Reading Matters, Vol. 13, Issue 1, Aug. 30, 2007

From (under) the Chair's Desk

Welcome to the buzz of excited new students, the interchanges on intellectual projects in progress, and the rumble of administrative demands—and of building works not quite finished on time—that represent the start of another new academic year! Welcome, too, to the UI under a new president.

As I mentioned on Sunday, it is interesting to note the prominence of the Writing University on President Mason’s website. I can honestly say that I had no idea I was speaking to that new president when, at Chris Merrill’s welcoming party for the IWP, I answered a stranger wearing dark glasses’s friendly query about the size of the English Department with a slightly flippant, if highly informative, “992 majors, 30,100 credit hours, 52 faculty with more than 0% appointment or 45.5 FTEs, 113 Ph.D. students, 44 MFA students,” followed by an explanation of some of the conventions of our Sunday opening-of-semester meeting. (“Well, you pass the test” seemed a slightly strange response until the identity of my interlocutor gradually dawned on me.)

Our 291 BAs prove to be part of a cohort of 55,265 degrees in English granted in 2005. One statistic that I’ve always worried about not knowing, though, has to do with the employment prospects and destination of those graduates of an English program. If many of our students commit to completing an undergraduate degree because they see it as serving their job prospects, shouldn’t we know whether that is really the case and what kinds of jobs they are getting? An essay in this season’s ADE Bulletin gives me comfort by suggesting that we are not the only ones who haven’t known the answer to those questions, but that answers are now at hand. A huge study, the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates, conducted for Congress by the National Science Foundation, with a sample large enough to generalize about the approximately 1.5 million college graduates with a bachelor’s degree in English currently alive in the nation, discovered that 75% were employed, 12% retired, 7% not working for family reasons, and 3% not working because they had been laid off or no job was available, which seems a fairly impressive employment rate. I am very surprised by the number who went on to earn further degrees: 33% held a master’s degree, 5% a Ph.D., and 8% a professional degree. Most fun of all is discovering what job these English graduates hold, although the information is blunted to some extent by the survey’s choice of categories. Here are the top most popular job destinations for those with an English degree:

15% Elementary and secondary school teachers
12% Artists, broadcasters, editors, entertainers, public relations
8% Administrative and secretarial
8% Marketing and sales
7% Lawyers and judges
5% Other managers
5% Medical and health practitioners, nurses, psychologists, and technologists
4% Computer and information science occupations
4% Postsecondary teachers: English
with other categories all taking less than 4%.

I find it both surprising and hugely heartening that the secondmost common destination for English majors is a category fronted with “artists,” even if I might worry about the same category containing “public relations.”

For further details of the survey and of trends in our profession, see the front essay in this season’s ADE Bulletin, which I will leave in the newly refurbished Zimansky Room—with thanks to Gayle for leading the redecorating effort, to Gayle, Cherie, Erin, and Barbara for making many of the choices, and to Provost Hogan for special funding from a year-end budget for the new furniture. The Provost even sent a personal note with the funding fondly remembering his own days visiting the Zimansky Room as a history graduate student. Who knows but that with a new provost from the humanities and another year-end budget we might not be able to afford a few more chairs!

Welcome back to the productive, exciting, and always just a little unpredictable, world of the English Department!

Publications, Presentations, and other Faculty Matters

Linda Bolton has been awarded a 2006-07 Collegiate Teaching Award, the top teaching award given by each college. She joins six other CLAS professors in receiving the award. If you'd like to see Linda's teaching in person, she will lead a Saturday Scholars course titled “Ethical Activism in the Poetry of Adrienne Rich and Mary Oliver" on Oct. 20 (Sat.), at 10:00 a.m. in Schaeffer Hall, Rm. 40. More on the Saturday Scholars program is available here, and more on Linda's presentation is here.

Matt Brown's new book, Pilgrim and the Bee, is out from the University of Pennsylvania Press. From the website: "In The Pilgrim and the Bee, Matthew P. Brown examines book culture and the rituals of reading in early New England, ranging across almanacs, commonplace books, wonder tales, funeral elegies, sermon notes, conversion relations, and missionary tracts. What emerges is a new understanding of the book at once as a material good, existing within the economies of buying, selling, giving, and receiving; as an object of reverence and a medium for the performance of reading; and as an organizational system for word, sound, and image."

