founded Telegraph Press, a seminal small press in the early
seventies. He also had several books of poems and prose published, including
In America
and
The Joe DiMaggio Victor Bockris Special
He worked with collaborator Andrew Wylie under the name “Brockis-Wylie” to publish a number
of interviews under the column “Electric Generation” for
The Drummer
Their crowning achievement was
Ali: Fighter Poet Prophet
published by the legendary Maurice Girodias on the day Ali regained his heavyweight
crown in October 1974. After the duo broke up amicably, Bockris went on to publish widely in
Interview
and
High Times
He worked freelance for Andy Warhol and William Burroughs and became a fixture on the punk scene.
In the 1980s he published a trilogy of portraits:
A Report from the Bunker With William Burroughs
Making Tracks: The Rise of Blondie
, and
Uptight: the Velvet Underground Story
In the 1990s, he turned to biography, publishing the trilogy
Warhol: The Biography, Keith Richards: The Biography
, and
Transformer: The Lou Reed Story.
September 2023
: Paige Menton and Carlos Price-Sanchez
Paige Menton (GED’93)
lives outside of Philadelphia
where she runs a land restoration organization called Journeywork, which she founded in 2022.
She also cares for the land of a Quaker meeting. Her first full-length poetry collection,
Wrim
was published by Spuyten Duyvil in 2023. She has also written a chapbook,
Twenty Miles
to April (Dancing Girl Press, 2021), and a children’s book,
She Held Her Breath in Wonder
(2023).
Her poetry has appeared in
Interim
New South
Prelude
Kestrel
Matter
, and other publications.
She grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and left to go to Brown and Penn.
Carlos Price-Sanchez (C’19, GED’20)
is a poet from Philadelphia. His most
recent work can be found at the
Adroit Journal
Quarterly West
, and
Copper Canyon Press
He is currently a researcher with the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Program at Sea Mar
Community Health Centers, and a postgraduate student at NYU.
May 13, 2023
: Grace Ambrose, Cecilia Corrigan, Jessica Goodman, Alex Koppelman, Gwen Lewis, Greg Maughan, Joe Pinsker, Ali Jaffe Ramis, Julia Rubin, and Hillary Reinsberg
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Grace Ambrose (C'11)
lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she is a
co-founder of the city’s first mobile syringe exchange. She was previously coordinator of
Maximum Rocknroll,
the world’s longest continuously published punk periodical. She runs the Thrilling Living record label
and is the editor of the forthcoming book
Kleenex/LiLiPUT
about the seminal
Swiss band of the same name.
Cecilia Corrigan (C'11)
is a New York-based writer and performer.
In addition to winning the Plonsker Prize for
Titanic
in 2013 and
being selected as Issue Project Room’s 2016 Artist in Residence, she has also been
commissioned by Bedlam theater company to write a new play for their forthcoming season.
Her script
Tulum
is currently under option with Billy
Porter's Icognegro Productions. Follow her @ceciliakcecilia.
Jessica Goodman (C'12)
is the New York Times bestselling
author of young adult thrillers
They Wish they Were Us, They’ll Never Catch Us, The Counselors,
and
The Legacies.
She is the former op-ed editor at
Cosmopolitan
magazine, and was part of the 2017 team that won a National Magazine Award in personal service.
She has also held editorial positions at Entertainment Weekly and HuffPost, and her work
has been published in outlets like
Glamour, Condé Nast Traveler, The Cut, Elle,
Bustle,
and
Marie Claire.
Alex Koppelman (C'05)
was most recently a managing editor
at CNN, where among other things he oversaw the Media, Tech, Transportation and
Consumer teams. He's also been an editor at places including
The New Yorker
and
Guardian
US, where a series he edited won prizes including an Emmy and a National
Magazine Award.
Gwen Lewis (C'14)
is a West Philly native and graduate of
the College. Working at the intersection of technology and entertainment, she’s built
product experiences for Comcast NBC Universal, Google, and Disney. She also writes
creative non-fiction and teaches yoga to West Philadelphians.
Greg Maughan (C'05)
lives in Philadelphia, PA where he founded and
ran a glorified clown college/performance venue called the Philly Improv Theater for
17 years. Since stepping back from that work day-to-day in 2020, he now enjoys attending
theater without worrying about what is going on behind the scenes.
Joe Pinsker (C'13)
is a reporter at
The Wall Street Journal,
where he covers "the pursuit of happiness" for the paper's Personal Finance section.
Previously, he was a staff writer at
The Atlantic
magazine, where he covered business
and economics, and then families and parenting. At Penn, Joe took two arts-and-culture
writing classes with Anthony, and wrote his honors thesis (about how musicians in
Philadelphia make a living) under Anthony's guidance.
Ali Jaffe Ramis (C'14)
is a Peabody Award-winning segment producer
at
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
She has produced over 200 guest interviews for
the show with celebrities ranging from Will Ferrell to Greta Thunberg. Ali’s writing
has been published by
The New York Times, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine,
and the
Philadelphia Inquirer.
She was featured on an episode of
The New York Times
’s podcast,
“The Daily.”
Julia Rubin (C'10)
is the editorial director for culture
and features at Vox. She launched The Goods in 2018 and was previously the executive
editor of Racked, where she originated the site's longform program. Prior to
joining Vox Media, Julia was a features editor at Teen Vogue.
Hillary Reinsberg (C'11)
is the Editor In Chief of The
Infatuation and Zagat, and the Head of Content for Connected Commerce at J.P. Morgan
Chase, which acquired The Infatuation and Zagat in 2021. In this role, she oversees
all dining, travel, and shopping content at Chase. Since joining as The Infatuation’s
first employee in 2014, Hillary has been responsible for building The Infatuation’s
editorial presence in cities around the world, hiring its entire editorial staff,
and shaping the brand voice. She also played a key role in The Infatuation’s 2018
acquisition of Zagat from Google, and led the effort to bring Zagat back into print
in 2019/2020. Before The Infatuation, she was an early member of BuzzFeed’s news
division. While at Penn, she was Under The Button's founding editor.
April 19, 2023
: Becky Chalsen
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Becky Chalsen (C'15)
is a novelist and film/tv executive living in New
York City. She is a director of development at Sunday Night, John ohn Krasinski's production company,
and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Becky is a quadruplet and married to her high school
sweetheart — also an identical twin — whose family has spent summers on Fire Island for more than three
decades.
Kismet
(Dutton 2023) is her first novel.
April 10, 2023
: Lew Schneider
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Lew Schneider
’s path to a TV career was pretty typical.
He had a history degree from Penn, didn’t want to go to law school or teach so...comedy was
the only alternative. After a few stints in front of the camera: game show host,
HBO stand-up special, and a couple of sitcoms, he turned to writing. His credits include
The New Adventures of Old Christine
American Dad
Everybody Loves Raymond
(CBS) which won Emmy Awards and millions
of people watched and
Men of a Certain Age
(TNT) which won a
Peabody Award and nobody watched. For the last ten years he as worked as a writer and
producer on the ABC comedy The Goldbergs and has directed more than fifty episodes.
He has a brand new knee...
March 29, 2023
: Chloe Gong
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Chloe Gong
is the #1
New York Times
bestselling author of
These Violent Delights
and
its sequel
Our Violent Ends
. She is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she double-majored
in English and International Relations. Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, Chloe is now located
in New York pretending to be a real adult.
March 22, 2023
: Mashinka Firunts Hakopian and Daniel Scott Snelson
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Mashinka Firunts Hakopian
is an Armenian writer, artist,
and researcher born in Yerevan and residing in Glendale, CA. She is an Associate Professor
in Technology and Social Justice at ArtCenter College of Design. In 2021, she was a visiting
Mellon Professor of the Practice at Occidental College, where she co-curated the exhibition
“Encoding Futures: Critical Imaginaries of AI” with Meldia Yesayan. With Avi Alpert and Danny
Snelson, she makes up one-third of the collective, Research Service. She is a Contributing
Editor for Art Papers, and her writing and commentary have appeared in
Los Angeles Review of
Books
Performance Research Journal
Art in America
Hyperallergic,
and Meghan Markle's
Archetypes
Performances and projects have been presented at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris),
Museum of Contemporary Art (LA), Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), Drawing
Center (NY), Judson Memorial Church (NY), and in the New Museum (NY) Voice Registers
Series. See also:
www.mashinkafirunts.com
Daniel Scott Snelson
is a writer, editor, and archivist
working as an Assistant Professor in the Departments of English and Design Media Arts at
UCLA. His online editorial work can be found on
PennSound
Eclipse
UbuWeb
Jacket2
and the
EPC
. His books include
Full Bleed:
A Mourning Letter for the Printed Page
(Sync, 2019),
Apocalypse
Reliquary: 1984-2000
(Monoskop, 2018),
Radios
(Make Now, 2016),
EXE TXT
(Gauss PDF, 2015),
Epic Lyric Poem
(Troll Thread, 2014), and
Inventory Arousal
with James
Hoff (Bedford Press/Architectural Association, 2011). With Mashinka Firunts Hakopian and
Avi Alpert, he performs as one-third of the academic performance group Research Service.
See also:
dss-edit.com
November 29, 2022
: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
(GR'12) is the author of the short story collection
Blue Talk
and Love (2015), winner of the Judith Markowitz Award for Fiction from Lambda Literary;
The Poetics of Difference: Queer
Feminist Forms in the African Diaspora
(University of Illinois Press, 2021); and her highly anticipated debut novel
Big
Girl
(W.W. Norton & Co., 2022), which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. Sullivan's fiction
explores the intellectual, emotional, and bodily lives of young Black women through voice, music, and hip-hop inflected
magical realist techniques. She is Associate Professor of English at Georgetown University and lives in Washington, DC.
November 15, 2022
: Jennifer Egan
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Jennifer Egan
's 2017 novel,
Manhattan Beach
, has been awarded the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Egan was born in Chicago and raised in San Francisco. She is also the author of
The Invisible Circus
, a novel which became
a feature film starring Cameron Diaz in 2001,
Look at Me,
a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction in 2001,
Emerald City and Other Stories, The Keep, and A Visit From the Goon Squad
, won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, the National
Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, and the LA Times Book Prize. Her short stories have appeared in
The New Yorker,
Harpers, Granta, McSweeney's
and other magazines. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment
for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and a Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library.
Also a journalist, she has written frequently in the
New York Times Magazine
. Her 2002 cover story on homeless children
received the Carroll Kowal Journalism Award, and "The Bipolar Kid" received a 2009 NAMI Outstanding Media Award for
Science and Health Reporting from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She recently completed a term as President of PEN America.
November 3, 2022
: Alexandra Sternlicht
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Alexandra Sternlicht
is a tech reporter at
Fortune
where she covers creators, startups
and founders. Previously she reported and edited
Forbes 30 Under 30
and
Forbes Top Creators
and led the 10,000-person
Forbes Under 30 honoree community. In this role she wrote cover stories on the
D'Amelios
Miley Cyrus
Gymshark
among others and edited 10-plus 30 Under 30 lists. She's also oversaw editorial programming for Under 30
summits around the world and has moderated discussions with
Huda Kattan
Tinx
Charli D'Amelio
, Amanda Nguyen and
others. Alexandra graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2016 with honors in English.
In her free time she enjoys biking, fluffy dogs and things that pair with ketchup.
October 12, 2022
: Matt Flegenheimer
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Matt Flegenheimer
is a correspondent at
The New York Times
focused on long-form profiles of political figures and other subjects for the paper and
the magazine. He has been at the Times since 2011.
September 22, 2022
: Matt Flegenheimer, Jessica Goodman, Joel Siegel, Isabella Simonetti, Stephen Fried
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Matt Flegenheimer
(C'11) is a correspondent at the
New York Times
, focused on long-form
profiles of political figures and other subjects for the paper and
the magazine. He has been at the
Times
since 2011.
Jessica Goodman
(C'12) is the New York Times bestselling author of young adult thrillers
They Wish They Were Us
They’ll Never Catch Us
, and
The Counselors.
She is the former op-ed editor at
Cosmopolitan magazine,
and was part of the 2017 team that won a National Magazine Award in personal service. She has also held editorial
positions at
Entertainment Weekly
and
HuffPost
, and her work has been published in outlets like
Glamour, Condé Nast Traveler, The Cut, Elle, Bustle,
and
Marie Claire.
Joel Siegel
(C'79) is the Managing Editor of the Spectrum News Washington bureau,
supervising 10 reporters who cover Congress, the White House and breaking news in Washington for Spectrum News
channels across the U.S. Before that he was the Managing Editor at NY1 News, the Managing Editor/Politics at the
N.Y. Daily News and a Senior Editor, Head Writer and Producer on the ABC News programs “World News Tonight” and
“Weekend World News.” He also worked as the Senior Political Correspondent of the N.Y. Daily News, and as a Reporter
and Editor with The Associated Press in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Trenton. He has written for “New York” and other
magazines, and is the recipient of one Edward R. Murrow, three Emmy and four Writers Guild of America awards.
Isabella Simonetti
(C'21) is the David Carr fellow in business reporting at
The New York Times.
Previously, she was a media reporter at
Observer
where she covered technology and social media and launched
her own newsletter on the business of the creator economy. She has interned at publications including
Bloomberg News, Vox, the Philadelphia Inquirer,
and the
New York Post.
She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 and served as president of The
Daily Pennsylvanian.
Stephen Fried
(C'79) is an award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author who teaches at
Penn and Columbia. He is the author of six nonfiction books, including the acclaimed biographies RUSH:
Revolution, Madness and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father (a finalist for
the 2019 George Washington Book Prize), Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing
the Wild West—One Meal at a Time, and Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia, and co-author with
Patrick Kennedy of A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and
Addiction. A two-time winner of the National Magazine Award, Fried has been a staff writer at Vanity Fair,
GQ, Glamour, and Philadelphia Magazine.
September 2022
JJ Tiziou
JJ Tiziou (C’02)
is the artist whose photographs are
featured in Philadelphia’s largest piece of public art (the How Philly Moves mural at
Philadelphia International Airport.) – He is also a Licensed Massage Therapist, block captain,
and the organizer of Walk Around Philadelphia.
May 14, 2022
: Nate Chinen, Taylor Hosking, Naomi Shavin, Yowei Shaw, with Jamie-Lee Josselyn
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Nate Chinen
(C’97) is the author of
Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century
, and a charter member of the Hub at the Kelly Writers House. A former critic for
The New York Times
and former columnist at JazzTimes, he's a regular contributor to NPR and editorial director at WBGO — where he co-hosts
Jazz United
, which the Jazz Journalists Association recently recognized as Podcast of the Year.
Taylor Hosking
(C’17) is a freelance podcast producer and writer based in New York City. At Penn, she and Stephanie Hodges started the first culture podcast for the Daily Pennsylvanian called ‘In the Cut’ geared toward minorities and creatives on campus. She spent her first two years after Penn writing articles at the intersection of culture and politics at The Atlantic and VICE before getting back into podcasting as a producer and host. Working at Pineapple Street Studios in New York, she’s produced podcasts for Netflix and HBO, including an original podcast idea for the HBO show “Insecure.” And as a freelancer she’s reported and hosted audio stories on The New Yorker Radio Hour, WNYC, and KCRW.
Naomi Shavin
(C'14) was the founding member and is currently the senior producer for narrative a nd development on Axios's audio team. Before moving into podcasting, she was an editor at
Axios
and at
Vox
and worked for magazines including
The New Yorker
The New Republic
Smithsonian Magazine
and
Forbes
Yowei Shaw
(C'10) is the co-host and editorial lead of NPR's Invisibilia, where she reports, produces, and sound designs stories. Her work has also been featured in places like
This American Life
, and has been honored with several awards, including a Third Coast Documentary Award. She's also the daughter of Taiwanese-American immigrants and a member of multiple friend crews, and once upon a time, she made really good elevator music in Chinatown, Philadelphia.
Jaime-Lee Josselyn
(C'05) is an instructor & Associate Director in the Creative Writing Program at Penn. Her writing has been published in
Literary Hub
Cleaver Magazine
, and elsewhere. She hosts a literary podcast series about writing about the death of a parent called
Dead Parents Society
April 19, 2022
: Carlos Decena
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Carlos Ulises Decena
is an interdisciplinary scholar and writer. A member of the Rutgers University faculty since 2005, Decena teaches in the Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. He published his first book,
Tacit Subjects: Belonging and Same-Sex Desire among Dominican Immigrant Men
in 2011.
Circuits of the Sacred: Faggotology in the Black Latinx Caribbean
will be published in Spring 2023 by Duke University Press.
April 12, 2022
: Lew Schneider
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Lew Schneider
is a writer, producer and director of the ABC comedy, The Goldbergs. Other credits include his own HBO stand-up special, and the primetime shows American Dad, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Men of a Certain Age (which won a Peabody Award but very few people watched), and Everybody Loves Raymond (which won Emmy Awards and more people watched).
April 4, 2022
: Dan Rottenberg
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Dan Rottenberg
has been chief editor of seven innovative publications, most recently Broad Street Review, an online arts and culture salon he created in 2005.
As an advocate for free expression and alternative media, he successfully defended seven libel suits and received Temple University’s Free Speech Award in 1992.
His twelve published books include
Finding Our Fathers
, which launched the modern Jewish genealogy movement in 1977,
Death of a Gunfighter
, which was honored as
the best Western history book of 2008, and, most recently,
The Education of a Journalist
. He has written more than 300 articles for such magazines as
Town & Country
Reader’s Digest
The New York Times Magazine
Forbes
Civilization
American Benefactor
Bloomberg Personal Finance
TV Guide
Playboy
Rolling Stone
Chicago
, and many others.
He served as a consultant in 1981 when Forbes magazine launched its annual “Forbes 400” list of wealthiest Americans. His syndicated film commentaries appeared in monthly
city magazines around the U.S. from 1971 to 1983. Earlier in his career, he was a columnist for the
Philadelphia Inquirer
, executive editor of
Philadelphia Magazine
managing editor of
Chicago Journalism Review
, a reporter for the
Wall Street Journal
, and editor of the
Commercial Review
, a daily newspaper in Portland, Indiana.
He was born and raised in New York City and earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, a piano teacher.
Their two adult daughters live and work in New York City.
March 31, 2022
: Wendy Bach
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Professor Wendy A. Bach
is a nationally recognized expert in both clinical legal education and poverty law. She has been with the University of Tennessee College of Law since fall 2010. From 2005 to 2010, she taught in the clinical program at the City University of New York School of Law. Before entering the academy, she was director of the Homelessness Outreach and Prevention Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City and a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Brooklyn. Professor Bach has dedicated her career to representing children and families in poor communities in a variety of legal settings, and she continues to do so in UT College of Law's nationally-ranked clinical program. Her scholarship focuses on the interaction between systems of support and care and systems of punishment in poor communities and has been published in the William and Mary, Wisconsin, Brooklyn, and Michigan Law reviews, The Florida Tax Review and The Yale Journal of Law and Feminism.
February 24, 2022
: Rachel Seville Tashjian
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Rachel Seville Tashjian
is the fashion critic at GQ and the creator of the newsletter Opulent Tips. She was formerly the deputy editor of
Garage Magazine
and a writer at
Vanity Fair
February 24, 2022
: Heled Travel Grant Recipients Grace Leahy and Ian McCormack
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Grace Leahy
graduated from Penn in the winter of 2020 with a double major in English and Cinema & Media Studies. The photo to the left was taken from her apartment on 42nd street, which she misses very much. She also misses the Writers House. And Nicola Gentili. Currently, Grace is based in Los Angeles, pursuing a career in film & television.
Ian McCormack
graduated from Penn with a major in History and a minor in Creative Writing. He enjoys spooky stuff and adventuring in unlikely places. He is now based in Manchester, NH, working in board game publishing.
February 10, 2022
: Andrew Zitcer and Jamila Medley
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Andrew Zitcer
is an associate professor of Urban Strategy at Drexel University. He studies cooperative social and economic practices as well as the arts as a vehicle for community transformation. He is also the co-founder of the Rotunda, a community arts venue, and Kol Tzedek Synagogue, a progressive Jewish congregation.
Jamila Medley
is an organizational development consultant, leadership coach, and educator/advocate for the solidarity economy. From 2012-2021 she served in governance roles and then as executive director of the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA). Jamila, a UPenn alum, lives in Philadelphia's Mt. Airy neighborhood and serves on the boards of directors of Food Co-op Initiative, Movement Alliance Project, All Together Now PA, and the Independence Public Media Foundation.
February 1, 2022
: Jen Wroblewski
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Jen Wroblewski
(born California, 1973) is an artist, professor, and curator whose work is grounded in an interest in drawing as object and performance.