Corey Creekmur's new book is out: Cinema, Law, and the State in Asia. According to Palgrave's website, "crosses the conventional border between the analysis of on-screen and off-screen intersections of law and cinema. It not only addresses the representation of law on screen (for example, through discussions of how lawyers, police, and prisons are depicted, or how courtroom sequences function as narratives), but also focuses on how the state shapes and regulates cinema. The volume addresses the distinct contexts of China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam, along with an integrative introduction that puts the essays and themes into context for scholars and students alike."

In June, Corey led a summer workshop on terrorism and mass media for Iowa middle and high school educators. The workshop was part of the 2007 University of Iowa International Programs' Summer Institute for Teachers. According to an article on the CLAS website, members of the workshop "examined representations of terrorism in a broad range of media including broadcast journalism, popular cinema, literature, video games, Internet sites and comics. The course included numerous lecture and discussion sessions as well as a panel featuring journalists from the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Iowa City Press-Citizen and Daily Iowan. The group of teachers traveled to Cedar Rapids as part of the workshop to visit the television studios of KCRG, an ABC affiliate, and meet with the editorial staff. They also visited the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids and spoke with former Imam Ahmed Elkhaldy."

John D'Agata was promoted to Associate Professor at the end of last year.

Patricia Foster has short stories forthcoming in the Antioch Review and Southern Humanities Review and an essay in River Styx.

Mark Isham gave seminars in workplace writing titled: "Business Writing Workshops Designed for Engineering Professionals" on June 19, 2007 and August 22, 2007 at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids. The seminars are part of a series of day long workplace seminars Mark has been giving at Rockwell Collins since 2006. The seminars will continue into 2008.

Kevin Kopelson has just published his fifth book: Sedaris (University of Minnesota Press). It concerns both David Sedaris and Marcel Proust. Kopelson's essay "The Sonic Mirror" has just appeared in The Iowa Review. His essay "My Cortez" will appear later this fall in the London Review of Books. "The Happy Wanker," a limerick cycle, will appear in Urban Molecule.

Bill Kupersmith is starting retirement off with a bang. His new book, English Versions of Roman Satire in the Earlier Eighteenth Century, is just out from University of Delaware Press. The book explores the satiric eighteenth-century imitations of Roman satires. According to the press's website, the book "discusses not only well-known examples such as Pope's Imitations of Horace and Samuel Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes, but puts them into context by considering lesser known examples of the genre, by canonical authors such as Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, and Christopher Smart, and an array of lesser poets." Bill will be starting a new job soon, as chaplain at a hospital in Omaha.

Teresa Mangum--and her blending of classroom teaching and service learning--is featured in the University's Be Remarkable campaign. The linked article describes how Mangum's classes blends the "reading, thinking, writing, and focused discussion" of traditional classroom experiences with public engagement that extends outside of the classroom and into the community. In the past, students in her classes have volunteered at animal shelters, and students in one of her classes this fall will be staging the suffragist play "Votes for Women!" in cooperation with the Johnson County League of Women Voters and the UI Center for Human Rights.

Dee Morris has won a Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. The award honors faculty members for work representing a significant contribution to excellence in public education. The UI news release is here.

Judith Pascoe had an Op-ed article about the fate of Napoleon's penis in the New York Times on May 17.

Horace Porter was the commencement speaker at the Spring 2007 CLAS commencement ceremony.

Univ. of Chicago Press has recently published Garrett Stewart's Framed Time: Toward a Postfilmic Cinema. The press's website describes how Stewart shows how "American and European narratives confront this shift [from film reel to digital pixel] differently: while Hollywood movies tend to revolve around ghostly afterlives, psychotic doubles, or violent time travel, their European counterparts more often feature second sight, erotic telepathy, or spectral memory. Stewart questions why these recent plots, in exploring temporality, gravitate toward either supernatural or uncanny apparitions rather than themes of digital simulation."

News Matters

Chris Merrill is trying to get Iowa City designated a City of Literature.

Curriculum Matters

Following is the schedule for the Fall, Winter 2008 and Spring, Summer 2009 Area committee meetings. All the meetings will be in Gerber. Faculty will soon be receiving information from Bluford Adams (Curriculum Chair) and Sharry Lenhart regarding the curriculum process. If you cannot attend meeting(s) of interest to you, please make your wishes known to 1) Convener of meeting and 2) Bluford Adams and follow-up with them after the meeting(s) to insure that your needs were addressed.