Fluent in the histories of mark-making, she defines drawing as an accretion of marks, or as the relic of the physical act of drawing. She is the recipient of many fellowships and awards,
including the NYFA in printmaking/book arts/drawing, and Aldrich Radius fellowship, and the A.I.R. Gallery fellowship. Her work and projects have been discussed in the
New York Times
Hartford Courant
Brooklyn Rail
and
NJ Star Ledger
and many books and online publications. Exhibitions include Resistance Movement in collaboration with Kellie O'Dempsey at the Kentler International Drawing Space, Endogenic Flux Machine at Kansas State University,
Timeless: the art of drawing at the Morris Museum, New Monuments to the AntiConcept at A.I.R. Gallery, and Draw to Perform 2 in London. From 2006-2016 she taught at the SUNY Purchase School of Art+Design, and she also designed and taught
a descriptive drawing curriculum for designers at the University of the Arts and has been a visiting professor at many universities and studio programs. Her current project is Gold/scopophilia*, a contemporary art gallery in Montclair NJ
where she shows work by artists who demonstrate idiosyncratic material fluency (and is comprised mainly of women). Exhibitions at the gallery have been reviewed in Hyperallergic, Two Coats of Paint, ANTEMag and ArtSpiel.
February 2022
Martha Cooney
Martha Cooney (C’05)
grew up in Philadelphia and writes about
her life in her humor newsletter Yo. She is a winner of The Moth GrandSLAM storytelling c
ompetition and a frequent First Person Arts Winning Storyteller and Audience Favorite.
Martha also writes for the satire newspaper
The Philadelphia Jabroni
and has had her work featured by WHYY’s Billy Penn. Martha made her comedy debut in a Dublin,
Ireland hostel in 2008 in exchange for a free night’s stay. She is currently working on an essay collection.
January 2022
Prakash Mishra and Lauren Yatess-Murray
Prakash Mishra (ENG'19, W'19, GRW'24)
has been performing
poetry for several years. They reflect largely on their Desi heritage and Southern
upbringing. Prakash has performed at Philly's You Can't Kill A Poet twice in the past.
Lauren Yates-Murray (C’12)
is a Philadelphia-based writer
and visual artist. In 2012, Lauren earned her B.A. in English with a Creative Writing
Emphasis from the University of Pennsylvania. A fan favorite in the slam poetry scene
for her irreverent sense of humor, Lauren has represented Philadelphia at the Women of
the World Poetry Slam and the National Poetry Slam. Her work has appeared in
APIARY
Gigantic Sequins
Foundry
Crab Fat Magazine
, and more. Find her on Twitter @queerblackfemme.
November 11, 2021
: Clayton Neuman
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
In his twelve years with AMC,
Clayton Neuman
has been influential in
developing their social and digital content programs and building the company's award-winning gaming business from the ground up.
Throughout his tenure and in the broader gaming and digital content industries he is recognized as a creative, strategic, and revenue-driven leader that
has created one of the top IP portfolios in entertainment. This event will be online only.
November 6, 2021
: Zachary Sergi and Jennifer Yu
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Queer writer
Zachary Sergi
grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and studied Creative Writing at Regis High School and the University of Pennsylvania.
He is a television and fiction writer currently living in Los Angeles, where he writes his Interactive Novels and lives with his husband. Zachary is currently writing new
Interactive Series, promoting his YA debut,
MAJOR DETOURS
, and working on his second novel for Running Press Teens.
Jennifer Yu
is the author of the young adult novels
Four Weeks, Five People
(2017) and
Imagine Us Happy
(2018). When not writing, you can find her weeping
intermittently about the Boston Celtics, photos of the Earth from outer space, and the etymology of the word disaster. She has lived in Kansas, Boston, and Los Angeles,
though these days she is mostly living out of her 2018 Toyota Corolla LE as she hikes her way across the Mountain West.
October 28, 2021
: Jessica Goodman
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Jessica Goodman
is the New York Times bestselling author of young adult thrillers
They Wish They Were Us
They’ll Never Catch Us
, and
The Counselors
(out in 2022) from Razorbill/ Penguin Teen. She is the former op-ed editor at Cosmopolitan magazine,
and was part of the 2017 team that won a National Magazine Award in personal service. She has also held editorial positions at Entertainment Weekly
and HuffPost, and her work has been published in outlets like Glamour, Condé Nast Traveler, Elle, and Marie Claire.
October 7, 2021
: Jean Chatzky, Madeleine Ngo, and Rebecca Tan, with Stephen Fried
Careers in Journalism and new media: alumni panel, a Povich Journalism Program
October 4, 2021
: Cindy Spiegel
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Cindy Spiegel
is co-CEO of Spiegel & Grau, an independent publishing company that was previously an imprint of
Penguin Random House. Before that she was Publisher of Riverhead Books, where she was a founding editor. Among the writers whose careers she launched
are James McBride, Bryan Stevenson, Khaled Hosseini, Chang-rae Lee, Gary Shteyngart, Philipp Meyer, ZZ Packer, Alex Garland, Danzy Senna, and Sana Krasikov;
and she has also edited and published books by Yuval Noah Harari, Yann Martel, Sara Gruen, Harold Bloom, Ari Shavit, Dan Pink, Steven Rinella, Anne Lamott,
and many others. She sits on the board of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive and on the advisory board of Columbia Global Reports. She graduated from Penn as an
English major and has an MA in Comparative Literature from U.C., Berkeley.
March 4, 2021
Joshua Herren, Arielle Brousse
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Josh Herren
is a writer and elementary school teacher living in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Josh has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he
worked at the Kelly Writers House and wrote about history, sexuality, and art. He currently
writes about theater for Phindie and the Broad Street Review. He also hosts the Chosen by
Committee podcast, in which he and his cohosts are reading every pulitzer prize winning play
since 1918 so you don't have to. Josh is passionate about education, theater, and convincing
others that Philadelphia is the greatest city on earth. Oh, and he is married to KWH alum,
Henry Steinberg.
February 9, 2021
Maya Arthur, Imani Davis, Izzy Lopez, Amanda Silberling
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Maya Arthur
is a writer and novice archivist/artist/researcher. She graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English & Creative Writing in 2018. She loves
gardening
in her cradle graves
at the Woodlands cemetery, making and reading zines,
discussing witches at
length
, and eating as much Fu Wah banh mi as she can. Her poetry right now focuses on memory,
nostalgia, and self encountering. She was a 2019 Lambda Poetry Fellow and 2020 Aspen Words fellow.
You can find her wandering around West Philly.
Imani Davis
is a queer Black writer from Brooklyn. A Pushcart
Prize-nominated poet and Urban Word NYC alumnus, they earned fellowships from The Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation, The Lambda Literary Foundation, BOAAT Press, and the Stadler Center
for Poetry. Imani’s work has appeared with Best New Poets 2020, PBS News Hour’s Brief But
Spectacular Series, The Offing, The Adroit Journal, Best of the Net, Shade Literary Arts,
The Rumpus, TEDx, and elsewhere. They completed their B.A. summa cum laude in English
and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and are currently pursuing a
Ph.D. in American Studies at Harvard.
Izzy Lopez
is a writer and artist whose work seeks to uncover the
extraordinary in everyday experience. Izzy writes memoir and personal essays and is interested
in family, coming of age, and memory. Her work has appeared in Penn Appétit, The Red Cedar Review,
r.kv.r.y. quarterly literary journal, F-Word Magazine, and The Penn Review. Izzy received a B.A.
in English from the University of Pennsylvania, and she currently lives in South Philadelphia
with her boyfriend and cat.
Amanda Silberling
is writer and artist with work in Hyperallergic,
NPR, Business Insider, the Kenyon Review, and other places. As a Kelly Writers House Junior
Fellow, she is developing the
Good Poem Project
, a collaborative poetry experiment and resource.
According to Jamie-Lee Josselyn, she is also the Chief Meme Officer of the Kelly Writers House.
Find her on Twitter at @asilbwrites or on her
website
February 2021
Dan McQuade
Dan McQuade (C’05)
is a lifelong Philadelphian who is now
video and multimedia editor at Defector, a cooperatively-owned sports and culture publication.
Over his career, he’s covered the Eagles’ and Phillies’ title runs, lived like Mark Wahlberg
for a day, argued for drug legalization, explored the history of The Gallery mall, traced
Rocky’s 31-mile route in Rocky 2 and unintentionally started a chain of events that sent
Bill Cosby to prison. He lives in the Wissahickon section of the city with his wife and their cat.
December 1, 2020
Jamie-Lee Josselyn
Jamie-Lee Josselyn
(C'05) is Associate Director
for Recruitment for the Creative Writing Program. She is also Director of the
Summer Workshop for Young Writers at the Kelly Writers House and has taught
writing at the New England Young Writers Conference, St. Paul’s School’s
Advanced Studies Program, and numerous workshops for high-school students. She
has been listed among Penn’s Top 30 Professors by the
Daily
Pennsylvanian
, and she has received the Beltran Family Award for
Innovative Teaching and Mentoring. Her writing has been published in
The New Republic
Literary Hub
Cleaver Magazine
, and elsewhere. Jamie-Lee received a
BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from Bennington College.
November 2020
Mara Gordon
Dr. Mara Gordon (C'08, M'15)
is an assistant
professor of family medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, NJ.
At Cooper, she serves as a primary care physician for patients of all ages and teaches
medical students. She is a
frequent contributor to NPR
where she is a host of the podcast Life Kit. She's an alumna of the University of Pennsylvania,
where she spent lots of time at the Kelly Writers House!
October 9, 2020
Ernest Owens
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Ernest Owens
(C'14) is an award-winning journalist
and CEO of Ernest Media Empire, LLC. As an openly Black gay journalist, he has
made headlines for speaking frankly about intersectional issues in society. In
2018, he launched his growing media company that specializes in multimedia
production, consulting, and communications. His work has been featured in the
New York Times
, CNN, MTV News, and other media outlets. He has won countless
honors, which includes landing on the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and receiving
the 2019 NEXT Award by the American Society of Magazine Editors. He can be found
on Twitter and other social media platforms at
@MrErnestOwens
and
ernestowens.com
October 7, 2020
Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué
is a poet and writer living in Chicago.
He is the author of three books of poetry, including most recently
Losing Miami
(The Accomplices, 2019) which was nominated for the Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry.
His fourth poetry book,
Madness
, is forthcoming from Nightboat Books.
He is also the co-editor of a book of selected sketches by the artist Gustavo Ojeda, forthcoming from
Soberscove Press in 2020. He is currently a PhD student in English at the University of Chicago where he works
in the study of sexuality.
May 16, 2020
Andy Wolk
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
This participatory workshop led by award-winning screenwriter and director Andy Wolk is for people
who have stories or ideas they want to tell for TV or film. Participants will learn about story development,
structure, and character along with how to pitch your big idea and how to sell it. Andy Wolk (C’70) has written features for HBO, Showtime, FX and every major studio,
and has directed many movies and shows including
The Sopranos, Criminal Minds,
and
Gossip Girl
February 27, 2020
Sebastian Modak
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Sebastian Modak
is a travel writer and multimedia
journalist based in New York City. In 2019, he was selected to be the
New York Times
52 Places Traveler and spent the year traveling to and reporting
from all the destinations on the
Times
's "52 Places to Go"
list. Prior to that, Modak was part of the digital team at
Condé Nast
Traveler
for three years where he was an editor and then a staff writer. He also
has worked as a producer on the MTV World series "Rebel Music," and, as a 2013
Fulbright-mtvU Fellow, spent a year documenting the hip-hop scene in Gaborone, Botswana.
Of mixed Colombian and Indian heritage, Modak has lived in six countries on four
continents. In 2010, Modak received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he
majored in English and History and minored in Music and African Studies.
December 5, 2019
Nina MacLaughlin
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Nina MacLaughlin
is the author of
Hammer Head:
The Making of a Carpenter
(W.W. Norton, 2015) and
Wake, Siren
(FSG, 2019), a re-telling of Ovid's
Metamorphoses
told from the perspective of the female
figures who are transformed. Formerly an editor at
The Boston Phoenix
she is a books columnist for
The Boston Globe
and has written for publications
including
The Paris Review Daily
The Believer
the
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Wall Street Journal
and elsewhere. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
November 9, 2019
Buzz Bissinger
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Buzz Bissinger
is among the nation’s most honored and distinguished writers.
A native of New York City, Bissinger is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Livingston Award, the American Bar
Association Silver Gavel Award and the National Headliners Award, among others. He also was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard
University. He is the author of the highly acclaimed nonfiction books:
Friday Night Lights, A Prayer for the City,
Three Nights in August, Shooting Stars,
and
Father’s Day
Bissinger has been a reporter for some of the nation’s most prestigious newspapers; a magazine writer with published work
in
Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine
and
Sports Illustrated
; and a co-producer and writer for the ABC television
drama
NYPD Blue
. Two of his works were made into the critically acclaimed films:
Friday Night Lights
and
Shattered Glass
Three more are in active development.
Friday Night Lights
also served as the inspiration for the television series of
the same name.
November 5, 2019
Dottie Lasky
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
The Whenever We Feel Like It Reading Series
is put on by Committee of Vigilance
members Michelle Taransky and Emily Pettit. The Committee of Vigilance is a subdivision of Sleepy
Lemur Quality Enterprises, which is the production division of The Meeteetzee Institute.
Dorothea Lasky
is the author of six books of poetry and prose, most recently
Animal
, out this fall from Wave Books. She is an Associate
Professor of Poetry at Columbia University School of the Arts and lives in New York City.
(photo by Sylvie Rosokoff).
October 28, 2019
: Emily Harnett and Rachel Levy Lesser
Emily Harnett (C’13)
is a teacher and writer living in
Philadelphia. Her essays on books and culture have appeared online in
The New Yorker
The Atlantic
Lapham's Quarterly
The Baffler
Literary Hub
, and elsewhere.
She has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University.
Rachel Levy Lesser (C’96)
has written for
The Huffington Post
Glamour.com
Modern Loss
Scary Mommy
The Philadelphia Jewish Exponent
and elsewhere. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received her MBA
from the University of Michigan. Her fourth book,
Life’s Accessories: A Memoir and Fashion Guide,
is being published by She Writes Press in November of 2019. More about Rachel, including
information about her upcoming book tour, is available at
RachelLevyLesser.com
October 24, 2019
Carole Bernstein
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Carole Bernstein
is the author of three poetry collections,
Buried Alive: A To-Do List
(Hanging Loose Press, 2019);
Familiar
(Hanging Loose Press)—which J. D. McClatchy called "an exhilarating book"—and
And Stepped Away from the Circle
(Sow's Ear Press),
winner of the Sow's Ear Chapbook contest. Her poems have been widely published, including in
Antioch Review, Bridges, Chelsea, The F-Word, Paterson Literary Review, Poetry, Shenandoah,
and
Yale Review
, and in anthologies such as
American Poetry: The Next Generation
and
Unsettling America
She is an original member of KWH's Suppose an Eyes poetry group. A Penn graduate (C'81), she studied poetry with Daniel Hoffman and William Zaranka, and won second place in a
university-wide poetry contest judged by Elizabeth Bishop (who corrected her grammar).
October 24, 2019
Hillary Reinsberg
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Hillary Reinsberg
is the Editor in Chief of
The Infatuation
and
Zagat
The Infatuation's first hire, Hillary has overseen the editorial expansion of the restaurant review platform and its signature
voice into cities across the U.S and U.K. With The Infatuation's 2018 acquisition of the legendary restaurant guide Zagat
from Google, Hillary is now also working on developing content around that brand and platform. Previously, Hillary was an
early member of BuzzFeed's news team, and as a writer and editor there covered everything from New Hampshire's election of
the first all-female state delegation to viral trends on YouTube. While a student at Penn, Hillary was the first editor
of Under The Button and also worked on 34th Street. Last year, she was recognized on the Media section of Forbes' 30
Under 30 list.
October 23, 2019
: Lorene Cary
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
The Creative Writing Program, the Department of English, and the Center for Africana Studies
present a celebration of Senior Lecturer Lorene Cary's new memoir,
Ladysitting
(Norton, 2019).
In addition to hosting a reading by Cary from the book, we are delighted to present an excerpt from the opera based on the memoir, The Gospel According to Nana, by Lorene Cary and Liliya Ugay, commissioned by the American Lyric Theater's Composer Librettist Development Program and performed by Summer Hassan, soprano; Megan McFadden, mezzo; and Grant Loehnig, piano.
Lorene Cary's non-fiction includes
magazine articles
and
blogs
as well as her best-selling memoir
Black Ice
and a collection of stories for young readers,
Free! Great Escapes from
Slavery on the Underground Railroad.
Novels include The
Price of a Child
, chosen as the first
One Book One Philadelphia offering
and
If Sons, Then Heirs
Cary has written scripts for videos at
The President's House
exhibit on Independence Mall in Philadelphia.
Her new memoir, Ladysitting: My Year with Nana at the End of Her Century, will be published
by W.W. Norton Books in May 2019. An audiobook recording is planned for this summer, too.
Cary is in her second year of a residency in American Lyric Theater's Composer & Librettist
Development Program. In 2018, she wrote a libretto that takes off from Ladysitting. Composer
Liliya Ugay set the book and has produced her own recording of The Gospel According to Nana,
planned for release this Spring.
For 20 years Cary has taught fiction and non-fiction at UPenn; now she invites her students
to publish on
SafeKidsStories.com
on
Medium.com
which she created to focus on children's
safety and wholeness.
In 1998 Cary founded
Art Sanctuary
to enrich urban Philadelphia with the excellence of black
arts. To create an intentional transition, she stepped down as director in 2012. She served
as president of the
Union Benevolent Association
ß; and from 2011-2013 as a member of Philadelphia's
School Reform Commission, where, as chair of the Safety Committee, she worked to rewrite the Student
Code of Conduct to eliminate zero-tolerance discipline.
Honors include: UPenn's Provost's Award for Distinguished Teaching, The Philadelphia Award,
and honorary doctorates from Swarthmore, Muhlenberg, Colby, and Keene State Colleges, and Arcadia
and Gwynedd Mercy Universities. In March 2017, she was featured in a Philadelphia Airport
exhibit that commemorates 100 of Philadelphia's African American history makers of the 20th century.
October 3, 2019
: Cecilia Corrigan
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Cecilia Corrigan
is a writer, actor and comedian. Last year she was commissioned by
Bedlam Theater Company to write and act in a contemporary, queer adaptation of Moliere's
The Misanthrope
with a production slated for Spring 2020. Recent work includes
Le Balm
, an
essayistic video series of makeup reviews, about a beauty vlogger turned aspiring political radical. She was Issue Project Room's
2016 Artist in Residence, where she developed Motherland, a play Corrigan wrote, directed, and starred in. Her first book of poetry,
Titanic
, won the Madeleine P. Plonsker prize in 2014. Her work has been featured in such publications
as
The Village Voice,
The New Yorker
The New York Times
周末画报 (Modern Weekly),
n+1
Interview Magazine
, and
BOMB
September 24, 2019
: Airea D. Matthews
watch:
video recording
of this
program via
our YouTube
channel
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Airea D. Matthews
(C’94) is the author of
Simulacra
winner of the 2016 Yale Series of Younger Poets.
Her work has appeared in
Best American Poets
Callaloo
Harvard Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
Tin House
, and elsewhere. She was awarded a Rona Jaffe Writer’s Foundation Award, a
Louis Untermeyer Scholarship in Poetry from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, a Kresge Literary Arts
award as well as fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo, and The James Merrill House. One of
Matthews's current projects includes a cross-genre book that explores politics, poverty,
race and class. She is an assistant professor at Bryn Mawr College and is a founding member of
the Philadelphia-based Riven Collective, a multidisciplinary arts collaborative.
September 19, 2019
: Ashley Parker, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Jessica Goodman
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
Hoping to work in journalism, media, or publishing after college? Our
annual Careers in Journalism and New Media alumni panel — sponsored by KWH, The Daily Pennsylvanian,
and the Nora Magid Mentorship Prize — focuses on how you can prepare for first jobs and careers in
print, broadcast and online media, publishing, and related fields, as well as how to make
decisions about extracurriculars, internships, and grad school in these areas.
Ashley Parker
is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. She was part of the Washington Post
team that won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2018, for their coverage of Russian interference
in the 2016 presidential election. She joined The Post in 2017, after 11 years at the New York Times,
where she covered the 2012 and 2016 presidential campaigns, and Congress, among other things. She is
an NBC/MSNBC senior political analyst, and has also written for The New York Times Sunday Magazine,
Glamour, and The Washingtonian, as well as other publications. She graduated from the University of
Pennsylvania in 2005, with a degree in both English and Communications, and lives in Washington, D.C.