All meeting will be held in Gerber Lounge

Date Area Convener Time
9/11 (Tue.) Medieval & Early Modern Lit & Culture Sponsler 4:00-5:15 p.m.
9/12 (Wed.) Modern British Lit & Culture Gidal 4:00-5:15 p.m.
9/13 (Thr.) American Literature & Culture Adams 4:00-5:15 p.m.
9/18 (Tue.) Transnational Lit & Postcolonial Studies Fox 4:00-5:15 p.m.
9/19 (Wed.) Nonfiction Writing Hemley 4:00-5:15 p.m.
9/20 (Thr.) Literary Theory & Interdisciplinary Studies Wittenberg 2:30-4:00 p.m.

Of Interest

A collection of rare books and manuscripts from collections at the University of Iowa will go on public display for the first time at the UI Museum of Art (UIMA) in the exhibition "From Monks to Masters: The Medieval Manuscript and the Early Printed Book," June 23-Oct. 7.

In conjunction with the exhibit, a series of lectures are underway that may be of interest. A UI news release on the exhibit is here. Details of all remaining talks in the series are listed below in the calendar. Take special note of Jon Wilcox's talk on Sept. 20 and Matt Brown's talk on Oct. 4

Graduate Matters

Mike Chasar's Ph.D. dissertation "Everyday Reading: U.S. Poetry and Popular Culture, 1880-1945" (directed by Dee Morris and defended this summer) was selected for the Graduate College's D.C. Spriestersbach award for the best Iowa dissertation in the Humanities.

Deborah Manion was selected to participate in the Joyce Symposium this summer at Trieste.

Matt Miller won this year's Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, & Publishing's (SHARP) Graduate Student Prize.

NWP Matters

On July 11, Jennifer Banash read from her new novel Hollywoodland: An American Fairy Tale at Live At Prairie Lights.

Joshua Casteel, a student in both the Iowa Playwrights Workshop and the Nonfiction Writing Program, was one of nine winners in the National MFA Playwrights Festival, and his 10-minute script "The Interrogation Room" was performed in New York City. A UI news release is here.

April Freely is teaching a course this fall called The Civically Engaged Reader: Part I as part of The Osher Lifetime Learning Institute at the U of I. A UI news release is here.

Bonnie Rough (2005) has won the prestigious Bush Fellowship in Minnesota, a hotly contested honor with an amazing $48,000 award attached to it. Bonnie is nearly finished with her memoir on genetic heredity and will use the fellowship to complete a collection of essays.

Undergraduate Matters

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has announced its scholarship winners for the 2007-08 academic year. The following students with ties to the English Department won awards.

David Drustrup, a sophomore from Des Moines studying economics and English was awarded the $3,000 Bill and John Fenton Scholarship. The award in based on the student's exemplary academic record and thoughtful essay exploring the impact of their academic and non-academic UI experiences on their academic, professional and personal goals.

Tara M. Kramer, a junior from Dubuque studying English with a concentration in creative writing was awarded the $1,500 F.C. Denkmann Liberal Arts and Sciences Scholarship. The award is based on financial need, academic promise, academic accomplishments and special challenges in a student's background or current circumstances.

Lindsey Delevan, a senior from Tabor majoring in art and art education with a minor in English was awarded the $2,000 Mary Pelechek Scholarship in the Arts. This scholarship is awarded to a student majoring in art, dance, music or theatre.

Angela Murillo, a senior from West Des Moines majoring in English, Spanish and geosciences was awarded the $2,500 Ralph K. and Maxine J. Hibbs Scholarship. The award is based on financial need and academic accomplishments.

Amy Mattson, a first-year student from Minneapolis majoring in English and pre-medicine was awarded the $2,500 Ralph K. and Maxine J. Hibbs Scholarship. The award is based on financial need and academic accomplishments.

Ten University of Iowa undergraduates were awarded Stanley Undergraduate Scholarships for International Research. These awards, ranging from $2,000 to $3,000, are presented to UI undergraduate students who undertake small-scale research projects that require research abroad. Amy Domeyer, a junior English and pre-medicine major with a minor in Spanish and a global health certification in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will travel to Ecuador this summer to study the impact of clean water on quality of life. Domeyer will visit the Maquipucuna Bioreserve and a neighboring town of Yungilla to observe the effect of clean water supply on the community members. Her research proposal is titled "Quality of Water, Quality of Life: Investigation of Water Quality and Health in Ecuador's Maquipucuna Bioreserve."

A UI news release is here.

Staff Matters

Cherie L. Hansen-Rieskamp has been awarded one of two 2007 Robert F. Ray Staff Scholarships. The scholarship provides $1,500 to be used over the course of an academic year for educational expenses.

Department Calendar

Aug. 30 (Thr.), 12:00 p.m., Rockwood Fellowship Hall, Congregational Church, 30 N. Clinton St. in Iowa City—Christopher Merrill, director of the University of Iowa International Writing Program, will present "A Levantine Journey" at a noon luncheon of the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council. A UI News Release can be found here.

Aug. 30 (Thr.), 7:30 p.m., UIMA Carver Gallery—Sara T. Sauers will give a talk titled “Early Modern Typography.” Her talk is part of the lecture series presented by University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibit "From Monks to Masters: The Medieval Manuscript and the Early Printed Book."

Aug. 31 (Fri.)—Deadline for submission of reports to DEO on Career Development, Faculty Scholar, or Global Scholar Awards taken in Spring 2007.

Sept. 2 (Sun.), 5 p.m., Prairie Lights—South African fiction writer and poet Tom Dreyer and Bosnian/German fiction writer Sasa Stanisic will be joined by UI writing fellow Matt Davis, a recent graduate of the Nonfiction Writing Program for an IWP reading. A UI news release is here.

Sept. 5 (Wed.), 2-3 p.m., Gerber Lounge (304 EPB)—A "meet and greet" reception will be held for the Nonfiction Writing Program.

Sept. 6 (Thr.), 3:45 p.m., Gerber Lounge (304 EPB)—Departmental Meeting.

Sept. 6 (Thr.), 7:30 p.m., UIMA Carver Gallery—Elizabeth Aubrey will give a talk titled “From Singer’s Lips to Scribe’s Pen: Music in Medieval Manuscripts.” Her talk is part of the lecture series presented by University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibit "From Monks to Masters: The Medieval Manuscript and the Early Printed Book."

Sept. 7 (Fri.)—Deadline for submission of Career Development Award Applications to DEO. More details here.

Sept. 7 (Fri.). 5:00 p.m., Shambaugh House, 430 N. Clinton—Two members of the International Writing Program will give a reading: screenwriter/novelist Khaled Khalifa of Syria and esaayist/poet Nirwan Dewanto of Indonesia

Sept. 9 (Sun.), 5:00-6:00 p.m., Prairie Lights Bookstore—Filipino fiction writer Angelo Lacuesta and Russian prose writer and critic Ksenia Golubovich, now in residence at the International Writing Program (IWP), will be joined by UI Writing Fellow Steve McNutt in a free reading.

Sept. 10 (Mon.), 3:30-5:00 p.m., Richey Ballroom (Room 376) of the Iowa Memorial Union—CLAS annual faculty meeting

Sept. 11 (Tue.), 4:00-5:15 p.m., Gerber Lounge—Curriculum Area Committee Meeting: Medieval & Early Modern Lit. & Culture, convened by Claire Sponsler

Sept. 12 (Wed.), 1:00 p.m., 331 EPB—NWP Advisory Committee Meeting

Sept. 12 (Wed.), 4:00-5:15 p.m., Gerber Lounge—Curriculum Area Committee Meeting: Modern British Lit. & Culture, convened by Eric Gidal

Sept. 13 (Thr.), 4:00-5:15 p.m., Gerber Lounge—Curriculum Area Committee Meeting: American Lit. & Culture, convened by Bluford Adams

Sept. 13 (Thr.), 7:30 p.m., UIMA Carver Gallery—Denise Filios will give a talk titled “Constructing Power: Illuminated Manuscripts in Medieval and Golden Age Spain.” Her talk is part of the lecture series presented by University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibit "From Monks to Masters: The Medieval Manuscript and the Early Printed Book."

Sept. 14 (Fri.)—Deadline for submission of Faculty Scholar and Global Scholar Award Applications to DEO. More details about the Faculty Scholar Awards are here, and more information about the Global Scholar Awards can be found here.

Sept. 14 (Fri.), 12:00-1:30 p.m., Meeting Room A, Iowa City Public Library—The first panel discussion of the 2007 residency of the University of Iowa International Writing Program (IWP) will address the topic "The Most Important Book on My Bookshelf . . . The Writer as Reader." The speakers will be poet István László Géher from Hungary; fiction writer, nonfiction writer and critic Lawrence Pun from Hong Kong; and fiction writer Alex Epstein from Israel.