Luis Ferré-Sadurní
was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and graduated from Penn in
2017 with a major in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). At Penn, he worked for a few semesters at
The Daily
Pennsylvanian
as a senior writer and politics reporter, covering the New Hampshire primaries in 2016 and investigating
Trump's history of donating (or not donating) to the university. After graduation, he moved to New York City for a
three-month internship at the
New York Times
metro desk. He ended up covering Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria’s
devastating impact in the Caribbean, and spent more than a month reporting for theTimes in Puerto Rico. He was hired as
a full-time reporter for the
Times
in December 2017, and covered crime, criminal justice issues and general assignments
for the metro desk. He currently covers housing in New York City.
Jessica Goodman
is a senior editor at Cosmopolitan magazine, where she edits stories about career, money, travel,
love, and food. She and her team received a National Magazine Award for their 2017 story, How to Run for Office.
Previously, she was a digital news editor at Entertainment Weekly and an entertainment editor at HuffPost. Her debut
YA novel, THE PLAYERS' TABLE, will be out in 2020 from PenguinTeen.
September 11, 2019
: Aaron Short
watch:
video recording
of this program via
our YouTube channel
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event
Aaron Short
(C’03) has reported on Donald Trump’s political aspirations
for over a decade. He is a Brooklyn-based journalist whose work appears in the
New York Post
the
Daily Beast
, and
Vice
. Short graduated
from Penn in 2003, with a double major in political science and history.
September 5, 2019
: Airea D. Matthews
watch:
video recording
of this
program via
our YouTube
channel
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Airea D. Matthews
(C’94) is the author of
Simulacra
winner of the 2016 Yale Series of Younger Poets.
Her work has appeared in
Best American Poets
Callaloo
Harvard Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
Tin House
, and elsewhere. She was awarded a Rona Jaffe Writer’s Foundation Award, a
Louis Untermeyer Scholarship in Poetry from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, a Kresge Literary Arts
award as well as fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo, and The James Merrill House. One of
Matthews's current projects includes a cross-genre book that explores politics, poverty,
race and class. She is an assistant professor at Bryn Mawr College and is a founding member of
the Philadelphia-based Riven Collective, a multidisciplinary arts collaborative.
February 27, 2019
: Sensible Nonsense
watch:
video recording
of this program
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event
Help us honor the humor, pathos, and enduring wisdom of children’s books
through a celebration of The Sensible Nonsense Project, curated by
Arielle Brousse. Six community members will share stories about their
favorite books from childhood, what those books taught them, and how
those lessons continue to influence their adult lives. Stay on after the
readings for a delicious reception inspired by after-school snacks, and
to get more information about how you, too, can participate in the
project. In the meantime, visit The Sensible Nonsense Project at
sensiblenonsense.us
February 25, 2019
: Christine Nangle
watch:
video recording
of this program
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event
Christine Nangle
is a comedy writer, producer and actor living in New
York City. She most recently served as Executive Producer and Head
Writer of Netflix's late night variety show
The Break with Michelle
Wolf
. Prior to that, she was Executive Producer and Head Writer of
Comedy Central’s Writers Guild Association (WGA) Award-nominated
The
President Show
, a satirical late night talk show hosted by the
President of the United States (as played by Anthony Atamanuik.) Nangle
previously wrote for the network’s groundbreaking and Emmy-winning
Inside Amy Schumer
, for which she received a Peabody Award, Writers’
Guild Award, and four Emmy nominations. She has also written for Comedy
Central’s
Kroll Show
, USA’s
Playing House
, Fox’s
The Mick
, and
NBC’s
Saturday Night Live
. A Pennsylvania native, Nangle is a proud
alumna of the Upright Citizens Brigade in NY. She can be found on
Twitter at
@nanglish
February 18, 2019
: Trisha Low, Steve McLaughlin
watch:
video recording
of this program
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event
Trisha Low
is the author of
The Compleat Purge
(Kenning Editions, 2013) and
Socialist Realism
(Emily Books, 2019). She
lives in the East Bay. Low graduated from Penn in 2011.
Steve McLaughlin
is a programmer and poet based in Austin, Texas. His
works include the hoax anthology
Issue 1
, co-authored with Jim Carpenter
(Principal Hand Editions, 2008), and
Puniverse
, a 57-volume collection
of computer-generated puns (Gauss PDF, 2014). Steve has contributed to
PennSound and the Electronic Poetry Center since 2005, and his poetry
interview series
Into the Field
is on
Jacket2
. In recent years, he has
used machine learning to catalog public radio archives at WGBH and KUT.
Steve has a B.A. in English from Penn and an M.S. in Information Studies
from the University of Texas at Austin.
November 28, 2018
: Randi Hutter Epstein
watch:
video recording
of this program via
KWH-TV
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event
Randi Hutter Epstein
(C’84), M.D., is an author
and writing teacher. She is a proud graduate of Penn where she studied
History & Sociology of Science. Randi also has an M.D. from Yale
University, where she teaches medical writing to undergraduates and is
the Writer In Residence at Yale School of Medicine. She also has an M.S.
from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an M.P.H.
from the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. Randi’s
articles have appeared in the
Washington
Post,
the
New York Times
among other
publications. She writes a blog for
Psychology
Today.
Her first book,
Get Me Out: A History
of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank
was
called "an engrossing survey of the history of childbirth" by the
Washington Post.
Her most recent book is
Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just
About Everything.
The New Yorker
called it a "compelling history…a tour of endocrinology, highlighting
progress but also the hype that has promoted the curative abilities of
hormones."
November 27, 2018
: Connie Yu
watch:
video recording
of this program via
PennSound
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event
Laynie Browne
is a poet, prose writer, teacher and editor. She is
author of thirteen collections of poems and three novels. Her most
recent collections include a book of poems
You Envelop Me
(Omnidawn
2017), a novel
Periodic Companions
(Tinderbox 2018) and short fiction in
two editions, one French, and one English in
The Book of Moments
(Presses universitaires de rouen et du havre, 2018). Her honors include
a 2014 Pew Fellowship, the National Poetry Series Award (2007) for her
collection
The Scented Fox
, and the Contemporary Poetry Series Award
(2005) for her collection
Drawing of a Swan Before Memory
. Her poetry
has been translated into French, Spanish, Chinese and Catalan.
Forthcoming books of poetry include:
Amulet: New & Selected Poems
Amulet Sonnets
In Garments Worn by Lindens
and
Translation of the
Lilies Back into Lists
. Current projects include editing an anthology
on
The Poet’s Novel
, and a collaboration with visual artist Brent Wahl
on a public art project in Philadelphia, an installation including
sculpture and poetry inscribed in thirteen languages in the new Railpark
in Callow Hill. She teaches at University of Pennsylvania and at
Swarthmore College.
Bianca Stone
is a writer and visual artist. She was born and raised in Vermont and
moved to New York City in 2007 where she received her MFA from NYU. She collaborated with Anne Carson on
Antigonick,
a book pairing Carson’s translation of
Antigone with Stone’s
illustration and comics (New Directions, 2012). Stone is the author of the poetry collection
Someone Else’s Wedding Vows,
(Tin House Books and Octopus Books, 2014),
Poetry Comics From the Book of Hours
(Pleiades Press, 2016) and
The Mobius Strip Club of Grief
(Tin House, 2018).
Her poems, poetry comics, and nonfiction have appeared in a variety of magazines including Poetry, jubilat, and Georgia Review.
She has returned to Vermont with her husband and collaborator, the poet Ben Pease, and their daughter Odette,
where they run the Ruth Stone Foundation, a writing collective, letterpress studio, and artist residency.
Connie Yu
(C'17) is a writer and performer living in Philadelphia, attending
to queer Asian worry, meetingplaces for this, that body and what it
wears, alternate and constricted transmissions of information. Their
poetry and essays have been published in
Apiary
Supplement
, and
Jacket2
Recently, they have worked as an educator at Center for
Creative Works; and as a curator of gallery shows and contingent
programs at the Kelly Writers House.
November 10, 2018
: Stephen Fried
watch:
video recording
of this program via
KWH-TV
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event
Stephen Fried's new book,
RUSH: Revolution, Madness and the
Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father
, brings a whole new perspective to the birth
of our nation — as well as the founding of Penn (where Dr. Rush was the first famous
professor and writer.) In honor of Homecoming, we’ll host a talk with Fried about how and
why he rediscovered this forgotten and controversial signer, patriot and medical
visionary — joined by some of the Penn alumni who worked on the book as undergraduates.
Stephen Fried
(C ’79) is an award-winning journalist and
New York Times
bestselling author
who teaches at Penn, and at Columbia (in the departments of journalism and psychiatry.) He
is the author of seven acclaimed nonfiction books, most recently
RUSH: Revolution, Madness
and Benjamin Rush, The Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father
(Crown). A two-time
winner of the National Magazine Award, his work has appeared in
Smithsonian
Vanity Fair
GQ
Glamour
, and
Philadelphia
magazine. Fried lives in Philadelphia, with his wife, author
Diane Ayres.
November 7, 2018
: Joshua Schuster
watch:
a video recording of this event via
KWH-TV
part 1
part 2
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Joshua Schuster
(C'98, G'08) is an associate professor
of English at Western University in Canada. He is the author of
The Ecology of Modernism: American Environments and
Avant-Garde Poetics
(2015). Recent essays have appeared in
Resilience, Antennae, Parrhesia, Critical Perspectives on
Veganism,
and
After Derrida.
He is
currently working on two book projects, one on the cultural
representations of animal extinction, and another on poetry and outer
space.
November 1, 2018
: Alex Koppelman
watch:
video recording
of this program via
PennSound
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event
Alex Koppelman
(C'05) is a managing editor for CNN Business, overseeing the
coverage of tech, media, and companies. Prior to joining CNN, Koppelman
was editorial director of Vocativ. He has also served as enterprise
editor at Guardian U.S. and as politics editor of NewYorker.com, and was
a senior writer at Salon.com. An Emmy and National Magazine Award
winner, Koppelman is a Baltimore native and a graduate of the University
of Pennsylvania.
October 11, 2018
: Nate Chinen
watch:
a video recording of this event via
KWH-TV
part 1
part 2
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Nate Chinen
is the author of
Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century
(Pantheon, 2018). He has been writing about jazz for more than twenty years, notably for
The New York Times
JazzTimes
and the
Philadelphia City Paper
. As the director of
editorial content at WBGO, he works with the multiplatform program Jazz Night in America
and contributes a range of coverage to NPR Music. An eleven-time winner of the Helen
Dance–Robert Palmer Award for Excellence in Writing, presented by the Jazz Journalists
Association, he is also coauthor of
Myself Among Others: A Life in Music
, the
autobiography of impresario George Wein. A former assistant coordinator at the Kelly
Writers House, he now lives in Beacon, New York, with his wife and two daughters.
October 1, 2018
: Jennifer Egan
watch:
video recording
of this program
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event
Jennifer Egan
's 2017 novel,
Manhattan Beach
, has been
awarded the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Egan was born in
Chicago and raised in San Francisco. She is also the author of
The Invisible Circus
, a
novel which became a feature film starring Cameron Diaz in 2001,
Look at Me
, a finalist
for the National Book Award in fiction in 2001,
Emerald City and Other Stories
The Keep
and
A Visit From the Goon Squad
, won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics
Circle Award for Fiction, and the LA Times Book Prize. Her short stories have appeared in
The New Yorker
Harpers
Granta
McSweeney's
and other magazines. She is a recipient of a
Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and a
Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. Also a
journalist, she has written frequently in the
New York Times Magazine
. Her 2002 cover
story on homeless children received the Carroll Kowal Journalism Award, and "The Bipolar
Kid" received a 2009 NAMI Outstanding Media Award for Science and Health Reporting from
the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
September 13, 2018
: Jill Castellano, Jess Goodman, Ashley Parker, Stephen Fried
watch:
a video recording of this event via
KWH-TV
part 1
part 2
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Jill Castellano
is an investigative reporter and data
analyst for
inewsource
. Castellano graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with
degrees in psychology and criminology and was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper,
the
Daily Pennsylvanian
. She has interned at the
New York Daily News
Forbes
and the
Philadelphia Inquirer
. Castellano was a Dow Jones Data Fellow in 2016 — its first class
of data journalists. She was trained by data experts at the headquarters of Investigative
Reporters and Editors in Columbia, Missouri, and spent the summer working as a data
reporter for the
Salt Lake Tribune
. In September 2016, Castellano joined
The Desert Sun
in Palm Springs as an investigations editor. She mentored reporters in the
USA TODAY
Network on data analysis and public records, and she collaborated with other newsrooms
on data-driven enterprise stories. She was part of a team from the
USA TODAY
Network that
won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting for a project on the U.S.-Mexico
border wall.
Jessica Goodman
is a senior editor at
Cosmopolitan
magazine, where she oversees the Work + Play section. She and her team won a National
Magazine Award in Personal Service for last year's package,
How to Run For Office
Previously, she was a digital news editor at
Entertainment
Weekly and an entertainment
editor at HuffPost. Jessica graduated from Penn's College of Arts and Sciences in 2012
and from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism in 2013. While at Penn, she was the
editor-in-chief of
34th Street Magazine
Ashley Parker
is a White House reporter at the
Washington
Post
. She was part of the
Washington Post
team that won a 2018 Pulitzer Prize for
National Reporting — for their look at Russian interference in the 2016 presidential
election. She was also part of the
Post
team that won a 2018 George Polk award for
reporting on the same topic. Previously, she worked at the
New York Times
for eleven
years, where she covered politics — Mitt Romney in 2012 and Jeb Bush and Donald Trump in
2016 — and Congress, as well as other things. She started at the paper as Maureen Dowd's
research assistant. She has also written for the
New York Times Sunday Magazine
Glamour
The Huffington Post
The Washingtonian
The New York Sun
Philadelphia Weekly
, and
Chicago
Magazine
, and is an MSNBC political analyst. She graduated from Penn in 2005, with a
double major in English (creative writing) and Communications.
Stephen Fried
(C ’79) is an award-winning journalist and
New York Times
bestselling author
who teaches at Penn, and at Columbia (in the departments of journalism and psychiatry.) He
is the author of seven acclaimed nonfiction books, most recently
RUSH: Revolution, Madness
and Benjamin Rush, The Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father
(Crown). A two-time
winner of the National Magazine Award, his work has appeared in
Smithsonian
Vanity Fair
GQ
Glamour
, and
Philadelphia
magazine. Fried lives in Philadelphia, with his wife, author
Diane Ayres.
May 12, 2018
: Ariel Djanikian, Amina Gautier, Melissa Jensen
Ariel Djanikian
's stories have recently
appeared in
Tin House
Alaska Quarterly Review
, and
Glimmer Train
. Her nonfiction can be found at
The Millions
The
Rumpus
The Kenyon Review Online
, and
The Paris Review Daily
. Her first novel,
The Office of Mercy
, was published with
Viking, and she is currently at work on a historical novel about the
Klondike Gold Rush. She lives in Maryland with her family.
Dr. Amina Gautier
is the author of three
short story collections:
At-Risk, Now We Will Be
Happy
and
The Loss of All Lost Things
At-Risk
was awarded the Flannery O’Connor
Award, The First Horizon Award, and the Eric Hoffer Legacy Fiction
Award.
Now We Will Be Happy
was awarded the
Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, the International Latino Book
Award, the Florida Authors and Publishers Association President's Book
Award, a National Silver Medal IPPY Award and was a Finalist for the
William Saroyan International Prize.
The Loss of All
Lost Things
was awarded the Elixir Press Award in Fiction, the
Phillis Wheatley Award, the Royal Palm Literary Award, the Chicago
Public Library’s 21st Century Award, the International Latino Book
Award, a National Silver Medal IPPY Award, was shortlisted for the SFC
Literary Prize, and was a Finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award, the
Paterson Prize and the John Gardner Award. More than ninety-five of her
stories have been published, appearing in
African
American Review
Agni
Callaloo
Glimmer Train
Iowa Review
Oxford
American
Prairie Schooner
Southern Review
, and
Quarterly
West
. Gautier has received fellowships, residencies, and
scholarships from
Breadloaf
Writer’s Conference
, The Carmago Foundation, The Château de Lavigny,
Dora Maar/Brown Foundation, Disquiet International, Hawthornden,
Kimbilio, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center,
MacDowell Colony
, the Ragdale
Foundation,
Sewanee Writer’s
Conference
, Ucross Foundation, VCCA, and
Vermont Studio
Center
Melissa Jensen
is an award-winning writer of historical and
contemporary fiction. Most recently, her Young Adult novels have been
official selections on such lists as New York Public Library's Teen
Reading and FYA. She is currently working on the fourth and final book
in her Philadelphia novel series and a play centered around bog bodies
and Irish rap music, as well as participating in an ongoing San
Francisco-based multi-media project exploring the connection between
anthropology, archaeology, and literature. “Broken Siren”, a
contemporary work for string ensemble and soprano based on Homer’s
Odyssey
, for which she wrote the libretto, will debut in 2018, followed
by
Carmilla
from the Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu novella in 2020. She has
contributed to numerous print media, including Philadelphia Style
Magazine and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She currently divides her time
between Philadelphia and Dublin, all the better to be immersed in the
worlds of really really good fiction and poetry, and fascinating stuff
unearthed from underground.
April 17, 2018
: Gabriel Ojeda-Sague
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio
recording
of this event
In the tradition of the uproarious theater of the Cockettes, the experimental verbal collages of Lypsinka, and the plays and poetry of Jackie Curtis, the Writers House brings you a night of drag queens writing, writers dragging, and all things words and wigs. Curated by the Kelly Writers House Junior Fellow of 2017-2018, Gabriel Ojeda-Sague, this event commissions four new performances by artists working at the intersection of these two ostensibly disparate fields.
April 16, 2018
: Beltran Family program
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
an
audio recording
of this event (Episode 2 of the
Dead
Parents Society podcast
Dead Parents Society is a project that explores
writing by those who have lost a parent at a relatively young age and
that encourages conversation about the purpose of writing about such
hardship, and also about the experience of reading such work. Can good
writing also be therapeutic? Does writing about death always have to be
sad? How do our past traumas shape our present perspectives? This
reading will feature writers affiliated with the Penn and Writers House
communities whose work has directly or indirectly been influenced by a
parent's death. We promise this event won't be as sad as it might sound.
And we'll have comfort food!
April 9, 2018
: Chris Ludovici
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Chris Ludovici
has published articles in
The Princeton Packet
, the
Penn
Gazette
Cinedelphia
Cleaver Magazine
, and
Forces of Geek
. His fiction
has appeared in print in
Peregrine
and online at
Cleaver
. In 2009, he
won the Judith Stark awards in fiction and drama. He lives outside
Philadelphia with his wife, son, and not enough cats.
April 4, 2018
: Lew Schneider
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Originally from Crossville, TN,
Billy Wayne Davis
is a stand-up & writer
who has performed in 41 states, 4 countries and Texas. He has appeared
on
Conan
, NBC's
Last Comic Standing
WTF with Marc Maron
Made It Weird
with Pete Holmes
, voiced multiple characters on Adult Swim's
SquidBillies, hosted a Morgan Spurlock documentary for CMT, named a 2015
Fresh Face by the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, opened for
Grammy winning badass Sturgill Simpson's 30 city Living the Dream Tour,
and just released his second comedy album with Jack White's label,
Billy Wayne Davis: Live at Third Man Records
Writer, comedian, and actor,
Aparna Nancherla
is a series regular in the
debut season of Comedy Central's
Corporate
and has reprised her role in
season 2 of HBO's
Crashing
. Other TV credits include
Master of None
High Maintenance
Inside Amy Schumer
, and
I Love You, America
with Sarah
Silverman. Her TV writing credits include
Late Night with Seth Meyers
and
Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell
. She is also an alumna of the NBC
Stand Up for Diversity program and currently headlines throughout the
world and has been seen at a number of festivals including Comedy
Central's Clusterfest, Portland's Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Moontower,
SF Sketchfest, DC's Bentzen Ball, Outside Lands, Bonnaroo and Dublin's
Vodaphone Comedy Festival. Aparna's been featured on and in
NPR
Reader's Digest
The Huffington Post
The Washington Post
magazine,
XM
Radio
, and
Slate V
. She can regularly be seen performing at the Upright
Citizen's Brigade's in LA and NYC. Her debut album
Just Putting It Out
There
was released in July 2016 by Tig Notaro's label Bentzen Ball
Records and hit the #4 on Billboard Comedy Charts.
Lew Schneider
(C'83) is a writer, producer, and director of the ABC
comedy,
The Goldbergs
. Other credits include his own HBO stand-up
special, and the primetime shows
American Dad
The New Adventures of Old
Christine
Men of a Certain Age
(which won a Peabody Award but very few
people watched), and
Everybody Loves Raymond
(which won Emmy Awards and
more people watched).