Sept. 14 (Fri.), 4:00-5:30 p.m., Gerber Lounge—English Department Faculty Colloquium: Matt Brown on "Undisciplined Reading"

Sept. 14 (Fri.), 5:00-6:00 p.m., Shambaugh House, 430 North Clinton Street—Two fiction writers, currently in residence at the International Writing Program, will present a free, bilingual reading. This event will feature Khet Mar from Burma and Kim Reon from South Korea.

Sept. 15 (Sat.), 5:30-7:30 p.m., 404 Linder Rd.—English Department reception

Sept. 16 (Sun.), 5:00-600 p.m., Prairie Lights Bookstore, 15 South Dubuque Street—Two IWP fiction writers, Alex Epstein from Israel and Hana Andronikova from the Czech Republic, will read from their work at Prairie Lights Bookstore. They will be joined by Lee Posna, currently a student in the Writers’ Workshop in poetry.

Sept. 16 (Sun.), 8:00-10:00 p.m., E105 Adler—Filipino fiction writer Sarge Lacuesta will introduce the film ‘The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveiros’ (The Philippines: dir. Auraeus Solito, 2006) in a free screening, part of the IWP Cinemathèque, a series that gives IWP participants the opportunity to present films from their home countries to an American audience. There will be a short talk/Q&A session after the screening.

Sept. 18 (Tue.), 4:00-5:15 p.m., Gerber Lounge—Curriculum Area Committee Meeting: Transnational Lit. & Postcolonial Studies, convened by Claire Fox

Sept. 19 (Wed.), 4:00-5:15 p.m., Gerber Lounge—Curriculum Area Committee Meeting: Nonfiction Writing, convened by Robin Hemley

Sept. 20 (Thr.), 2:30-4:00 p.m., Gerber Lounge—Curriculum Area Committee Meeting: Literary Theory & Interdisciplinary Studies, convened by David Wittenberg

Sept. 20 (Thr.), 7:30 p.m., UIMA Carver Gallery—Jonathan Wilcox will give a talk titled “Questions of Authenticity: Medieval Charters, Medieval Manuscripts, and Modern Facsimiles.” His talk is part of the lecture series presented by University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibit "From Monks to Masters: The Medieval Manuscript and the Early Printed Book."

Sept. 20 (Thr.), 7:30 p.m., UI Museum of Art—The first “Writers-in-Residence” reading will feature Ashley Butler (from the Nonfiction Writing Program). She will be joined by German fiction writer Sasa Stanisic and Kenyan journalist and playwright Peter Kimani, both IWP participants. A UI newsrelease is here.

Sept. 21 (Fri.), 12:00-1:30 p.m., Meeting Room A, Iowa City Public Library—Four writers in the International Writing Program will present a short talk on “Writing for an Age of Migration, Diaspora, Exile.” Presenters will be Salman Masalha (Israel), Ksenia Golubovich (Russia), Tom Dreyer (South Africa), and Aziz Shakir-Tash (Bulgaria).

Sept. 21 (Fri.), 5:00-6:00 p.m., Shambaugh House, 430 North Clinton Street—Two writers, currently in residence at the International Writing Program, will present their poetry and prose in a free, bilingual reading. This event will feature Ra Heeduk from South Korea and G. Ayurzana from Mongolia. A UI newsrelease is here.

Sept. 23 (Sun.), 5:00-6:00 p.m., Prairie Lights Bookstore, 15 South Dubuque Street—Two IWP fiction writers, Christos Chryssopoulos from Greece and Kavery Nambisan from India, will read from their work at Prairie Lights Bookstore. They will be joined by Joseph Bradshaw, currently a student in the Writers’ Workshop in poetry.

Sept. 23 (Sun.), 8:00-10:00 p.m., E105 Adler—Russian poet and prose writer Ksenia Golubovich will introduce ‘The Return’ (Russia: dir. Andrei Zvyagintsev, 2003) in a free screening, part of the IWP Cinemathèque, a series that gives IWP participants the opportunity to present films from their home countries to an American audience. There will be a short talk/Q&A session after the screening.

Sept. 27 (Thr.), 7:30 p.m., UIMA Carver Gallery—Glenn Ehrstine will give a talk titled “Medieval Studies in Iowa.” His talk is part of the lecture series presented by University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibit "From Monks to Masters: The Medieval Manuscript and the Early Printed Book."

Sept. 28 (Fri.)—2007 Old Gold Summer Fellowship reports due to DEO with a copy to the Dean's Office. More details here.

Sept. 28 (Fri.), 12:00-1:30 p.m., Meeting Room A, Iowa City Public Library—Four writers in the International Writing Program will present a short talk on the topic, "The Most Important Book on My Bookshelf…” Presenters will be Khet Mar (Burma), Ra Heeduk (South Korea), G. Ayurzana (Mongolia), and Al-Mustaqeem Radhi (Malaysia)

Sept. 28 (Fri.), 5:00-6:00 p.m., Shambaugh House, 430 North Clinton Street—Two Malaysian writers, currently in residence at the International Writing Program, will present poetry and prose in a free, bilingual reading. This event will feature Malim Ghozali (poet and prose writer) and Al-Mustaqeem Radhi (essayist and translator).

Sept. 30 (Sun.), 5:00-6:00 p.m., Prairie Lights Bookstore, 15 South Dubuque Street—Two writers in the International Writing Program, Penelope Todd from New Zealand and Aziz Shakir-Tash from Bulgaria, will read from their poetry and prose at Prairie Lights Bookstore. They will be joined by Mike Judd, current student in the Writers’ Workshop in poetry.

Sept. 30 (Sun.), 8:00-10:00 p.m., E105 Adler—Syrian screenwriter and novelist Khaled Khalifa will introduce two films, ‘Black Stone’ (Syria: Khaled Khalifa, screenplay, 2006) and ‘Jackal Nights’ (Syria: dir. Abdulatif Abdulhamid, 1990) in a free screening, part of the IWP Cinemathèque, a series that gives IWP participants the opportunity to present films from their home countries to an American audience. There will be a short talk/Q&A session after the screening.

Oct. 1 (Mon.)—Deadline for early registration for the Bedell Nonfiction Writing Conference

Oct. 4 (Thr.), 7:30 p.m., UIMA Carver Gallery—Matthew P. Brown will give a talk titled “The Persistence of the Medieval in Early American Book Culture.” His talk is part of the lecture series presented by University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibit "From Monks to Masters: The Medieval Manuscript and the Early Printed Book."

Oct. 7 (Sun.), 5:00-6:00 p.m., Prairie Lights—The IWP's 40th anniversary celebration kicks off with this reading featuring Daniel Weissbort, Matvei Yankelevich, and Michael Judd. Poets and translators Weissbort and Yankelevich read from their work along with Judd, a poet and Writers’ Workshop student.

Oct. 7, (Sun.), 7:00 p.m., Bijou Theater—The IWP's 40th anniversary celebration continues with showings of “Jellyfish” (2007, Israel) and “The Magic Gloves” (2003, Argentina). “Jellyfish”, Camera D’Or winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, was directed by Etgar Keret (IWP ’01) and is being co-sponsored by Hillel. “The Magic Gloves” was written, directed, and co-produced by Martin Rejtman (IWP ’00). Both films shown with English subtitles.

Oct. 8 (Mon.), noon-1:30 p.m., AJB E105—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with the following panel: World Lit Net: Writing in the Age of Global Communication. Editors and writers (Matvei Yankelevich, Michael Orthofer, Chad Post, Cris Mattison, Dede Felman, and Eliot Weinberger; Russell Valentino and Nataša Durovicová, moderators) discuss the value of the Internet as a tool of dissemination, a locus of literary community, and a potential engine for (or roadblock to) “world literature.”

Oct. 8 (Mon.), 3:30-4:30 p.m., 140 Schaeffer—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with the ILT Panel: Reading the Other: In the first hour of this class, which will be open to the public, poets Tomaž Šalamun, Marvin Bell, and Eliot Weinberger discuss the impact of world literature on their work in particular and on their native literature in general.

Oct. 8 (Mon.), 7:00-8:00 p.m., Prairie Lights—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a reading by Greek novelist Ersi Sotiropoulos (IWP ’81) and Egyptian novelist and IWP 2007 resident Hamdy el-Gazzar.

Oct. 9 (Tue.), noon-1:30 p.m., 140 Schaeffer—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a discussion titled "The World’s Voice In Our Ear: Influences of World Literature on Writing and Writer." Panelists, including Eliot Weinberger and IWP 2007 resident István László Geher (Hungary), discuss the influence of world literature on their work and on their native literature.