February 26, 2018
: Rebecca Entel
watch:
a video recording of this event via
KWH-TV
part 1
part 2
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Rebecca Entel
holds a B.A. from the
University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from the University of
Wisconsin. She is Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at
Cornell College, where she teaches multicultural American literature,
Caribbean literature, creative writing, and the literature of social
justice. She began writing her first novel,
Fingerprints of Previous
Owners
, while teaching on San Salvador Island in the Bahamas. Her short
stories have been published in Guernica, Joyland, Madison Review,
Cleaver, and elsewhere, and several have been shortlist­ed for awards
from Glimmer Train, Southwest Review, and the Manchester Fiction
Prize.
November 9, 2017
: Rachel Tashjian
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Rachel Tashjian
is the Fashion Features Editor at
GARAGE Magazine
, an
art and fashion biannual that was acquired by
Vice
in 2016 and recently
launched a very exciting website (
garage.vice.com
). Previously, she was
Associate Director of Communications and Contributing Style Editor at
Vanity Fair
, and has written for
New York Magazine
Elle
Lenny Letter
and, because they didn't have to pay her anything extra,
Vanity Fair
She will discuss the importance of building a voice online, the
challenges and thrills of finding a job as a "writer," and the art of
making friends in the media (fake news, fake friends!).
November 4, 2017
: Alec Sokolow, Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve
watch:
a video recording of this event via
KWH-TV
part 1
part 2
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
The Hartman Family Screenwriting Series allows us to host an
annual event with a successful professional screenwriter so that
aspiring moviemakers in the Writers House community can get a taste of
the writers' room. Past events in the series have featured Scott
Neustadter (500 Days of Summer, The Fault in our Stars) and John
Leguizamo (Ice Age, Romeo + Juliet).
Alec Sokolow
, nominated for an Academy Award (Toy Story) has
worn many hats in his career as a professional writer. A career in
Hollywood has taken him from writing late night TV comedy to having
written some of the most memorable studio films of our time. His
credited film work has topped one billion dollars in worldwide Box
Office receipts and includes Toy Story, Cheaper by the Dozen, Garfield,
Evan Almighty, Daddy Day Camp, and Money Talks. Alec hails from New York
City and resides in Sagaponack, NY.
Kathleen DeMarco Van Cleve
is a novelist, screenwriter, film producer and teacher.
She is currently adapting the Young Readers edition of the 2017 National Book
finalist
Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave,
Ona Judge
by Erica Armstrong Dunbar for Aladdin Books / Simon & Schuster, due to
be published in 2019. She is also working on a film adaptation of the Wesley Stace
novel
Charles Jessold: Considered as a Murderer
and her own young adult book
series,
Hurricane Ike
. With Aline Brosh McKenna as producer, (showrunner,
My
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
and screenwriter,
The Devil Wears Prada
), Van Cleve is also
working on an original screenplay currently entitled
I'm With Her
. Her middle grade
novel,
Drizzle
, received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and The Bulletin for
the Center of Children's Books, and won the Pennsylvania students' choice award for
best middle-grade novel. For many years, she was the creative partner of actor and
writer John Leguizamo, during which time she produced the films
Joe the King
(winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 1999 Sundance Film
Festival),
Pinero
, (a Miramax release starring Benjamin Bratt) and
Undefeated
(an
HBO film starring Leguizamo) as well as worked with Steven Chbosky (
The Perks of
Being a Wallflower
), Alexander Payne (
Sideways
Election
Downsizing
) and Frank
Pugliese (showrunner,
House of Cards
). Her other novels are
Cranberry Queen
(optioned by Miramax Films) and
The Difference Between You and Me
. She
graduated with a dual degree from the Wharton School and the College of Arts &
Sciences, was captain of Penn women's crew, and lives with her husband and two sons
in Philadelphia.
November 2, 2017
: Faryn Pearl
Interested in a career in television, film, or animation? Join
members of the Kelly Writers House and the Alpha Delta Phi Society for a
special workshop. Led by Penn alumna Faryn Pearl, a storyboard artist
at DreamWorks Animation, the workshop will focus on storyboards, the
shot-by-shot visual representation of a script, used to help visualize
and plan a show before it’s filmed. What makes a successful storyboard
for shows like Adventure Time and SpongeBob Squarepants? How are
storyboards actually used?
Faryn Pearl
is a Class of 2014 CAS graduate and storyboard artist for
DreamWorks Animation. At Penn, she majored in Classical Studies and
minored in Fine Arts and English, with a concentration in screenwriting.
Despite these fairly related disciplines, she had no idea what she was
going to do with her life until her junior year of college, when she
finally gave in to her instincts and started pursuing children's media,
which frankly, she had never really stopped enjoying. After interning at
Sesame Workshop and Nickelodeon, she moved to beautiful downtown
Burbank, and started working at DreamWorks Animation. She's been at
DreamWorks for the last three years, working first in production on
The
Adventures of Puss of In Boots
, and then as a storyboard artist and
writer on
Home: Adventures with Tip and Oh
. She is currently boarding
and writing additional dialogue on the upcoming feature
Trolls 2
September 27, 2017
: Alex Koppelman
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Alex Koppelman
is senior editor for
CNN Media
. Prior to joining
CNN
Koppelman was editorial director of
Vocativ
. He has also served as
enterprise editor at
Guardian US
, and as politics editor of
NewYorker.com
, and was a senior writer at
Salon.com
. An Emmy and
National Magazine Award winner, Koppelman is a 2005 Penn grad.
September 19, 2017
: Cortney Lamar Charleston
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Cortney Lamar Charleston
(C'11) is the author of
Telepathologies
, selected by
D.A. Powell for the 2016 Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize. In 2017, he was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent
Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation and he has also received fellowships from
Cave Canem, The Conversation Literary Festival and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
His work has appeared in
POETRY
New England Review
Gulf Coast
TriQuarterly
River Styx
and elsewhere.
September 18, 2017
: Ashley Parker, Jess Goodman, Joe Pinsker, Stephen Fried
watch:
a video recording of this event via
KWH-TV
part 1
part 2
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Our annual Careers in Media alumni panel — sponsored by KWH, the Daily
Pennsylvanian, the Creative Writing Program, and the Nora Magid
Mentorship Prize — focuses on how you can prepare for first jobs and
careers in print, broadcast and online media, publishing, and related
fields, as well as how to make decisions about extracurriculars,
internships and grad school in these areas. This year's panel includes:
Ashley Parker
is a White House reporter at
the Washington Post
Previously, she worked at
the New York Times
for 11 years, where she
covered politics — Mitt Romney in 2012 and Jeb Bush and Donald Trump in
2016 — and Congress, as well as other things. She started at the paper
as Maureen Dowd's research assistant. She has also written for
The New
York Times Sunday Magazine
Glamour
The Huffington Post
The
Washingtonian
The New York Sun
Philadelphia Weekly
, and
Chicago
Magazine
, and is an MSNBC political analyst. She graduated from Penn in
2005, with a double major in English (creative writing) and
Communications.
Joe Pinsker
is an associate editor at
The Atlantic
, where he writes
and edits stories about business and economics. The pieces he writes
typically focus on the intersection between money and culture, usually
involving topics such as food, advertising, technology, and
entertainment. He also covers academic research, often in the realms of
social mobility, consumer psychology, and personal finance. At Penn, Joe
studied English (with a concentration in Creative Writing) and was the
Managing Editor of
34th Street
. He graduated in 2013 and currently lives
in Washington, DC.
Jessica Goodman
is a senior editor at
Cosmopolitan
magazine. Previously,
she was a digital news editor at
Entertainment Weekly
and an
Entertainment Editor at
HuffPost
. Jessica graduated from the College in
2012 and from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism in 2013. While at
Penn, she was the Editor-in-Chief of
34th Street Magazine
Stephen Fried
is an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate
School of Journalism and the author of five acclaimed books, including
Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the
West—One Meal at a Time
(named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by
the
Wall Street Journal
) and
Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel
Gia
(which introduced the word "fashionista" into the English language
and inspired the Emmy-winning film
Gia
with Angelina Jolie.) A two-time
winner of the
National Magazine Award
, Fried has written for
Vanity
Fair, GQ, The Washington Post Magazine, Rolling Stone, Glamour, Ladies'
Home Journal, Parade
and
Philadelphia
magazine. He lives in Philadelphia
with his wife, author Diane Ayres.
September 14, 2017
: Ben Lerer
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Ben Lerer
is the CEO of newly-formed Group Nine Media — a new digital
media holding company consisting of Thrillist, NowThis, The Dodo and
Seeker. He is the co-founder of Thrillist. Lerer was among
Ernst &
Young
's Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winners,
Vanity Fair
's Next
Establishments,
Crain
's "40 under 40",
Forbes
list of "Most Powerful
CEOs Under 40",
AdWeek
's "Young Influentials",
Inc
's "30 under 30" and
Entrepreneur Magazine
's "Top 5 Entrepreneurs of the Year." Ben is also
the Managing Director of Lerer Hippeau Ventures, New York's most active
early-stage technology fund. He chairs the Board of Directors for Urban
Upbound, a New York non-profit organization and is an Associate Member
of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS). Ben
sits on the Board of Directors for Casper, the Advisory Board for
Refinery29, the Board of RaisedByUs and is the Chairman of the Board of
Directors for JackThreads.
September 12, 2017
: Jennifer Yu
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Jennifer Yu
is a Boston resident and recent graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania, where she studied creative writing. In her
free time, she enjoys reading books she's too old for, roping
unsuspecting friends into listening to her play the guitar and being far
too invested in Boston sports teams. Most of her pop culture knowledge
comes from binge-watching late-night talk show clips and occasional
nervous forays into the depths of Tumblr. Find her online at
byjenniferyu.tumblr.com
or on Twitter:
@yuontop
May 13, 2017
: Ellen Yin
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Join us at Writers House for a panel
discussion of food and food writing with a special focus on the
ever-growing culinary culture of Philadelphia. Led by Creative
Writing faculty member and local luminary Rick Nichols — there’s an
eating-and-meeting space in Reading Terminal Market named in Rick’s
honor — our conversation will explore culinary creativity, the
restaurant industry, and approaches to writing about food. A
delicious reception, open to all, will follow.
ELLEN YIN
is the founder and co-owner of High Street
Hospitality Group (HSHG), which operates three of the most noteworthy
restaurants and bars in Philadelphia: Fork, at the top of
Philadelphia’s must-visit list for nearly 20 years; High Street on
Market, a much-lauded breakfast-through-late-night, ingredient-driven
restaurant and bakery; and a.kitchen + a.bar at the AKA Rittenhouse
Square, a dynamic and popular restaurant and bar frequently honored
for their exceptional cooking and wine program. At the end of 2015,
HSHG debuted their first outpost outside of Philadelphia, High Street
on Hudson, in Manhattan’s West Village. Yin is also the author of
Forklore: Recipes and Tales from an American Bistro
(Temple
University Press, 2007), a thoughtful chronicle of her ongoing
success at creating and maintaining a definitive American bistro in
Philadelphia’s historic Old City. She is a graduate of the Wharton
School.
April 6, 2017
: Nick Defina
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen
to an
audio recording
of this event
Come join your fellow poetry lovers at the
Kelly Writers House in celebration of National Poetry Month. The program
will include a short reading by three English-language poets of their
work, originally written in German, Yiddish and Russian, and translated
into English, followed by a discussion of poetry, translation and
creativity, moderated by Al Filreis.
NICK MARTINEZ DEFINA
graduated from the
College in May 2016 with a BA in Philosophy. He began developing
tonight's program after being named the Kelly Writers House Junior
Fellow for the 2016-2017 academic year. Since graduating high school,
Nick has pursued his interest in literature and languages in a variety
of academic and extracurricular settings. Since completing his BA, Nick
has continued to write and read in his free time. He is currently
employed by the Philadelphia-based law firm Drinker, Biddle & Reath.
November 16, 2016
: Feminista Jones
In the wake of racist attacks against students,
FEMINISTA JONES
visits her alma mater and speaks
with undergraduate student leaders, faculty, and grad students about the
implications, the history of protest, the power and responsibility of
privilege, and what doing "the work" means (especially to "allies”).
November 9, 2016
: Liz Barr
watch:
video recording
of this event
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
LIZ BARR
is an interdisciplinary artist based in
Philadelphia and a recent graduate of the Penn Undergraduate Fine Arts
Program. She generally works around the themes of beauty, ritual,
religion, pop culture, and gender-based power dynamics.
November 7, 2016
: Eric Umansky
watch:
video recording
of this event
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
ERIC UMANSKY
is a deputy managing editor of
ProPublica
, where he
edited their Pulitzer Prize-winning series about Wall Street.
Previously, he wrote a column for
Slate
and was editor of
Motherjones.com
. He's also written for
The New York Times Magazine
Washington Post
The New Republic
, and elsewhere. He is also a
co-founder of Document Cloud. He earned a bachelor's degree from the
University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from the Columbia
University Graduate School of Journalism.
October 31, 2016
: Tahneer Oksman
watch:
video recording
of this event
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Focusing on the visionary work of seven contemporary female Jewish
cartoonists, Tahneer Oksman in her book
How Come Boys Get to Keep Their
Noses
draws a remarkable connection between innovations in modes of
graphic storytelling and the unstable, contradictory, and ambiguous
figurations of the Jewish self in the postmodern era. American comics
reflect the distinct sensibilities and experiences of the Jewish
American men who played an outsized role in creating them, but what
about the contributions of Jewish women?
TAHNEER OKSMAN
is Assistant Professor and Director of the Academic
Writing Program at Marymount Manhattan College. In addition to her
recent book on Jewish women and comics, Oksman has written on visual
culture, women's literature, and Jewish identity for academic
publications such as
a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, Studies in American
Jewish Literature
, and
Studies in Comics
. She also writes reviews and
essays for publications and sites including the
Forward, Lilith, Jewish
Book Council,
the
Los Angeles Review of Books, BookTrib,
and
Cleaver
where she is graphic narratives reviews editor.
October 29, 2016
: Emily Shutlhies, Jim Newell
watch:
video recording
of this event
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
In honor of Penn's Homecoming, join us for a discussion of the
presidential election with political journalists
JIM NEWELL
(C'07) of
Slate
and
EMILY SCHULTHEIS
(C'11) of
CBS Interactive
, moderated by Penn
faculty member
DICK POLMAN
, national political columnist at
Newsworks
Before becoming a politics writer in the Washington bureau of
Slate
Newell wrote for
Salon
and
Wonkette
. Until joining
CBS Interactive
Schultheis served as the primary reporter covering Hillary Clinton and
the 2016 Democratic primary for the
National
Journal
. Polman covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 U. S.
presidential campaigns for
The Philadelphia
Inquirer
where he wrote for 22 years, most notably as the
national political writer/columnist.Reception to follow. Advance
registration is not required, but we'd love to hear from you.
September 28, 2016
: Uri Friedman
watch:
video recording
of this event
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
URI FRIEDMAN
is a staff writer at
The Atlantic
, where he covers
global affairs. He was previously the editor of
The Atlantic
's Global
section and the deputy managing editor at
Foreign Policy
magazine.
September 22, 2016
: Kiley Bense
watch:
video recording
of this event
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
America's long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have defined a
generation even as the gap between soldier and civilian widens. What
does literature have to say about these complicated conflicts and their
legacy? With post-9/11 veteran and novelist Matt Gallagher (and excerpts from veteran and novelist Elliot
Ackerman), we will look at how and why war literature matters today.
KILEY BENSE
is a writer and journalist whose literary nonfiction
focuses on the intersections of history, memory, and family. Her essays
have appeared in
The New York Times
The Washington Post
Departures
and
Saveur
, among others. She is currently at work on a book about World
War II and the lasting consequences of trauma. Kiley holds a B.A. in
English from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's from the
Columbia School of Journalism. Read her work at
kileybense.com
September 19, 2016
: Jessica Goodman, David Borgenicht, Maria Popova, Stephen Fried
Our annual Careers in Media alumni panel —
sponsored by KWH, the Daily Pennsylvanian, and the Nora Magid Mentorship
Prize — focuses on how you can prepare for first jobs and careers in
print, broadcast and online media, publishing, and related fields, as
well as how to make decisions about extracurriculars, internships and
grad school in these areas. This year’s panel includes Jessica Sidman
(’08), food editor at Washingtonian magazine; Maria Popova (C’07), the
founder and brains behind Brainpickings.com; Jessica Goodman (C’12), the
digital news editor of Entertainment Weekly; David Borgenicht (C ‘90),
bestselling nonfiction author, and owner and publisher of Quirk Books;
and moderator Stephen Fried (’79), award-winning journalist and
bestselling author who teaches at Penn and Columbia J-School and mentors
longform nonfiction writers.
At the this panel you’ll also learn more about
the Nora Magid Mentorship Prize for the top senior nonfiction
writer/editor, and other opportunities for internships and
networking.
THE NORA MAGID
MENTORSHIP PRIZE
is given each year to a senior at the
University of Pennsylvania who shows exceptional ability and promise in
writing/reporting/editing, and who would benefit most from combined
mentorship of Nora's network of former students and their colleagues in
traditional and new media. The prize is $3000 to be used however the
student chooses for their professional development—including being used
as a stipend for post-grad internships that require one. The winner also
receives unparalleled access to a constantly growing network of Penn
alumni—including Nora's former students and over a decade of Nora
Prize-winners—as well as their extensive web of colleagues who can
assist in the student’s career. It is open to all seniors at Penn,
although preference is given to those who expect to attempt to make
careers in some form of media.
DAVID BORGENICHT
(C'90) is the CEO and owner of Philadelphia book
publisher Quirk Books, co-author of the best-selling
Worst-Case Scenario
Survival Handbook
Quirk
publishes 25 books a year, including
international best-seller
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
JESSICA GOODMAN
(C'12) is a Digital News Editor at
Entertainment Weekly
where she runs the music and books sections of
EW.com
. Previously, she
was an Entertainment Editor at
The Huffington Post
, and has written for
the
Village Voice
Mashable
NYMag.com
and
Noisey
MARIA POPOVA (C'07)
is a reader and writer, and writes about what she
reads on her
Brain Pickings
blog, which is included in the Library of
Congress archive of culturally valuable materials. She has also written
for
Wired UK
and
The Atlantic
The New York Times
and
Smithsonian
Magazine
. In 2012, she was named among the 100 Most Creative People in
Business by
Fast Company Magazine
STEPHEN FRIED
(C'79) (moderator) is a best-selling and award-winning
journalist who teaches non-fiction writing at Penn and the Journalism
School at Columbia University. He is a former contributing editor at
Vanity Fair
GQ
Glamour
and
Philadelphia Magazine
February 22, 2016
: Scott Neustadter
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video recording
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Screenwriter and producer
SCOTT NEUSTADTER
writes screenplays in
collaboration with his writing partner Michael H. Weber. The pair have
collaborated since 1999 when Scott hired Michael for an internship at
New York's Tribeca Productions. They have proven themselves to be some
of Hollywood’s most versatile and sought-after writers with their witty,
fresh and intelligent storytelling. Neustadter and Weber together wrote
the hit Fox Searchlight comedy/drama
(500) Days of Summer
, starring
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. The film was nominated for
"Best Feature - Comedy" at the Golden Globe Award and earned them an
Independent Spirit Award and a Golden Satellite Award for Best
Screenplay of the Year. Their follow-up,
The Spectacular Now
, starring
Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller, and directed by James Ponsoldt, also
garnered them a nomination for Best Screenplay at the Independent Spirit
Awards. From there, they went on to adapt
The Fault in Our Stars
, based
on the bestselling novel by John Green. It opened as the number one
movie in America and has since grossed over $300 million dollars
worldwide. This year saw the release of a second John Green adaptation
Paper Towns
, starring Nat Wolff and directed by Jake Schreier.
Neustadter and Weber are currently working on several high profile film
projects including
The Disaster Artist
, currently filming with an
all-star cast including James and Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Sharon Stone,
Bryan Cranston, Zac Efron, Jason Mitchell, Bob Oedenkirk and more;
Rules
of Civility
, an adaptation of Amor Towles' critically acclaimed novel;
Where’d You Go
Bernadette
, based on Maria Semple's bestselling novel;
John Green's debut novel
Looking for Alaska
; and
Rosaline
, Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet as told through the perspective of Romeo's ex.
February 10, 2016
: Kenna O'Rourke
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The Whenever We Feel Like It Reading Series
is put on by Committee of Vigilance
members Michelle Taransky and Emily Pettit. The Committee of Vigilance is a subdivision of Sleepy Lemur
Quality Enterprises, which is the production division of The Meeteetzee Institute.
KENNA O'ROURKE
is the managing editor of
Jacket2
, an online poetics
journal run from the Kelly Writers House in Philadelphia. Her work has
appeared in
The Pocket Guide
, the
Philos Adelphos Irrealis
chapbook, and
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
, as well as a handful of undergraduate
publications from her time at Penn.