Oct. 9 (Tue.), 4:00-5:30 p.m., SHSE—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a Russian-Language Reading, featuring Open World participants Maria Galina, Leonid Kostyukov, Vladimir Sovetov, and Ekaterina Taratuta in this bilingual event.

Oct. 9 (Tue.), 8:00-9:00 p.m., SHSE—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a reading by poet and essayist Eliot Weinberger and Indian novelist and IWP 2007 resident Kiran Nagarkar read from their work.

Oct. 10 (Wed.), noon-1:30 p.m., Meeting Room A, Iowa City Public Library—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a panel titled "The Business of Arabic-Language Literature," in which IWP 2007 residents Hamdy el-Gazzar (Egypt), Khaled Khalifa (Syria), Salman Masalha (Israel), Al-Mustaqeem Radhi (Malaysia) and Aziz Shakir (Bulgaria) discuss the business of Arabic-language writing and literature. Moderated by Ahmed Kanna, a UI postdoctoral fellow specializing in Middle East studies.

Oct. 10 (Wed.), 4:00-5:30 p.m., SHSE—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a Spanish-Language Reading. This bilingual reading, hosted by Roberto Ampuero (IWP ’96, Chile), features UI visiting professor Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez, local journalist Oscar Argueta, and IWP 2007 residents Elena Bossi (Argentina) and Beaudelaine Pierre (Haiti).

Oct. 10 (Wed.), 8:00-10:00 p.m., Theater B, UI Theater Building—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a performance of “All The World’s A Page: The Global Play Project.” The play, created by IWP playwrights around the world within a 24-hour period, premieres in Iowa City.

Oct. 11 (Thr.), noon-1:30 p.m., Meeting Room A, Iowa City Public Library—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a panel titled "Creating and Promoting African Literature." IWP 2007 residents Tom Dreyer (South Africa) and Peter Kimani (Kenya), along with former UI associate dean Sandra Barkan and Rwandan poet and UNI professor of English Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure, discuss the business of writing and literature on the African continent. Moderated by Peter Nazareth, UI professor of English. Co-sponsored by the African Studies Program.

Oct. 11 (Thr.), 5:00-6:30 p.m., E105 AJB—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with an event called "Scattered Seeds: Writers from China and the Chinese Diaspora." IWP alumni Li Rui (2002, China), Xi Chuan (2002, China), Cheng Chou-yu (1968-71, Taiwan/USA), and Ya Hsien (1967, Taiwan/Canada) read and discuss their work and lives.

Oct. 11 (Thr.), 7:00-9:30 p.m., Bijou Theater—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a viewing and discussion of the film "The Devil Came on Horseback" (2007). The film exposes the Darfur conflict through the eyes of witness and former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle. Following the screening is a panel discussion featuring producer Jane Wells, former UI associate dean Sandra Barkan, UI School of Journalism associate professor Leo Eko, Kenyan journalist and IWP 2007 resident Peter Kimani, and Sudanese former journalist Abdalla Mohamed Abdalla. Co-sponsored by the African Studies Program and the UI Center for Human Rights. NOTE: This film will also be shown on October 10 at 9:00 pm and October 14 at 8:00 pm. All screenings are free.

Oct. 12 (Fri.)—Deadline for graduate students to apply for the Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy, co-directed by Teresa Mangum and David Redlawsk. Details are available here.

Oct. 12 (Fri.), 11:00 a.m.-noon, Conroy Room, Dey House—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a Q&A with Slovenian poet and Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor Tomaž Šalamun (IWP ’71).

Oct. 12 (Fri.), noon-1:30 p.m., Meeting Room A, Iowa City Public Library—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a panel titled "State of the Art: Literature From Where I Stand." IWP 2007 residents James T.C. Na (China/Philippines), Simone Inguanez (Malta), Nirwan Dewanto (Indonesia), Khaled Khalifa (Syria), and Kei Miller (Jamaica) discuss “world perspectives and home literatures.”

Oct. 12 (Fri.), 4:00-5:15 p.m., Senate Chambers, Old Capitol—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a panel titled "Cultural Diplomacy: The Writer and the World." Discussion of the roles writers and their advocates play in increasing understanding between cultures. Panelists scheduled to appear include Richard Arndt, author of "First Resort of Kings: US Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century," former Congressman James Leach, and UI professor of English Harry Stecopoulos.

Oct. 12 (Fri.), 5:30-6:30 p.m.. Old Capitol—IWP's 40th anniversary continues with a reception and the opening of the exhibit "Writing@Iowa."