November 7, 2015
: Buzz Bissinger and Beth Kephart
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video recording
of this event via
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In honor of Penn's Homecoming, join us for a reading by Buzz Bissinger with Beth Kephart,
followed by a reception in the Writers House dining room.
Penn alumnus
BUZZ BISSINGER
(C'76) is among the nation’s
most honored and distinguished writers. A native of New York City, Buzz is the winner of
the Pulitzer Prize, the Livingston Award, the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award
and the National Headliners Award, among others. He also was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
He is the author of the highly acclaimed nonfiction books:
Friday Night Lights
A Prayer for the City
Three Nights in August
Shooting Stars
, and
Father’s Day
Buzz has been a contributing editor at
Vanity Fair
magazine since 1996.
His August 2007
Vanity Fair
article “Gone Like the Wind,” about the saga of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro,
was optioned by Universal Pictures. In 2009 he became a sports columnist for
The Daily Beast
He is a longtime contributor to
The New York Times
Wall Street Journal
, and the
Philadelphia Inquirer
His teleplay and screenwriting work includes collaborations with directors Alan Pakula,
Peter Berg, Greg Hoblit, Todd Field and Tim Kring. Buzz also spent the 2000-2001 television
season in Los Angeles as a co-producer and writer for the long-running television series
NYPD Blue
BETH KEPHART
is the author of 21 books of nonfiction, fiction, and
fable.
Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir
, named a best
writing book by
O Magazine
Poets & Writers
, and others, won the 2013
Books for a Better Life Award (Motivational Category).
Going Over
, a
novel of Berlin, was named a 2014 Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction
for Youth and won the Gold Medal, Parents’ Choice Award, Historical
Fiction, among other honors.
Small Damages
, a novel of southern Spain,
was the 2013 Carolyn W. Field Honor Book, among other honors.
Flow: The
Life and Times of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River
is an integral
component in a William Penn Foundation-funded Philadelphia schools
initiative. Kephart was one of 50 authors included in the 2013/2014
Philadelphia Literary Legacy Exhibition at Philadelphia International
Airport and is a Radnor High School Hall of Famer, a National Book Award
finalist, and a winner of the Speakeasy Poetry Prize. She has won grants
from the National Endowment of the Arts, Pew Fellowship in the Arts,
Leeway Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She writes
a monthly column for the
Philadelphia Inquirer
, is a featured reviewer
for the
Chicago Tribune
, and runs an award-winning boutique marketing
communications firm. Her books have been translated into sixteen
languages.
October 19, 2015
: Nick Montfort
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of this event
NICK MONTFORT
develops computational art
and poetry and has participated in dozens of writing collaborations. He
is the principal of the naming firm Nomnym, is on the MIT faculty, and
serves as a director of the Electronic Literature Organization. Montfort
wrote the books of poems
#!
and
Riddle & Bind
, co-wrote
2002: A
Palindrome Story
, and developed more than forty digital projects.
The MIT Press has published four of his collaborative and individual
books:
The New Media Reader
Twisty Little Passages
Racing
the Beam
, and
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); :
GOTO 10
, with
Exploratory Programming for the
Arts and Humanities
coming soon.
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September 29, 2015
: Jessica Goodman, David Borgenicht, Maria Popova, Stephen Fried
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A star-studded alumni panel of journalists and media experts reveals
what you need to know to get a job in print or broadcast journalism,
book publishing, new media, and beyond.
Hoping to work in journalism or publishing after college? A knowledgeable panel of four
Penn alumni — who have held every job in the business — will discuss the early trials,
tribulations, and eventual bliss of working in the media. Come get the scoop, as these
professionals will field your questions and advise aspiring writers and editors on the
ever-changing landscape of new media.
DAVID BORGENICHT
(C’90) is the CEO and owner of Philadelphia
book publisher Quirk Books, co-author of the best-selling
“Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.”
Quirk
publishes 25
books a year, including international best-seller
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
JESSICA GOODMAN
(C’12) is a Digital News Editor at
Entertainment Weekly
, where she runs the music and books sections of
EW.com
. Previously, she was an Entertainment Editor at
The Huffington Post
, and has written
for the
Village Voice
Mashable
NYMag.com
and
Noisey
MARIA POPOVA
(C’07) is a reader and writer, and writes
about what she reads on her
Brain Pickings
blog,
which is included in the Library of Congress archive of culturally valuable materials.
She has also written for
Wired UK
and
The Atlantic
The New Yorl Times
and
Smithsonian Magazine
. In 2012, she was named among the 100 Most
Creative People in Business by Fast Company Magazine.
STEPHEN FRIED
(C’79) (moderator) is a best-selling and
award-winning journalist who teaches
non-fiction writing at Penn and the Journalism School at Columbia University. He is a former
contributing editor at
Vanity Fair
GQ
Glamour
and
Philadelphia Magazine
his sixth book, “A Common Struggle” will be published in October.
May 15, 2015
: Andy Wolk
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ANDY WOLK
's (C'70) writing/directing career
began with the much-lauded HBO movie
Criminal Justice
starring Forest
Whitaker that made
Time Magazine
's “Ten Best” List. Mr. Wolk has been
nominated 3 times for the Writers Guild Award and won it once for
Natica
Jackson
starring Michelle Pfeiffer. He has been nominated for the
Director's Guild Award several times and has directed numerous episodes
of shows such as
The Sopranos
Damages
NYPD Blue
Criminal Minds
Without A Trace
, and
The Practice
. He has been writer and director on
many legal-themed movies including
Deliberate Intent
, the critically
praised 1st movie ever for FX starring Timothy Hutton and (with his
brother Peter, also a Penn grad) the acclaimed
Fighting The Odds
for
Lifetime,
The Defenders: Payback
Choice of Evils
, and
Taking The First
for Showtime. Mr. Wolk’s other writing credits include HBO’s
Emmy-winning
From The Earth to The Moon
and the award-winning
Tales from
The Crypt
starring Demi Moore. He has written features for Miramax,
Paramount,Tri-Star, UA, MGM, Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, and
AVCO Embassy plus pilots for Fox, ABC, and Showtime.
March 31, 2015
: Neil Plakcy
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of this event
NEIL PLAKCY
studied creative writing at Penn with
professors including Philip Roth and Carlos Fuentes, then went on to get an MFA in fiction.
He is a hybrid author – his twenty-plus novels have been published by large and small
presses, and he’s successfully self-published a best-selling mystery series. He also
compiles anthologies, edits manuscripts, and teaches writing at Broward College in Florida.
He has spoken at many national conferences about his own work as well as the e-publishing
industry.
January 28, 2014
: Gabe Oppenheim
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of this event
Boxing in Philadelphia
is about a once-great American industrial city
and the culture of hands (of pride in what a person could with his
hands) it engendered. It's about the boxers who rose from these streets
and what happened to them when the economy collapsed, the center caved
in and the city became its own unique type of wasteland (dotted with the
brick factories that had formerly made America's Baldwin locomotives,
its dentures, its Stenson hats). It's about the hardest workers in a
hard city — the fighters — and their efforts to survive. And it's
about the city's — and the fighters' — current attempt to come back.
GABE OPPENHEIM
has written a novella, as well as several short stories and screenplays.
Born and raised in New York, he spent his college years in Philadelphia and continues to
maintain a special bond with the City of Brotherly Love.
October 27, 2014
: Roopika Risam
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ROOPIKA RISAM
(C'03) is Assistant Professor of World
Literature and English Education at Salem State University. Her research examines
intersections between postcolonial, African American, and US ethnic studies, and the
role of digital humanities in mediating between the two. Her co-written book
Postcolonial Digital Humanities
is under contract with Northwestern UP and she is also working on a
manuscript that positions W.E.B. Du Bois as a progenitor for postcolonial studies through
renewed attention to his literary work. Her digital scholarship includes
The Harlem Shadows Project
, on producing critical editions of public domain texts;
Postcolonial Digital Humanities
, an online community dedicated to global explorations of
race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability within cultures of technology; and
Digitizing Chinese Englishmen
, an experiment in postcolonial digital archival practices
that examines the role of empire in 19th century digital scholarship in English. She is
currently developing the prototype for
A Cultural Atlas of Global Blackness
, an interactive
database and digital map that traces representations of blackness across temporality and
geography. Her work has appeared in
Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology
and
is forthcoming in
First Monday, Left History
, and the
Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Inquiry
October 14, 2014
: Cecilia Corrigan
Cecilia Corrigan
's (C'10) performances have been exhibited at MOMA,
The New Museum, CAGE Gallery,
as well as Brown, Yale, and the University of Iowa. Her writing has appeared in
n+1
Mousse Magazine
The Capilano Review
LUMINA Journal
The Claudius App
The Journal
and
The Henry Review
, among others. Her book
Titanic
received the Madeleine P Plonsker
Emerging Writer's Prize, and will be released this fall. Her chapbook
True Beige
was
published in 2013 by Trafficker Press. She is also a comedian and screenwriter, having
previously written for HBO.
September 22, 2014
: Matt Flegenheimer
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Matt Flegenheimer
(C'11) is a metro reporter for
The New York Times
. He will soon begin
covering City Hall, after two years writing about transportation in and around New York.
He has also covered Occupy Wall Street, breaking crime news, and—as is the blessing and
curse of many new metro reporters—quite a few animal stories. At Penn, he majored in
economics.
May 11, 2013
: Nick Spitzer
Nick Spitzer
, host and creator of the radio show
American Routes
and
1972 Penn graduate with a degree in anthropology, joined us on May 11 as
a part of our Alumni Visitors Series. He began his talk by explaining
that he was drawn to radio as an undergraduate because of the intimacy
it seeks with its listeners by way of live broadcasting, and because of
its modern adaptation of a much older tradition of oral storytelling.
Spitzer then focused his talk on the importance and connection of
American “roots” and “routes” — roots being the spiritual and emotional
art that represents the "soul" of a culture, and routes being the
“metaphor of motion” that describes how such arts bring a people
together. Throughout the event, Spitzer demonstrated the power of music
in the American cultural imagination by playing short clips of blues,
soul, jazz and pairing them with stories about musicians such as Ray
Charles, Willy Nelson, and even Mayor Michael Nutter, and national
catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina.
April 10, 2013
: Ariel Djanikian
Ariel Djanikian
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in
2004 and holds an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Michigan. She lives in Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, with her husband and daughter.
The Office of Mercy
is her first novel.
www.arieldjanikian.com
February 20, 2013
: Dan Fishback
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2012-13 Penn ArtsEdge Resident
Dan Fishback
has been writing and
performing in New York City since 2003. Major works include
The Material
World
(2012),
thirtynothing
(2011) and
You
Will Experience Silence
(2009), all directed by Stephen Brackett at Dixon Place. Fishback
has received grants from the Franklin Furnace Fund (2010) and the Six Points Fellowship for
Emerging Jewish Artists (2007-2009). He is a resident artist at the University of Pennsylvania
(2012-2013) and at the Hemispheric Institute for Performance & Politics at NYU (2012), and has
enjoyed previous residencies at BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange (2010-2012), Yaddo and the MacDowell
Colony. Also a performing songwriter, Fishback began his music career in the East Village's
anti-folk scene. His band, Cheese On Bread, has toured Europe and North America in support of
their two full-length albums, "Maybe Maybe Maybe Baby" (2004) and "The Search for Colonel Mustard"
(2007), the latter of which was re-issued in Japan in 2010 on Moor Works Records. As a solo artist,
Fishback has released several recordings, including "Sweet Chastity" (2005, produced by César
Alvarez of The Lisps), and his latest, "The Mammal Years" (2012, produced by Casey Holford).
He was a member of the movement troupe Underthrust, which collaborated with songwriter Kimya
Dawson on several performances and videos. Fishback frequently teaches workshops on performance
composition and queer performance culture. He blogs at
thematerialworld.tumblr.com
; his regular website is
danfishback.com
Max Steele
is a performer and writer. He has presented work at the
New Museum, Rapture Cafe, Deitch Projects, Envoy Enterprises, and the Queens Museum of Art. He
writes the psychedelic porno poetry zine
Scorcher
, and is an Artist in
Residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange.
Erin Markey
creates conceptual musical performances for stage and
video. She is the recipient of NYFA's 2012 Cutting Edge Artist Fund Grant, and has presented work
at venues around the world, including Joe's Pub (The Public Theater), P.S. 122, San Francisco Film
Society and The New Museum. She has toured the United States with the Sister Spit Tour and The
Sex Workers' Art Show. Markey is a company member of Half Straddle, has performed in Young Jean
Lee's Theatre Company and starred in the NYC premiere of Tennessee Williams' Green Eyes (Elliot
Norton Award for Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress).
February 6, 2013
: Sensible Nonsense
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In her eloquent introduction to this program Sensible Nonsense founder and former
KWH work-study student Arielle Brousse reminded us of the legitimate artistry of our
best-loved childhood stories — those books so captivating that you’d cart a picnic-basket’s
worth of new ones home every week, so cherished that you thought about “losing” the library’s
copy, or so resonant that you contemplated “potential misguided memorial tattoos” at
the death of a favorite youth author. In this union of intelligent reflection and
relatable nostalgia, it was clear that for these readers, children’s literature
transcends its recommended age limits. Jess Bergman began with the origins of her
love for “hurt-so-good catharsis,” The Velveteen Rabbit, while Isaac Kaplan invoked
the power of oral storytelling by recounting his mother’s inventive “Pickle Car” saga
about “an average, everyday, human-sized pickle” that just wanted to become a car.
Chava Spivak-Brindorf traced her history of children’s-lit-derived lessons, lending
insight into what Arielle called Chava’s “idealism that doesn’t wait around.”
Victoria Ford described her very own “bad cases of stripes” (similar to the trials of
lima-bean-loving Camilla Cream), and bonded with Penn professor Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve
over South Carolina connections and young family members’ obsessions with Ninjago.
The night concluded with an after-school-snack-laden reception. Get involved at
February 5, 2013
Junior Fellow: Grace Ambrose
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Junior Fellow
Grace Ambrose
invited 50 current and ex-Philadelphians
to write about an object of their choice from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Taking shape as an
edition of 50 postcards, the writings will comprise an alternate history and guide to the museum's
holdings, seen through the eyes of the artists, writers, musicians, and friends who live alongside
them. At this launch event, learn about the conceptualization of this project, mail art, and the
history of the postcard. Grace's presentation will be followed by a reading by CAConrad of his poetry
inspired by paintings on view in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Contributors to "A People's Guide" include the following and more: Sam Allingham, Lily Applebaum,
Rayne Betts, Robyn Campbell, Anthony Campuzano, Kristina Centore, CAConrad, Johann Diedrick, Julia
Factorial, Becket Flannery, Lucy Gallun, Thomson Guster, Dylan Hansen-Fliedner, Josh Herren, Alex Klein,
James La Marre, Mary Lattimore, Trisha Low, Egina Manachova, Alexis McCrimmon, Mike Mckee, Max McKenna,
Steve McLaughlin, Linda Pastan, Rachel Pastan, Molly Seegers, Jon Shapiro, Alex Tyson, Laura Reeve,
Nicholas Salvatore, Ingrid Schaffner, Herb Shellenberger, Frank Sherlock, Henry Steinberg, Zoe Strauss,
Valeria Tsygankova, Catherine Turcich-Kealey, Alejandro Valdes, Michael Thomas Vassallo, Adelina Vlas,
Artie Vierkant, Jenna Weiss, Sara Wilson, Dan Yemin, and Jeffrey Ziga.
The JUNIOR FELLOW AWARD is open to any recently graduated Penn student, especially students who
have been deeply engaged with Penn's writing community. If you are graduating from Penn this year,
or if you have graduated from Penn in the last two years, please consider applying for this small
but very sweet fellowship. For more information, please visit:
December 6, 2012
: PENN APPÉTIT 5TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
“It all started with my crush on Tom Devaney,” said
Penn Appétit
founder
Emma Morgenstern at this celebration of the magazine’s fifth
anniversary. It was in Devaney’s food writing class that the germ that
sprouted
Penn Appétit
was planted for Morgenstern, whose reminiscences
of photo shoots in “dirty, dirty Harrison” and moldy fudge hinted at the
escapades and camaraderie that the
PA
staff shares. Since Morgenstern’s
days, the magazine has garnered countless accolades – no surprise, said
current editor Eesha Sardesai, “because everyone loves food” – thanks to
an impressive lineage of editors-in-chief, all of whom returned for the
night’s festivities. Following Morgenstern at the podium were Editor #2,
Elise Dihlman-Maltzer, whose strategy was to make a point and retreat to
let people get to the sensational reception food, and Editor #3, Alex
Marcus, who, with a healthy dose of wonder, explained that not only does
Penn Appétit
surface in prospective students’ admissions essays, but
that the food photographers at Cornell’s
Crème de Cornell
use “Penn
Appétit” as an adjective to describe expert shots. The editors were
reminded of the incredible talent that the magazine attracts as readings
by Abigail Koffler, Monica Purmalek (reading Chelsea Goldinger), and
Katie Behrman dazzled listeners with mouthwatering details on New York
pizza, frozen chicken, and fresh French bread. Nicole Woon and Jillian
De Filippo rounded out the literary portion with poems from multiple
contributors on everything from the Lee Ahn Food Truck to the
transcendence of Kool Aid, while Creative Director Maggie Edkins added
that illustrations and cover photos associated with the magazine would
be on display for all to salivate over.
November 15, 2012
: Springsteen Fest
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Al Filreis
Introduction
Greg Djanikian
(C'71) on "Born in the USA"
Grace Ambrose
(C'11) on "Spirit in the Night"
Dan Sheehan
on "Matamoras Banks"
Max McKenna
(C'10)on "Candy's Room"
Anthony DeCurtis
on "Tunnel of Love"
Matt Chylak
on "Backstreets"
Nate Chinen
(C'97) on "The Promise"
Zoe Straus
on "Youngstown"
Al Filreis
on "Land of Hope and Dreams"
Al Filreis
Greg Djanikian
and
Anthony DeCurtis
join forces once again to bring us our second
Song Symposium, this time on the works of
Bruce Springsteen
. One by one,
this Writers House musical triumvirate and six of their friends will lead us through an analysis of
a different song by New Jersey’s poet laureate. Like last year, you can expect a mix of crowd-pleasers
and deep cuts as these nine cut loose and follow Bruce’s runaway body of work along all of its hairpin
turns and detours, from Asbury Park to Nebraska, 57th Street to Highway 9.
October 27, 2012
: Memoir Writing:
Buzz Bissinger
Cynthia Kaplan
Beth Kephart
, and
James Martin
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H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger
is among the nation's most honored and
distinguished writers. A native of New York City, Buzz is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the
Livingston Award, the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award and the National Headliners
Award, among others. He also was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He is the author of four
highly acclaimed nonfiction books:
Friday Night Lights
A Prayer for the City
Three Nights in August
, and
his newest,
Father's Day
, his memoir about his twin sons. Born 13
weeks premature in 1983 and weighing less than two pounds, Bissinger's sons have lived
diametrically opposed lives. After obtaining his master's in education from the University of
Pennsylvania, Gerry is now a public school teacher while Zach, because of oxygen deprivation at
birth, suffered trace brain damage and struggles every day with enormous learning disabilities.
Cynthia Kaplan
is the author of two collections of humorous essays,
"Why I'm Like This: True Stories" and "Leave the Building Quickly." Her humor pieces have appeared
in many newspapers, magazines and anthologies. She is the the co-host, with CBS Sunday Morning's
Nancy Giles, of the comedy anthology series
The New Jack Paar Show
and
has appeared in comedy and rock clubs throughout the country. She has written for film and
television and recently released a comedy album,
Fangry
. She has never
appeared on
Law & Order
Beth Kephart
is the award-winning author of fourteen
books—five memoirs, a book of history and prose poetry, a corporate fable, and seven young
adult novels. Three more books are set for release in 2013, including
Handling
the Truth
(Gotham), a book about the making of memoir, and its consequences. Kephart teaches
creative nonfiction at Penn during the spring semesters, is the strategic writing partner in a
boutique communications firm, and reviews widely. Her book blog,
beth-kephart.blogspot.com
, has twice been named a top
author blog by the BBAW. Her essays are widely anthologized. Kepharts most recent book,
Small Damages
, a novel set in southern Spain, was released this past summer
by Philomel to starred reviews.
James Martin, SJ
, is a Jesuit priest, contributing editor at
America
, the national Catholic magazine, and author of several books,
including
The New York Times
bestseller
The Jesuit
Guide to (Almost) Everything
, and
My Life with the Saints and Between
Heaven and Mirth
, both named by
Publishers Weekly
as "Best Books"
of the Year. He is a frequent commentator in the media on matters of religion and spirituality,
and has written for
The New York Times
The
Washington Post
and
The Wall Street Journal
. He has appeared in
venues as diverse as NPR's "Fresh Air with Terry Gross," PBS's "Newshour with Jim Lehrer" and
Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." Before entering the Jesuits in 1988, Father Martin graduated
from Penn's Wharton School of Business and worked for six years in corporate finance. During his
Jesuit training he worked at a hospice for the sick and dying in Jamaica run by Mother Teresa's
sisters, with street-gang members in the housing projects of Chicago, and for two years in Nairobi,
Kenya, helping East African refugees start small businesses.
October 3, 2012
: A Performance by
Caroline Rothstein
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Caroline Rothstein
is a New York City-based writer, performer, and
eating disorder recovery advocate, who specializes in spoken word poetry, theater, creative
nonfiction, journalism, and performance art. She has performed and facilitated workshops at
poetry venues, theaters, colleges, universities, schools, and organizations around the United
States for more than a decade. A longtime activist for eating disorder recovery, she hosts the
widely viewed YouTube video-blog "Body Empowerment," sharing her own recovery story as a means to
promote positive body image worldwide. Since 2000, she has served as a Resource Person for the
National Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), and currently sits on
the Board of Directors for the NORMAL nonprofit organization. Her award-winning one-woman play
"faith" about her experience with and recovery from an eating disorder debuted as part of Culture
Project's Women Center Stage 2012 Festival, and received Outstanding Overall Production of a Solo
Show in the 2012 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity.
Caroline was a member of the 2010 Nuyorican Poets Cafe slam team, which placed second at Poetry
Slam Incorporated's National Poetry Slam 2010. A former member of and director for The Excelano
Project, a nationally-acclaimed spoken word poetry organization at the University of Pennsylvania,
she was the 2004 and 2006 UPenn Grand Slam Champion, a five-time College Unions Poetry Slam
Invitational finalist, and helped coach the UPenn slam team to CUPSI championships in 2007 and
2009. Upon graduating in 2006, Caroline was honored for her work with an event in her name at the
Kelly Writers House called "The Caroline Rothstein Annual Oral Poetry Event." As a poet and
journalist, Caroline has been published in various literary journals, anthologies, and
publications, and self-published three books of poetry:
After Leo Tolstoy
2011),
This Book Wrote Itself
(2009), and
What I
Learned in College
(2006). She has a B.A. in classical studies from the University of
Pennsylvania, and an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
September 19, 2012
: Careers in Journalism and New Media
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Ruth Davis Konigsberg
(C'90): Senior Editor at
Time
magazine, author of
The Truth About Grief
(Simon & Schuster), former editor at
Glamour
and
New
York
, and former contributing writer at
Elle
and
New York Observer
Matt Flegenheimer
(C'11): reporter,
New York
Times
; freelance writer,
SportsIllustrated.com
Nora Prize winner.
Melody Kramer
(C'06): associate producer, "Fresh Air;" freelance
writer,
National Geographic
; former producer at "Wait, Wait Don't Tell
Me;" Kroc Fellow at NPR; Nora Prize winner.
Eliot Kaplan
(C'78): executive director and talent acquisition for
Hearst Magazines; former editor-in-chief
Philadelphia
magazine and
managing editor
GQ
Stephen Fried
(C'79): author; lecturer, CPCW; adjunct professor,
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; former senior writer and editor,
Philadelphia
; former contributing editor
Vanity
Fair
GQ
Glamour
Ladies Home Journal
September 11, 2012
: New Queer Jewish Writing:
Dan Fishback
and
Ezra Berkley Nepon
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Dan Fishback
(C'03) is the 2012-2013
ArtsEdge Resident at the
University of Pennsylvania
. He has been writing and performing in New York City since 2003. Major
works include
The Material World
(2012),
thirtynothing
(2011) and
You Will Experience Silence
(2009), all directed by Stephen Brackett at Dixon Place. Fishback has received grants from the
Franklin Furnace Fund (2010) and the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists (2007-2009).
He is a resident artist at the Hemispheric Institute for Performance & Politics at NYU (2012), and
has enjoyed previous residencies at BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange (2010-2012), Yaddo and the
MacDowell Colony. Previous works include
No Direction Homo
(P.S. 122,
2006),
Please Let Me Love You
(Dixon Place, 2006),
Waiting for Barbara
(Galapagos Art Space, 2006),
boi with
an i
(Collective: Unconscious, 2004), and
Assholes Speak Louder Than
Words
(Sidewalk Cafe, 2004). Also a performing songwriter, Fishback began his music career
in the East Village's anti-folk scene. His band, Cheese On Bread, has toured Europe and North
America in support of their two full-length albums, "Maybe Maybe Maybe Baby" (2004) and "The Search
for Colonel Mustard" (2007), the latter of which was re-issued in Japan in 2010 on Moor Works
Records. As a solo artist, Fishback has released several recordings, including "Sweet Chastity"
(2005, produced by César Alvarez of The Lisps), and his latest, "The Mammal Years" (2012). He was
a member of the movement troupe Underthrust, which collaborated with songwriter Kimya Dawson on
several performances and videos. Fishback's essay, "Times Are Changing, Reb Tevye," was featured in
the anthology "Mentsh: On Being Jewish & Queer" (Alyson Books, 2004). His visual installation, "Pen
Pals," was featured in the 2011 Soho exhibition of the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, for which he
later served on the Selection Committee. Fishback frequently teaches workshops on performance
composition and queer performance culture. He blogs at
thematerialworld.tumblr.com
; his regular website is
www.danfishback.com
. Before graduating from the University of
Pennsylvania in 2003, Fishback wrote a weekly column for the
Daily
Pennsylvanian
, was heavily involved in anti-war activism, and organized events at Kelly
Writers House.
Ezra Berkley Nepon
is a West Philadelphian writer, performer, and
organizer. Nepon recently returned from an East and West Coast tour with her new book
Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue: A History of New Jewish Agenda
, published
by Thread Makes Blanket Press and distributed by AK Press. Other creations include the full-length
play
Between Two Worlds: Who Loved You Before You Were Mine
which used
themes from
The Dybbuk
to think about relationships between queer
generations in the wake of the AIDS epidemic ("a love letter to the ghosts among us"), and
Little Orphan Gender Revolutionary Annie
– a 4-act song-cycle
about the gender binary oppression of the girls' orphanage, told through toy theater/green screen
magic. Nepon is pursuing an MA in Goddard College's Transformative Language Arts Program, and
working on a thesis about New Yiddish Theater-maker Jenny Romaine and radical faerie theater-troupe
The Eggplant Faerie Players. Visit:
www.ezraberkleynepon.wordpress.com
April 26, 2012
: Genji Amino
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Junior Fellow and Penn alum,
Genji Amino
came to the Writers House to read
his poetry.
Jessica Lowenthal
's introduction focused on the competitiveness of
becoming a Junior Fellow, the ways in which Amino's project was transformed from a discussion with Penn
students to a conversation with Philadelphians, and on Amino's character as a man of communities and ideas.
Amino's poetry reading toyed with language in unexpected and creative ways. As Lowenthal said of Amino in her
introduction, a Junior Fellow prize is the Writers House's way of saying, "We want you to continue your writing
life"; any reader of Amino's works would certainly say the same.
April 11, 2012
: Travel Writing in the
21st Century: Rachel Friedman (C'03, G'07)
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Distinguished travel writers
David Farley
Matt Gross
and Penn alum,
Rachel Friedman
visited the Writers House to talk about travel writing
in our modern world. The discussion was introduced and moderated by Penn professor and travel writer,
Rolf Potts
These writers discussed their unique paths into travel writing, from books to freelance to individual areas of
expertise they've honed throughout their journeys. Friedman, for example, took the "backwards" route, as she says:
unlike many travel writers, she had her book,
The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost
published before she went into freelance travel writing. The writers also chatted about the various misconceptions
surrounding travel writers, the frugality travel writers come to know well, and the difficulties of traveling
with other people when working on a creative piece.
April 9, 2012
: Lew Schneider (C'83)
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
The Writers House was honored to welcome TV writer,
Lew Schneider
to the Kelly
Writers House. Our own
Kelly Diamond
introduced him, noting that while he did not
want to be framed as a Hollywood success story, she believes he's "pretty awesome". Schneider has won two Emmy
awards, has twenty nine writing credits for
Everybody Loves Raymond
, and is a writer
for the hit show,
American Dad
. Schneider spoke about his time at Penn, referencing
that he ultimately "majored in Mask and Wig". He discussed his time practicing comedy, his move to Los Angeles,
and the journey he took to becoming a sitcom writer. Joking on his path to success, in his own words: "if you
love screwing around and you think you're great at it, sitcom writing might be the path". The audience had the
treat of watching a few clips from
Everybody Loves Raymond
, as well as Schneider's commentary
on how the writing process evolved for these hilarious episodes.
March 29, 2012
: How to be a Famous
Author: Lynn Rosen
watch:
video recording
of this event via
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audio recording
of this event
Penn alum,
Lynn Rosen
visited the Kelly Writers House as part of the Kauders
Series.
Max McKenna
introduced her, referring to her as a "book publishing guru",
and noting her mentor-ship of young writers at the Writers House. Rosen spoke about her time spent as an editor,
then a literary agent, then an editor again, then a writer, and so forth. After discussing all of the obstacles
one faces as a writer, Rosen went on to share her coveted insights into the publishing world, in case, as she
joked, she hadn't talked the audience out of becoming writers. She broke down the process a book goes through in
publishing, beginning with the author and ending with the reader, in a practical chart for the audience to easily
understand. Audience members asked many questions throughout the event, as they appreciated her candidness and
useful advice on getting published.
March 27, 2012
: Emergency Poetry
Reading: Julia Bloch
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Sarah Dowling
introduced the last event in the Emergency Reading series.
Penn alum and a founder of the Emergency Reading Series,
Julia Bloch
, was invited
to share poetry from her book,
Letters to Kelly Clarkson
Carolina Maugeri
an expert in mixed media art forms who Sarah and Julia had felt for a long time should be a part of Emergency
Reading also read from her work, showing electronic slides of her poetry and art as well. A brief question and
answer session followed, which noted both poets' dealings with pop culture, a mutual skepticism of
American Idol
and an admiration for the each other's works. A gluten-free reception followed this insightful, memorable event,
which concluded this important series in Kelly Writers House program history.
February 17, 2012
: Howard Marks
Since the formation of Oaktree in 1995, Howard Marks has been responsible for ensuring the
firm's adherence to its core investment philosophy, communicating closely with clients concerning
products and strategies, and managing the firm. From 1985 until 1995, Mr. Marks led the groups at
The TCW Group, Inc. that were responsible for investments in distressed debt, high yield bonds,
and convertible securities. He was also Chief Investment Officer for Domestic Fixed Income at TCW.
Previously, Mr. Marks was with Citicorp Investment Management for 16 years, where from 1978 to 1985
he was Vice President and senior portfolio manager in charge of convertible and high yield
securities. Between 1969 and 1978, he was an equity research analyst and, subsequently, Citicorp's
Director of Research. Mr. Marks holds a B.S.Ec. degree cum laude from the Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania with a major in Finance and an M.B.A. in Accounting and Marketing from
the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago, where he received the George Hay
Brown Prize. He is a CFA charterholder and a Chartered Investment Counselor.
February 9, 2012
: Jewish Writers You
Wish You Knew About: Andrew Zitcer (C'00, MA'04)
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
CURF Summer Intern,
Alexa Bryn
put together a program of seven students and
faculty members, who each discussed a Jewish writer you've probably never heard of that they think you should
know more about.
Adriel Koschitzsky
Sam Apple
Sarah Gracombe
Al Filreis
Kate Herzlin
Max Apple
and Penn alum,
Andrew Zitcer
each had
approximately seven minutes to speak. Each of these presenters gave background on their respective writers, and
then shared some of their work with the audience. Topics and reactions spanned across a wide spectrum, from
audience members singing along to
Avrom Goldfaden
's lullaby "Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen"
to Al Filreis giving a heartfelt analysis of
Primo Levi
's
The Periodic Table
a core book in his Holocaust class and one of his favorite books of all time. Such an inspiring evening of Jewish
writers could only be rivaled by the reception, which featured a spread of some favorite Jewish foods!
November 5, 2011
: Veronica
Jurkiewicz (C'04) and Cheryl J. Family (C'91): the Creative Economy
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
As part of the Creative Ventures program, Cinema Studies and English professor,
Peter DeCherney
moderated this event focusing on creativity and how it drives the American economy. The panel guests were varied
experts in the field, and included:
Gary Steuer
, Chief Cultural Officer for the City
of Philadelphia;
Cheryl J. Family
(C' 91), Senior Vice President/Brand Strategist of
MTV Networks;
Veronica Jurkiewicz
(C'04), Performance Coordinator of the UPenn
Department of Music and Co-founder of Classical Revolution; and
Alex Mulcahy
, Owner
of Red Flag Media and Founder of
GRID magazine
, a local free magazine that focuses
on urban sustainability. As the event was held on Homecoming Weekend, many parents attended the discussion, and
were interested to learn about the value of non profit, the necessity for creativity in fields outside of the
arts, as well as research within the artistic world.
October 27, 2011
: Thomson
Guster (C'10): Fiction Flash Mob
Thomson Guster is a writer and the editor of
Heat Map
, a magazine of
fictional music writing. His first published work is forthcoming in
Strange
Attractors: Investigations in Non-Humanoid Extraterrestrial Sexualities
. Devoted to loosening
up the concept of fiction and exploring the territory between game design and conceptually-driven
process writing, Thomson is excited to see what comes out of Flash Fiction Flash Mob.
September 20, 2011
: Careers in
Journalism and New Media
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Stephen Fried (C'79, 34th Street co-editor '77-'78) is an adjunct
professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the author of five acclaimed
books, including
Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of
Civilizing the West—One Meal at a Time
(which the Wall Street Journal named one of the Top
Ten Books of 2010) and
Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia
(which introduced the word "fashionista" into the English language.) A two-time winner of the
National Magazine Award, Fried has written for
Vanity Fair
GQ
The Washington Post Magazine
Rolling Stone
Glamour
Ladies' Home Journal
Parade
and
Philadelphia Magazine
. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, author
Diane Ayres.
Eliot Kaplan is the Executive Director, Talent Acquisition for
Hearst Magazines, a unique position of scouting and recruiting the world's top editors, writers
and art directors for the company's 19 magazines and start-up ventures. These magazines include
Cosmopolitan
Esquire
Elle
and
O:The Oprah Magazine
. His role includes
career development, succession planning, new-project evaluation, compensation overview and process
streamlining. Prior to this job, Kaplan had a distinguished career in magazine editing. In his
seven years as editor-in-chief,
Philadelphia Magazine
won two National
Magazine Awards (the field's Pulitzer)and was nominated a total of five times, including, for the
first time in the magazine's history, in the General Excellence category. Before joining
Philadelphia, Kaplan was managing editor of
Gentlemen's Quarterly
. As
the No. 2 editor to Art Cooper, in charge of story assignment, editing and personnel, he helped
transform the
Conde Nast
publication into one of the most influential
and successful magazines in the country. Kaplan, who graduated from Penn in 1978, was a co-editor
of 34th Street, a sports writer and op-ed columnist.
Melody Joy Kramer graduated from Penn in 2006 with a degree in
English. While at Penn, she edited and wrote for the
Punch Bowl Humor
Magazine
and wrote a weekly humor column in the
Daily Pennsylvanian
After graduating, she became a Kroc Fellow at NPR in Washington DC, where she learned reporting,
producing, booking and audio-editing skills. She then moved to Chicago, where for almost two years,
she directed, wrote for and helped produce Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, NPR's humor show. Mel then
moved back to Philadelphia and started working at Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She currently helps
produce the radio show and writes/produces all of Fresh Air's web content.
Randall Lane is the editor of
Forbes
Magazine.
Previously, he was editor-at-large at Newsweek and The Daily Beast, CEO and editor-in-chief of Doubledown
Media, where he founded or relaunched six magazines, including
Trader Monthly
Dealmaker
, and
Private Air
, and co-founder and
editor-in-chief of
P.O.V.
magazine, which was
Adweek
's
"Startup of the Year." A National Magazine Award finalist, he has written for
The New
York Times
The Wall Street Journal
, and
Vanity Fair
and was the Washington bureau chief for
Forbes
. He is the author of
The Zeroes: My Misadventures in the Decade Wall Street Went Insane.
Ashley Parker graduated from Penn in 2005, where she majored in English (Creative Writing
concentration) and Communications. She wrote for
The
Daily Pennsylvanian
, where she was the Assignments and Features Editor, as well as for
34th Street
, where she was the Features Editor. During college, she
interned at the
New York Sun
and
The Gaithersburg
Gazette
. After graduating, she worked as
New York Times
columnist Maureen Dowd's research assistant, freelancing for every section of the paper during her
five years with Maureen in the DC Buro. She became a full-time reporter for the
Times
last fall, moved to New York to work on the Metro desk, and recently
started as a campaign reporter for the 2012 presidential election. Her photos have appeared in
Vanity Fair
ndash;a combination of luck and right place, right time prevailing over minimal talent.
September 15, 2011
: Alicia Oltuski (C'06,
G'06)
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Alicia Oltuski
, Penn alum and author of
Precious Objects
, spoke at the Writers House on a September Thursday.
Max Apple
's introduction
referenced cherished memories of her as a student in his classes, speaking highly of her personality,
high ambitions and impressive skills as a writer. Ms. Oltuski then read from her beautifully written book,
which examines her own family history, and eloquently matches her family's workings in the diamond business
with a need to be protective over one's own family. She answered questions regarding the line between fiction
and nonfiction, the musicality of her language, and how long she had known she would be a writer instead of
going into the diamond dealing business herself. The literary world is certainly better off for her choice to
pursue writing over diamonds.
May 14, 2011
: Jennifer Egan (C'85)
and Sam Donsky (C'07): Alumni Authors Spotlight
watch:
video recording
of this event via
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audio recording
of this event
Writers and Penn alums,
Jennifer Egan
and
Sam Donsky
came to the Writers House to read excerpts from their writings. English professor,
Greg Djanikian
introduced Sam, saying that Donsky's work can, "enlarge our notions of what poetry and high discourse can be."
Donsky, in return, said that he wouldn't be writing poetry if it weren't for Greg. He also thanked Jennifer Egan
for being a generous mentor, and the Writers House which he says he couldn't imagine his life without. After
Donsky read some of his movie-titled poetry, English professor,
Karen Rile
introduced
Egan, whose work she said she read for pleasure before she knew Egan was ever a Penn student. Having written works
across multiple genres, Egan is a Pulitzer Prize winner who said that Penn has helped to shape her. The audience
had the pleasure of hearing her read from the first chapter of her most recent book,
A Visit from the Goon Squad
April 11, 2011
: Arielle Brousse (C'07)
and Lee Huttner (C'10): 7-Up on Seven
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
In Seven-Up's Seventh Annual event, seven Penn folks spoke for approximately seven minutes each on topics
relating, appropriately enough, to the number seven. This particular Seven-Up included two Penn alums:
Lee Huttner
on Dante's Magnificent Seven; and
Arielle Brousse
on the Seven Deadly Sins. Other topics and speakers in this event included
Zach Carduner
on his experience riding Septa’s #7 bus,
Randall Couch
on the Seven Sages of the
Bamboo Grove,
Tim Corrigan
quizzing the audience on sevens in film,
Eric Karlan
on sevens in baseball, and the world premiere screening of a film by seven-year old
McCreary twins
Caleb and Malcolm. In typical Writers House style, the event was followed by a seven-themed reception of foods,
including seven layer dip, seven different types of fruits, and so on.
April 7, 2011
: Thomson Guster (C'10):
Junior Fellows Presentation
watch:
video recording
of this event via
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audio recording
of this event
The Kelly Writers House celebrates Gertrude Stein with "Nothing Elegent – A Stein Celebration."
In true salon fashion, this event will feature a variety of "acts" – Stein read aloud, musical
performances, interactive theater, academic engagement, visual arts and special "historical" guests.
A reception to follow will feature foods from the time, including recipes from the Alice B. Toklas
Cookbook. This is a community event, and we want to invoke the creative spirit of that time period,
so all ideas and people are welcome.
April 5, 2011
: Marilyn Johnson (C'76):
CPCW literary journalism program
Join us for a roundtable discussion of work by Kimberly Eisler (C'11) and Maggie McGrath (C'11),
winners of the 2010-2011 CPCW Literary Journalism Fellowship: "The Stock in Bonds: The Fraternal
Roots of Wall Street" (by Kim Eisler) and "The Long and Rusty Road: New York City's High Line made
it look easy, but converting old rails into soaring urban parks is a tough job" (by Maggie McGrath).
Joining the discussion will be: journalists and guest editors Marilyn Johnson (C'76) and Kate Buford.
April 2, 2011
: Suzanne Maynard Miller (C'89): Playwriting workshop
Suzanne Maynard Miller's plays include
Young Love, Flirting With the Deep
End
(Dramatic Publishing, 2007);
Beatrice; The Handwriting, the Soup,
and the Hats
; and
Abigail’s Atlas
. Her work has been produced
in Los Angeles, Seattle, Providence, New Haven and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Maynard Miller has taught playwriting and expository writing at Brown University and at the
Rhode Island School of Design. She has been an artist-in-residence at public schools in Seattle,
Providence, Brooklyn, and the Bronx and a playwright-in-residence at Annex Theater in Seattle,
where she was a company member from 1989-1996. Maynard Miller has also led playwriting workshops
for incarcerated women and was a founding member of Kidswrite, a Seattle-based literacy program
for fifth graders. Currently, she teaches in the English Department at the New York City College
of Technology/CUNY.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA, 1989), Maynard Miller received her MFA in
playwriting from Brown University in 1998. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.
March 14, 2011
: Nina Godiwalla
watch:
video recording
of this event via
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listen:
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audio recording
of this event
Wharton alum
Nina Godiwalla
was introduced by
Mingo Reynolds
for her visit to the Writers House. Nina talked about her time at Wharton, traveling across the bridge to the
Kelly Writers House to work on her writing while feeling torn between the creative and business worlds. Later, after
working on Wall Street and experiencing its sexist environment, she realized that she had a story to tell.
As a second generation American, she had a unique perspective on trying to achieve the American dream. In this
fascinating lunch talk, she also discussed her unusual route to publishing her book,
Suits: A Woman on Wall Street
(which some describe as the
The Devil Wears Prada
of investment banking),
the legal issues she has faced for writing it, as well as her family's view on her choice to pursue writing
rather than to stay in the business world. Godiwalla is the founder of MindWorks, which trains business
professionals in meditation and stress management.
February 22, 2011
: Stephanie Sherman
watch:
video recording
of this event via
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audio recording
of this event
Having graduated Penn in 2003, alum
Stephanie Sherman
visited the Writers House
to talk about her thrift-store-turned-living-museum, Elsewhere.
Erin Gautsche
introduced Ms. Sherman, as this was the first event in the Creative Ventures program which Erin spearheaded.
Ms. Sherman discussed her time at Penn romanticizing about being a writer, and how some practice with collaborative
fiction and a spring break visit to North Carolina shaped her future career. Utilizing her friend's grandmother's
thrift store, she and her friend founded Elsewhere as a space to play, experiment, and invite artists to live
in residencies. The audience was naturally very curious about this innovative idea, asking about the closed system
model of the living museum, as well as how materials could become part of the set. These questions also led
Sherman to discuss the performance theatre in what they do, and how they look to interact with the community.
March 30, 2010
: Kathy DeMarco (C'88)
A celebration of the publication of "Drizzle."
March 29, 2010
: Jo Piazza (C'02)
A lunchtime discussion with Nate Chinen about his award-winning jazz and pop writing.
March 25, 2010
: Nate Chinen (C'97)
A lunchtime conversation of Jo Piazza's upcoming book and her contributions to New York Daily News, CNN, Fox News, AOL, Slate, and The Daily Beast.
March 3, 2010
: Doug Glanville
A lunch talk with sportswriter Doug Glanville about sports, his career, and his contributions to ESPN,
New York Times
, and various other publications.
February 25, 2010
: Howard Marks (W'67)
A discussion Howard Marks' distinguished career in the financial industry and his widely-read memos.
January 25, 2010
: John Carroll (C'05)
A taping of WXPN radio program
LIVE at the Writers House
discussing Carroll's new collaborative effort
Philly Fiction 2
November 19, 2009
: Greg Maughan (C'06)
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
A panel discussion featuring local Philadelphia comedians and comedy writers - along with a special guest or two - discuss the day to day aspects of trying to do.
November 9, 2009
: Lisa DePaulo (C'82)
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
A lunch discussion of Lisa DePaulo's career as a political writer and GQ correspondent.
November 7, 2009
: Next page in book publishing: Buzz Bissinger (C'77), Dennis Drabelle (G'66, L'69), Matthew Algeo, (C'88), David Borgenicht (C'90), and Stephen Fried (C'79)
Readings by top alumni non-fiction writers followed by a provocative panel discussion about the future of the book business and ambitious writing.
October 5, 2009
: Becca Kantor
watch:
video recording
of this event via
KWH-TV
listen:
to an
audio recording
of this event
Returning to the Writers House just one semester after she graduated,
Becca Kantor
joined us to interrupt our Monday blues with fantastical descriptions of “an island with [a] limestone castle,” something
which had held a “firm grip in [her]…imagination” since early childhood. Becca had the opportunity to make this fantasy
her reality for a summer when the Writers House sponsored her trip to the Baltic, enabling her to uncover details about her grandfather,
Louis I. Kahn
’s, young life there. Before beginning her formal presentation, Becca gave a shout-out to the fabulous meal
Erin Gautsche
had cooked for the event. “Estonian food,” she mused. “How fun!” With the
prospect of a full stomach, she walked us through the regional and family history uncovered during her travels, as well as
many of the sites themselves. These included old family residences, museums, and photographs, all of which she used to
aid and inspire her culminating project: a novel about her grandfather’s origins. Quoting him, she read to the audience,
“I'm always looking for a source, a beginning. I like English history, I have volumes of it, but I've never read anything
but the first volume...my only real purpose is to read volume zero which, of course, has not yet been written.” Accordingly,
Becca’s “idea to create a novel based on Lou's relationship with Estonia, in a sense, was an attempt to write Lou's own volume
zero… Like Lou,” she continued, “I believe that beginnings have the potential to shape the nature of a thing or person."
Certainly, we feel privileged to have been exposed to this project in
its
beginning—and are
confident that the form it takes will be just as fascinating as its content, whatever shape that may be.
2008-2009
May 16
: Nick Spitzer (C'72)
A presentation of "American Routes: Songs and Stories from the Road."
April 23
: Matthew Abess (C'08)
A lunchtime discussion of The Topography of Testimony with students and friends of the Writers House.
April 7, 14
: Wystan Curnow
Wynstan Curnow discussed an exhibit he is currently curating of works by four international painters, called "Let Us Possess One World," as well as his role as an advisor/collaborator to the New Zealand conceptual artist Billy Apple. He participated in an episode of PoemTalk and gave a presentation on curating as a cultural practice. He came back a week later to read some of his work at the Writers House.
November 1
: Extreme Sportswriting with Stefan Fatsis (C'85), Buzz Bissinger (C'77), Jon Wertheim (Law '97), and Stephen Fried (C'79)
A raucous, full-contact panel discussion about the future of sports and journalism.
October 3
: Gerald M. Stern (W'58)
A discussion of his new book,
The Scotia Widows: Inside Their Lawsuit Against Big Daddy Coal
September 25
: Ellen Yin (W'87, WG'93)
A conversation about Ellen Yin's restaurant Fork and her new cookbook
Folklore
2007-2008
May 17
: Christina Davis (C'93, G'93), Michael Jennings (C'71), Jay Rogoff (C'75), and J. Allyn Rosser (C'88 GR'91)
A poetry reading featuring former students of Penn Professor Dan Hoffman.
April 22
: Moira Moody (C'06)
A presentation and discussion based on a "scrapbook of Philadelphia" created by alumna Moira Moody.
April 17
: Monica Weymouth (C'07)
A discussion of the present and future of the THE PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER, independent journalism outlet for over 26 years.
April 16
: Deb Burnham (G'76, GR'89)
A reading of Old English poems and new poems inspired by Old English.
April 11
: Randi Hutter Epstein (C'84)
A lunch discussion with Randi Hutter Epstein, MD, an adjunct professor of journalism at the The Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University as well as a medical journalist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph and several national magazines.
April 10
: Caroline Tiger (C'96)
A lunch talk with Caroline Tiger, freelance journalist and author and a former managing editor of Philadelphia magazine.
April 4
: Kate Lee (C'99)
A lunch conversation with Kate Lee, who has been at ICM for six years and has worked with several high profile clients in her tenure.
March 26
: Julie Buxbaum (C'99)
Julie Buxbaum is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School. After practicing law in both New York and Los Angeles, she quit her job as a litigator to write full time, and joined us for a mentor lunch program to discuss her projects.
March 3
: Dan McQuade (C'04) and Matt Rosenbaum (C'06)
Alumn Dan McQuade and Matt Rosenbaum joined us for our annual
7 up
program, on rock, contributing a commentary on Rock, Papers, Scissors and a reading of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, respectively.
February 28
: Beth Kephart (C'82)
Co-sponsored by the Creative Writing program, local, critically acclaimed author Beth Kephart joined us for a lunch conversation.
February 27
: Nancy Cordes (C'95)
Dick Polman hosted a lunch talk with journalist and Penn alumna Nancy Cordes.
October 26
: Randi Hutter Epstein
A lunch discussion with Randi Hutter Epstein, MD, an adjunct professor of journalism at the The Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University as well as a medical journalist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph and several national magazines.
October 23
: Ariel Djanikian (C'04), Phil Sandick (C'03), Alicia Oltuski (C'06), and Yona Silverman (C'06)
Former students of beloved writing professor Max Apple Ariel Djanikian, Phil Sandick, Alicia Oltuski, and Yona Silverman, followed by Max himself, joined us for toasts and read excerpts from his new book The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories.
October 20
: Michael Bamberger (C'82), Cynthia Kaplan (C'85), and Stephen Fried (C'79)
A panel discussion of three nationally-known alumni authors discussing personal writing and reading from their new memoirs
October 5
: Lynn Rosen
A lunch with Lynn Rosen who has had a wide-ranging twenty-plus year career in book publishing as an editor, literary agent, book packager, and author.
2006-2007
September 13
: Greg Manning
a lunch program with alumnus, memoirist, and former Daily Pennsylvanian Executive Editor Greg Manning. He has worked as a reporter, an editor, and in senior marketing positions in the financial information industry at Telerate Systems Incorporated, as a Partner at Market Data Corporation, and as a Senior Vice President of Euro Brokers, which was based at the World Trade Center
September 14
: Jennifer Egan
A reading and conversations with novelist and journalist, Jennifer Egan. Finalist for the National Book Award, she has published short fiction in The New Yorker, Harper's, Zoetrope and Ploughshares, among others, and her journalism appears frequently in The New York Times Magazine.
September 23
: Clarissa Sligh
A roundtable discussion about bookmaking and collection. Clarissa Sligh discusses making photographic based images, artists' books' and text based installations
October 4
: Judith Rodin
A discussion with the first Penn alumna - and the first woman - to be named President of the University. Judith Rodin is currently President of the Rockefeller Foundation, which works to expand opportunities for the disadvantaged, and has published more than 200 articles and chapters in academic publications and authored or co-authored eleven books.
October 10
: Maury Povich (C'62)
A celebration of Dick Polman's appointment as Povich Writer-in-Residence at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, honoring donor and tv personality, Maury Povich.
October 28
: Jean Chatzky (C'86), Lisa DePaulo (C'82), Buzz Bissinger (C'76), Stephen Fried (C'79)
The Kelly Writers House community is proud to present its second annual Homecoming Celebration of Alumni Nonfiction Writers! This year features a panel discussion on "The Real Life of a Non-Fiction Writer.
November 30
: Cassidy Hartmann (C'05), Dan McQuade (C'04)
Hosted by Anthony DeCurtis, this event featured writers from
Philadelphia Weekly
, including columnist Cassidy Harman and award-winning blogger Daniel McQuade.
February 7
: Nate Chinen (C'97)
Formerly the Assistant Coordinater here at the Writer's House, music critic Nate Chinen participated in a conversation with Gary Giddins. Nate has contributed to the
New York Times
the Jazz Times
Weekend America
, as well as a nationally syndicated radio program and various other publications.
February 19
: Jack Truten (GR'93)
A discussion of narrative medicinde presented by Word.doc.
February 20
: Greg Djanikian (C'71)
Book release of Greg Djanikian's poetry collection
So I Will Till the Ground
. Djanikian is Director of the Creative Writing Program.
February 22
: Jamie-Lee Josselyn (C'05)
Memoirist and hub member Jamie Lee Josselyn contributed to the annual 7-Up program in 2007 on the topic of "bitter".
March 29
: Hank Herman (C'71)
Prize-winning juvenile fiction writer Hank Herman discussed how he found himself as a kids' sports fiction novelist after being a career magazine editor, humorist, and non-fiction writer; how to use your own experiences as material for great kids' fiction books; how to stick to a kid's point-of-view in your writing -- and other elements of the craft of juvenile fiction writing
April 9
: Lee Eisenberg (C'68 ASC'70)
Lee Eisenberg served as editor in chief at Esquire before overseeing creative development at TIME magazine. He joined us for a rountable discussion with Daniel Okrent and CPCW Literary Journalism Fellowships.
May 12
: Michael Hyde (C'95), Courtney Zoffness (C'00), Laura Dave (C'98)
These three former Penn students joined us on alumni weekend for a Celebration of Young Alumni Fiction Writers.
2005-2006
April 26, 2006
: Greg Manning
A lunchtime conversation with Greg Manning, author of the New York Times
bestseller,
LOVE, GREG & LAUREN: A Powerful True Story of Courage, Hope, and
Survival
November 19, 2005
: Dan Fishback
Dan Fishback, a performance artist/singer-songwriter from New York City, will present "PLEASE LET ME LOVE YOU", a one-man show about "finding love in every evil and evil in every love."
November 16, 2005
: Wyatt Mason
A Rimbaud translation event featuring Seth Whidden and Penn alumnus Wyatt Mason. Modern
Library has published, in three volumes, Mason's translations of the complete works of Arthur
Rimbaud.
November 5, 2005
: Buzz Bissinger, Stefan
Fatsis, Stephen Fried, Lisa Green, Eliot Kaplan, and Richard Stevenson
In honor of Homecoming, the Writers House presents its first annual celebration of alumni nonfiction writers. A panel of
nonfiction writers including Buzz Bissinger, Stefan Fatsis, Stephen Fried, Lisa Green, and Richard
Stevenson discusses some of the legal and ethical controversies facing journalism and the future of nonfiction writing.
Eliot Kaplan will give a short presentation about the Nora Magid Prize after the panel discussion.
November 1, 2005
: Susan Senator
Susan Senator will host a reading and conversation in the Arts Cafe.
2004-2005
May 14, 2005
Jennifer Egan (C'85), Jeanne Murray Walker (GR'74), Greg Djanikian (C'71)
A Celebration of Penn's Creative Writing Program
A reading and celebration of Penn's Creative Writing Program and the generations of student and alumni writers who have found their voices within it! The program features three alumni of the program: Jennifer Egan, Jeanne Murray Walker, Greg Djanikian; and three undergraduate creative writers: Lindsey Palmer, Sam Donsky, and Jamie-Lee Josselyn. The reading is hosted by poet and Director of Penn's Creative Writing Program Gregory Djanikian (C'71).
April 15, 2005
John Dorst (GR'83)
The Ethnographic Writing Workshop Series presents "Stitching Up the Shallow Body: Metaphor, Theory, and the Poetics of Ethnography," with John Dorst
Since completion of his graduate training in folklore/folklife, first at U.C. Berkeley (M.A. 1977) and then at the University
of Pennsylvania (PhD 1983), John Dorst has been on the English Department and American Studies faculties at the University of
Wyoming. His current research is concerned with the production and vernacular display of animal artifacts (e.g. animal
trophies and other taxidermy), and with theoretical issues raised in doing ethnographic work on this topic. This research
grows partly out of a museum exhibition, "Framing the Wild: Animals on Display", that he curated in 2002/03 for the University
Art Museum and the Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, WY. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002 in support of this
research and is now working on a book. His books include
Looking West
(University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999) and
The Written Suburb: An American Site, An Ethnographic Dilemma
(University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989).
February 20, 2005
Nate Chinen (C'97)
"Myself Among Others": Co-writing Jazz History: a conversation and reading with George Wein and Nate Chinen
In addition to coauthoring the award-winning autobiography
Myself Among
Others
, Nate Chinen is a columnist for
JazzTimes
magazine, a regular reviewer for the
Village
Voice
, and the resident jazz critic for
Weekend
America
, a syndicated public radio program. He's also a Penn English
alumnus (Creative Writing with Poetry Emphasis) and a
former Assistant Coordinator of the Kelly Writers House.
December 13, 2004
Peter Nichols, John Prendergast (C'80)
LIVE at the Writers House, "Writers at Work at Penn"
Peter Nichols has worked at Penn for nearly 23 years. Currently, he is the editor of
Penn Arts & Sciences Magazine
, the alumni publication of the School of Arts and Sciences. Before that, he was a staff writer for Penn's Institute for Research on Higher Education, where he wrote reports for the Pew Higher Education Roundtable as well as case studies, proposals, and other materials. Peter is a Penn alumnus and earned his degree from the College of General Studies, taking advantage of the university's tuition benefit while working full time at Biddle Law Library. He is also a freelance writer--not to mention a husband and a dad of two boys.
John Prendergast has published a novel,
JUMP
, and has had stories in magazines including
Glimmer Train, The Bridge, The Ledge
, and
The Painted Bride Quarterly
. As a journalist, he has written and/or edited articles on hunting dogs for the American Kennel Club's newspaper; on business and management issues for
Pennsylvania Outlook
and the
Wharton Magazine
; and on the environment, transportation, bridges and buildings, and other engineering-related subjects for
Civil Engineering Magazine
. He is currently editor of
The Pennsylvania Gazette
, the alumni magazine of the University of Pennsylvania.
November 16, 2004
Hank Herman (C'71)
Writing Fiction for Kids: A lunchtime conversation with Hank Herman; and Writing Your Own Column for Newspapers and Magazines
Hank Herman is the author of
Super Hoops
, a prize-winning series of 15 basketball novels for kids published by
Bantam Doubleday Dell. His other books for the juvenile market include
Spin A Sport
, a collection of sports stories
and games published by Innovative Kids, and
Marked Man And Other Soccer Stories
, published by Roxbury Park/Lowell
House. He is also an award-winning newspaper columnist: "The Home Team," his column in the Westport News, has taken several
top honors from both the New England Press Association and the Connecticut Press Club. He writes primarily about sports and
kids, and his work has appeared in national publications including
The New York Times
Outside
Men's
Health
Men's Fitness
Family Fun
Parenting
Ladies' Home Journal
, and
McCall's
November 9, 2004
Lisa Scottoline (C'77, L'81)
The Fifth Annual Gay Talese Lecture, featuring author and Penn alumnus Lisa Scottoline, presented by the Writers House in conjunction with the National Italian American Foundation
Lisa loves her job and it shows in her writing. Her bestselling novels, set in Philadelphia and featuring the all-female law firm of Rosato & Associates, have thrilled and entertained readers while succeeding in the near impossible... adding humor to the legal system. USA Today hails her writing as "sharp, intelligent, funny, and hip" and says that she "gives fans of legal thrillers a good, twisty plot, lively characters, and an all-around fun read."
Lisa is a New York Times bestselling author and her achievements have been recognized by universities and organizations alike. In addition to winning the Edgar Award, mystery writers' highest honor, Lisa has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from West Chester University and an Alumni Certificate of Merit by the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She also received the "Paving the Way" award from Women in Business and the "Distinguished Author Award" from Scranton University. All of Lisa's books draw on her experience as a trial lawyer as well as her judicial clerkships in the state and federal justice systems.
Born, raised and schooled in Philly, Lisa went to (where else?) the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated magna cum laude in just three years earning her degree in English with a concentration in the contemporary American novel, and she was taught writing by professors such as National Book Award Winner Philip Roth. Lisa went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania's Law School, graduating cum laude in 1981, and landed a coveted clerkship for a state appellate judge.
Always interested in writing, and a big fan of the hot new writers Grisham and Turow and the newly created legal thriller genre, Lisa realized that no women lawyers were writing legal thrillers, and decided to give it a shot. Three years later, Lisa had a finished book, a daughter starting school, and five maxed-out credit cards. Debt-ridden, Lisa took a part-time job clerking for a federal appellate judge. No more than a week later, her first novel, Everywhere That Mary Went was bought by HarperCollins' editor Carolyn Marino. Critically acclaimed, Everywhere That Mary Went was nominated by the Mystery Writer's of America for the Edgar Award, suspense fiction's premiere award, and the award went to...someone else. But, the very next year, Lisa's second book, Final Appeal was nominated for the Edgar and won!
A lifelong Philadelphian, Lisa still lives in the Philadelphia area and enjoys writing about her hometown city. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages.
November 1, 2004
David Koch (C'08)
A lunchtime program with Dave Koch and Josh Melrod, editors of The Land Grant College Review
Dave Koch graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. In the summer of 2002, he attended the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Middlebury, VT on a "waiter's" fellowship. He founded the Land-Grant College Review with Josh Melrod in April 2002 and has been working on it night and day ever since.
October 16, 2004
Deborah Burnham (G'76, GR'89), Kerry Sherin Wright (C'87), Stefan Fatsis (C'85), Courtney Zoffness (C'00), Robert Shepard (C'83, G'83)
Join the Writers House community as we host a Homecoming reading celebrating Penn alumni writers.
Deborah Burnham (G'76, GR'89) teaches English and writing at the University of Pennsylvania. Her book,
Anna and the Steel
Mill
won the First Book prize from Texas Tech University, and she has just finished another volume of poems,
Jazz in
the All-Night Laundromat
. She is finishing a novel,
Raising June
, set in the midwest during the Viet Nam war. For
over twenty years, she taught poetry at the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts, where she created the writing
program. A long-time resident of Powelton Village in Philadelphia, she makes gardens where they are needed and loves her
compost piles.
Kerry Sherin Wright (C'87) was the first Director of the Kelly Writers House. She holds MAs from Hollins College and Temple
University, and received her PhD from Temple in 2002. She has published in
Poet Lore
New England Review
Combo
The Philadelphia Inquirer
, and
Philadelphia Magazine
, among other places. Kerry is currently the
Director of a new Writers House at Franklin and Marshall College.
Stefan Fatsis (C '85) writes about sports for
The Wall Street Journal
and talks about it regularly on National
Public Radio's "All Things Considered." He is the author of
Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the
World of Competitive Scrabble Players
(2001).
Word Freak
was a New York Times bestseller and has been optioned for
development as a feature film by Academy Award-winning director Curtis Hanson. The book also has helped make board games cool:
Fatsis has been the color commentator for ESPN's first-ever television coverage of tournament Scrabble. He also is the author
of
Wild and Outside: How a Renegade Minor League Revived the Spirit of Baseball in America's Heartland
(1995). He lives
in Washington, D.C. with his wife, "All Things Considered" host Melissa Block, and their daughter, Chloe.
Courtney Zoffness co-founded and ran the Writers House open mic series "Speakeasy: Poetry, Prose and Anything Goes" in
1997. After graduating from Penn in 2000 with a BA cum laude in English and Fine Arts, Courtney worked as a writer for MTV Networks,
a columnist for Manhattan's
Our Town
and
West Side Spirit
newspapers and as Managing Editor of
The Earth
Times
in New York. She received a full scholarship to attend the Masters program in fiction at Johns Hopkins University in
2002, and stayed on as a Lecturer of creative writing. This fall she began the MFA program at the University of Arizona as a
Teaching Fellow. Courtney has published nonfiction in periodicals such as
Ladies' Home Journal
The Earth Times
Monthly
and the
Scarsdale Inquirer
, poetry in the anthology
Forever and a Day
, and fiction in
Redivider
and
The Pedestal Magazine
. She is currently at work on a collection of short stories that she hopes to
complete while a Resident Writer at the Vermont Studio Center in 2005.
Robert Shepard C'83, G'83 is a California-based literary agent and has been a publishing professional for 20 years. He
takes particular pride in having remained immersed in books from the moment he took his degrees in English, first serving as a
research assistant to President Emeritus Martin Meyerson, then during his nine years at Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, and
especially since founding his own literary agency, which is now celebrating its 10th anniversary year. "One way or another,"
he notes, he's also come to represent a number of Penn alumni authors, including today's panelist Stefan Fatsis C'85, the
author of
WORD FREAK
and
WILD & OUTSIDE
. Among other alumni with books on his list are financial columnist Jean
Sherman Chatzky C'86, art historian Robert Wojtowicz C'83, Gr'90, and music writer Richie Unterberger C'82. He is
particularly proud that one of his clients,
Washington Post
reporter Anthony Shadid, won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for
international reporting; Anthony's book about the people, history, and life of Baghdad will be published next year. A member
of the Authors Guild, Robert represents both narrative and practicalnon-fiction works and writes and teaches frequently
about books and writing. At Penn, where he was news editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian, he serves as secretary and past
co-chair of PennGALA and as a member of the Penn Alumni Communications Committee, which oversees publications including the
Pennsylvania Gazette. He lives in Berkeley, California with his partner, Bob Numerofyet another Penn alum.
October 7, 2004
Roy Vagelos (C'50)
A conversation with Roy Vagelos about his new book,
Medicine, Science, and Merck
, co-authored with Louis Galambos
Roy Vagelos grew up a "wise-cracking kid" in an immigrant Greek family living through the hard times of the 1930s in New Jersey. He left the family restaurant business to attend Penn, and graduated from the College in 1950. After several academic positions in medical schools, and time at the National Institutes of Health, he became a distinguished science administrator at Merck. Eventually he became Merck's CEO.
After developing a medication for another purpose that was ultimately found to cure River Blindness, a devastating disease occurring primarily in underdeveloped countries unable to pay for such medications, Merck donated the medicine to the World Health Organization for free distribution. Vagelos worked closely with former U.S. president Jimmy Carter on the River Blindness crisis, and Carter has cited him many times publicly for his boldness, leadership, and generosity.
In his memoir Roy Vagelos has two stories to tell - one about the growth and development of medical science in business and the other about the dream of the ethnic American realized - and these stories are social, national, and intellectual rather than merely personal in nature.
In 1997 Vagelos made a $10 million gift to establish the Roy Vagelos Scholars in Molecular Life Sciences at Penn, including an endowment and a scholarship fund. As Chairman of Penn's Trustees, Vagelos made undergraduate financial aid his highest priority. Under his leadership, Penn's capacity to offer undergraduate financial aid became greater and stabler than before.
2003-2004
May 15, 2004
Leslie Bennetts (C'70), Buzz Bissinger (C'76), Beth Kephart (C'82), and Stephen Fried (C'79)
"The Art of Fact": An Alumni Panel Discussion on Literary Journalism
Join Penn alumni in publishing - Leslie Bennetts (C'70), Buzz Bissinger (C'76), Beth Kephart (C'82), and Stephen Fried (C'79) - for a lively discussion on literary journalism and the current state of creative nonfiction writing in books and magazines
April 24, 2004
Adrienne Mishkin (C'03)
"A Year in Dialogue": A celebration of the work of 2003-2004 Writers House Junior Fellow Adrienne Mishkin
Adrienne Mishkin graduated from Penn with a degree in English and the Biological Basis of Behavior in May of 2003. During her undergraduate years she was an active member of the hub and was one of the coordinators of the speakeasy open mic series. Since graduation, she has been working for the Hospital of the University, and has maintained strong ties with the house, including collecting and producing poetry about the house as part of the Junior Fellows program, and continuing to attend speakeasy and various hub functions
April 14, 2004
Elizabeth Alexander
Brave Testimony Reading Series
Celebrated poet Elizabeth Alexander has taught and
lectured on African American art and culture across the country
and abroad for nearly two decades. She received a B.A. from
Yale University, an M.A. from Boston University, and the Ph.D.
in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
Alexander is an acclaimed professor, who currently teaches in
the English and African American Studies Departments at Yale
University. She has taught at Haverford College, the
University of Chicago, where she won the University's top
teaching prize, and Smith College, where she was the Grace
Hazard Conkling Poet-in-Residence and first director of the
Poetry Center at Smith College. In the summers, she is a
faculty member at Cave Canem Poetry Workshop.
Her play,
Diva Studies
, was produced at the Yale School
of Drama in May 1996.
Her most recent collection of essays on African-American
poetry, painting, and popular culture,
The Black
Interior
, was published in January 2004. In her
introduction to this work, she describes "the black interior"
as "an idea, a metaphor, of...black life and creativity behind
the public face of stereotype and limited imagination."
Widely touted, her book examines a wide spectrum of subject
matter, from the role of literary heavyweights such as
Gwendolyn Brooks and Michael Harper to Denzel Washington's
career as complex black male icon to the collective memory of
racial violence.
Her three previous collections of poetry include
Antebellum
Dream Book
The Venus Hottentot
, and
Body of
Life
. Her poems, short stories, and critical writing also
have been published in such journals and periodicals as the
Paris Review
Signs
Callaloo
American
Poetry Review
The Kenyon Review
The Village
Voice
The Women's Review of Books
, and
The
Washington Post
. In addition, her poems are anthologized
in dozens of collections. Her work is distinguished by its
examination of history, gender, and race.
April 12-13, 2004
Dayton Duncan (C'71)
A brunch and conversation with writer and documentary filmmaker Dayton Duncan
Dayton Duncan is an award-winning writer and documentary filmmaker. He has written
nine books, including
Out West: A Journey Through Lewis & Clark's America
(a
Book-of-the-Month Club alternate selection and finalist for the Western Writers of America's
Spur Award),
Grass Roots: One Year in the Life of the New Hampshire Presidential
Primary
, and
Miles from Nowhere: In Search of the American Frontier
. His most
recent book is
Scenes of Visionary Enchantment: Reflections on Lewis & Clark
, a
collection of essays released in conjunction with the Lewis & Clark bicentennial. He has
also written two books on the American west for young readers, and has published articles in
The New York Times
, the
Boston Globe
, and many other publications. Duncan has
worked for many years with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, as a consultant for Burns's
documentaries "The Civil War," "Baseball," and "Jazz." He is the writer and producer of
"Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery," a four-hour documentary broadcast in
November 1997 that won a Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, a Spur
Award from the Western Writers of America, and a CINE Golden Eagle, among others. He is the
co-writer and producer of "Mark Twain," a four-hour film biography of the great American
humorist which was broadcast on PBS in 2002. His most recent collaboration with Burns is
"Horatio's Drive," about the first transcontinental automobile trip. Duncan served as chief
of staff to New Hampshire governor Hugh Gallen, deputy national press secretary for Walter
Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign, and national press secretary for Michael Dukakis's 1988
presidential campaign. Duncan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971, and was
also a Fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics, and Public Policy.
President Clinton appointed him chair of the American Heritage Rivers Advisory Committee and
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt appointed him as a director of the National Park
Foundation. He holds honorary doctorates from Franklin Pierce College and Drake University.
For the last thirty years he has lived in New Hampshire with his wife, Diane, and their two
children.
March 31, 2004
David Stern
Workshop on Screenwriting Structure and "Now that I have this great idea, what do I do with it?" A Conversation on circulating screenplays with alumnus, screenwriter, playwright and director David Stern
David I. Stern began his career working in the New York theater for Director/Lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr. During his tenure with Maltby, he worked on the Broadway productions of
Miss Saigon
Nick & Nora
, and
Big
as well as a myriad of other smaller projects. Simultaneously, he began his theater writing career. He wrote the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue
Some Enchanted Evening
, the plays
Dreams & Stuff
and
Finders of Lost Luggage
, the NPR radio program
The 1990s Radio Hour and a Half
, and the musical
Snapshots
. David took a small detour into directing with the New York revival of
Starting Here, Starting Now
(nominated for a MAC Award) and a stint with
The American Project
at Circle in the Square. After his six years in New York, David migrated west to Los Angeles. There he wrote the television movie
Geppetto
for The Wonderful World of Disney, as well as numerous feature films including:
The Muppets Return
for Jim Henson Productions,
Wish
for director Ivan Reitman and Dreamworks,
Gettysburgville
for director Jon Turtletaub and Disney, and
Old Friends
for Revolution Studios. He is currently writing
The Magic Brush
for Miramax,
Betting the Farm
for Sony Pictures Animation, and is creating the television series
Omega Dome
for Fox Sports.
March 20, 2004
Dan Fishback
Dan Fishback is a songwriter and performance artist from New York City who often waxes sentimentally about his good times at the Kelly Writers House. His band, Cheese On Bread, just released its first album, "Maybe Maybe Maybe Baby." His first one-man performance piece, "Assholes Speak Louder Than Words" will premiere in New York this February. He is currently recording his solo material, and hopes to be done early this summer, leaving enough time to campaign for whoever will yoink the presidency from George W. Bush.
March 1, 2004
Lorene Cary (C'78)
LIVE taping
Lorene Cary is the author of two novels,
The Price of A Child
(1995), Philadelphia's and Buffalo, NY's One Book, One City choice for 2003, and
Pride
(1998), and a best-selling memoir,
Black Ice
(1991). In 1998 Cary
founded Art Sanctuary, a unique and successful arts series that brings
excellent black artists to speak, perform and give workshops at the Church
of the Advocate, a National Historic Landmark Building in North
Philadelphia. Currently a senior lecturer in creative writing at the
University of Pennsylvania, where she was a 1998 recipient of the Provosts
Award for Distinguished Teaching, Cary has received The Philadelphia Award
for civic service, a Pew Fellowship in the Arts Fellowship and honorary
doctorates from Colby College in Maine, Keene State College in New
Hampshire, and Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. She lives in
Philadelphia with her husband, the Rev. Robert C. Smith, and daughters
Laura and Zo
February 21, 2004
Beandra Davis
Art Gallery Reception: "Through Her Eyes: Works in Photography and Prose"
Beandrea Davis is a photographer and writer interested in using art to promote greater social justice in our world. She graduated from University of Pennsylvania in May 2003 with a degree in Afro-American Studies and French. Rooted in the belief that creating images with a camera or a pen is an inherently political act, she is interested in documenting individuals and communities who live on the margins of our society. She lives in the Cobbs Creek section of West Philadelphia.
February 2, 2004
Andy Wolk
Screenwriter and director (and Penn alumnus) Andy Wolk begins a three-day Symposium on Writing for Film, Theatre, and TV. Symposium participants meet with Mr. Wolk in the afternoon at the Writers House to discuss their scripts and treatments.
Andy Wolk directed the CBS hit
A Town without
Christmas
starring Patricia Heaton and Peter Falk. Prior to that he
wrote and directed the critically acclaimed and highly-rated
Deliberate
Intent
for FX. Starting Timothy Hutton, it was called by the
LA
Times
"taut, smart, provocative, well-acted and suspensefully
directed." Mr. Wolk received his third Writer's Guild nomination for this
movie. He also wrote and directed the much-lauded HBO drama
Criminal
Justice
which made
Time Magazine
's "Ten Best" list and was
named the best cable movie of the year. Starring Forest Whitaker and Rosie
Perez,
Criminal Justice
also received the Silver Prize at FIPA in
Cannes and was nominated for a Writer's Guild Award. Other cable movie
credits include writing and directing
The Defenders: Payback
Choice of Evils
, and
Taking the First
, three movies for
Paramount and Showtime starring Beau Bridges and E.G. Marshall and based
on the classic 60s show. Other TV movies include
Alibi
All Lies
End in Murder
Mr. Rock 'N Roll
, and
Kiss and Tell
. He
has also directed
The Sopranos
and episodes of
The Practice
NYPD Blue
Equal Justice
and others. Andy Wolk's writing
credits include
Natica Jackson
which starred Michelle Pfeiffer and
won him the Writer's Guild Award. Most recently he adapted Elmore
Leonard's
Bandits
for Miramax Films. Mr. Wolk's career started in
the theater. For Lincoln Center he directed Shakespeare's
Twelfth
Night
and
The Winter's Tale
, each of which had successful
off-Broadway runs. He has had plays produced as a writer and director at
Manhattan Theatre Club, LaMama, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Actors Theatre of
Louisville and all over Europe.
November 8, 2003
: Suzanne Maynard Miller (C'89)
Suzanne Maynard Miller's plays have been produced in Seattle, Los Angeles, New Haven, Providence and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She currently works with Open Classroom (an artist-in-residency program in the New York City public schools), and is guest teaching at Hunter College. In addition, Suzanne has taught playwriting at Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, in the Seattle and Providence public schools, and in Rhode Island's Adult Correctional Institution. Suzanne is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received her MFA in playwriting from Brown University, where she studied with Paula Vogel. She lives in Brooklyn.
November 8, 2003
: Allie D'Augustine (C'02)
Allie D'Augustine is a freelance writer who lives in the Bella Vista area of South Philadelphia. A 2002 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Writers House Junior Fellow for 2003-2004, she is currently pursuing a master's degree at Penn. She has written articles for a number of publications, including the
Philadelphia Inquirer, HealthState
magazine, and the
Pennsylvania Gazette.
Her poetry has been published in the
Philadelphia Inquirer
and in
Joss magazine.
November 4, 2003
: Greg Djanikian (C'71)
Greg Djanikian is the Director of the Creative Writing Program and Associate Undergraduate Chair of the English Department. He has published four collections of poetry,
The Man in the Middle, Falling Deeply into America, About Distance,
and most recently,
Years Later.
November 4, 2003
: Susan Stewart (GR'78)
Susan Stewart teaches the history of lyric poetry, aesthetics, and the philosophy of literature in the English department at Penn. Her most recent books of poetry are
Columbarium
, just published this summer, and
The Forest
. Her books of
criticism include
Poetry and the Fate of the Senses
Crimes of Writing
and
On Longing
. Next year the University of Chicago Press will publish her collected essays on art:
The Open Studio: Essays on Art 1987-2003
. In the Fall of 2000 she delivered the Beckman Lectures at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Stewart was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1997.
October 29, 2003
: Robert Cort (C'68 G'70 WG'74)
Robert Cort has produced fifty-two films, including
Runaway Bride, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Mr. Holland's Opus, Save the Last Dance
, and
Against the Ropes
starring Meg Ryan, which Paramount will release in the fall. A true Hollywood insider, for years Cort contemplated writing a history of the motion picture industry. When he finally put pen to paper, the result was
ACTION!
(Random House, 2003), a page-turning drama set against the last half century of the movie business. Prior to his career in the movie industry, Cort earned an MBA from the Wharton School, worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company, and served a two-year assignment with the Central Intelligence Agency. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Rosalie Swedlin, a manager of writers and directors.
October 20, 2003
: Adrienne Mishkin (C'03)
Adrienne Mishkin graduated from Penn with a degree in English and the Biological Basis of Behavior in May of 2003. During her undergraduate years she was an active member of the hub and was one of the coordinators of the speakeasy open mic series. Since graduation, she has been working for the Hospital of the University, and has maintained strong ties with the house, including collecting and producing poetry about the house as part of the Junior Fellows program, and continuing to attend speakeasy and various hub functions
October 20, 2003
: Phil Sandick (C'03)
Phil Sandick graduated in May from the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in English. He is an Assistant Program Coordinator at the Kelly Writers House. As an undergrad, he sang as a tenor with Penny Loafers, a co-ed a cappella group on Penn's campus. Last year, Phil was involved with "Write On" at the Writers House, where he served as a writing coach with students from the Lea School. He also writes fiction and short stories.
October 10, 2003
: John Edgar Wideman (C'63)
Roundtable Conversation featuring John Edgar Wideman, Daniel Wideman and Albert French.
October 7, 2003
: Dave Koch (C'98)
Dave Koch graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 and now attends the MFA program at Washington University in St. Louis, where he's also been awarded a teaching fellowship. Last summer, he attended the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Middlebury, VT on a "waiter's" fellowship. He founded the Land-Grant College Review with Josh Melrod in April 2002 and has been working on it night and day ever since.
September 29, 2003
: Lee Passarella
A lunch program with poet and
Atlanta Review
editor Lee Passarella, who also works as senior technical
writer for a major producer of accounting software and teaches English part-time at Georgia Perimeter College in
Lawrenceville, Georgia.
September 20, 2003
: Katie Haegele (C'98)
Katie Haegele is a contributing editor for the Philadelphia Weekly, where she writes a book column. Her creative non-fiction has appeared in the Utne Reader, Adbusters, and MediaBistro.com. She received a BA in linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998.
2002-2003
May 16, 2003
: Alumni Faculty Exchange
Penn's Office of Alumni Relations and the Kelly Writers House
invite Penn alumni of all ages to meet and reconnect with some of
the University's most well-regarded Professors.
Herman
Beavers
, Associate Professor of English and
Director of the Afro-American Studies Program;
Robert F. Lucid
, Professor Emeritus of English;
Karen
Rile
, Lecturer;
Witold
Rybczynski
Martin & Margy
Meyerson Professor of Urbanism and Professor of Real Estate;
and
Nancy
S. Steinhardt
, Professor of East Asian Art
in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Curator of
Chinese Art at the Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.
May 1, 2003
: Philadelphia Alumni Club
Penn's Philadelphia Alumni Club and Kelly Writers House present a book
discussion group, open to all Philadelphia-area alumni, led by Kelly
Professor of English and Faculty Director of the Writers House Al Filreis.
Filreis will lead an informal discussion of the new novel by Frederick
Busch,
A Memory of War
April 24, 2003
: Lew Schneider
Alumni Visitors
Alumni writers and editors inspire us, year after year, by sharing their writing and leading workshops and discussions about everything from children's books to screenwriting. Alumni give generously to our current students - as mentors, featured readers, workshop leaders, editors, and teachers - helping us to fulfill one of our key missions: to nurture the talents of young writers by introducing them to the full range of writing practices and possibilities.