Oct. 12 (Fri.), 8:00-9:00 p.m., Shambaugh Auditorium—IWP's 40th anniversary concludes with the Paul Engle Memorial Reading, given by Slovenian poet and Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor Tomaž Šalamun (IWP ’71).

Oct. 18 (Thr.), 3:00-4:00 p.m., Hanson Family Humanities Gallery, Old Capitol Museum—Gallery Talk, "The Writer's Desk" by Kevin Kopelson, in conjunction with the exhibition, A Community of Writers: A History of Creative Writing at The University of Iowa.

Oct. 18 (Thr.), 7:00 p.m., Prairie Lights Bookstore—Jeff Porter will read from his new book Oppenheimer Is Watching Me. See the event live at Prairie Lights, listen live on the Internet at http://writinguniversity.uiowa.edu, or catch the reading when it is broadcast on Prairie Lights Live. Hour-long "Live from Prairie Lights" productions air at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturdays, and 7 p.m. Sundays on WSUI-AM 910 in Iowa City, WOI-AM 640 in Ames and KRNI-AM 1010 in Cedar Falls. A program is also broadcast at 5 p.m. Sundays on KSUI-FM 91.7 in Iowa City.

Oct. 19 (Fri.), 4:00-5:00 p.m., Gerber Lounge—English Department Faculty Colloquium: Garrett Stewart on "Little Dorrit and the Narratography of Closure"

Oct. 19 (Fri.), 4:00 p.m.—Guided bus tour of a portion of the Iowa River leading to Iowa Falls where, at 7:00 p.m., environmental and legal historian Ted Steinberg—author of Nature Incorporated—will read at the public library. This event is one of three planned by Barbara Eckstein in response to American Rivers placing the Iowa River on its 2007 most endangered rivers list. Each event includes a guided tour of a portion of the river with site visits where experts will explain their work and a reading/lecture by a talented writer and expert on the plight of another river within the US or beyond it.

Oct. 20 (Sat.), 10 a.m., Schaeffer Hall, Rm. 40—Linda Bolton will lead a Saturday Scholars course titled “Ethical Activism in the Poetry of Adrienne Rich and Mary Oliver." More on the Saturday Scholars program is available here, and more on Linda's presentation is here.

Oct. 24 (Wed.) - Oct. 25 (Thr.), Old Brick Auditorium, 26 E. Market St.—2007 Obermann Humanities Symposium: From Bourgeois to Boojie: Black Middle-Class Performances

Oct. 25 (Thr.), 8:00 p.m., McBride Auditorium—A staged reading of Elizabeth Robins’s 1907 play Votes for Women! will be performed. This staged reading represents an innovative collaboration of students in a UI English class, faculty and students in Theatre Arts, the 18th-and 19th-Century Interdisciplinary Colloquium of International Programs, the Center for Human Rights, the Women’s Resource and Action Center, and the League of Women Voters. Members of the University of Iowa and the local community will appear in the production (and small speaking parts are still available). For more information, contact Teresa Mangum, teresa-mangum@uiowa.edu.

Oct. 26 (Fri.)—2008-2009 Flexible Load Assignment applications due to DEO. More details here.

Oct. 29 (Mon.), 7:00-8:00 p.m., Prairie Lights—Kevin Kopelson will read from his new book, Sedaris (University of Minnesota Press).

Nov. 1-3 (Thr.-Sat.)—NonfictioNOW Conference

Nov. 7 (Wed.) through Feb. 2008, North Lobby of the Main Library—Blake at 250, an exhibition in honor of William Blake’s 250th birthday. The exhibit is curated by Mary Lynn Johnson, John Grant, Judith Pascoe, and Eric Gidal and will feature the library’s collection of limited edition reproductions held in Special Collections.

Nov. 8 (Tue.), 7:30 p.m., UI Museum of Art—This “Writers-in-Residence” reading will feature NWP student Colleen Kinder. Joining her will be David Hamilton.

Nov. 9 (Fri.), 4:00-5:00 p.m., Gerber Lounge—English Department Faculty Colloquium: Judith Pascoe on Sarah Siddons and Bette Davis

Nov. 14 (Wed.), 8:00 p.m., Clapp Recital Hall—A celebratory concert of musical settings for works by William Blake by Virgil Thomson, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter, and others, led by Professor Katherine Eberle of the University of Iowa School of Music. Performers include Eberle, mezzo-soprano; John Muriello, baritone; Stephen Swanson, baritone, Kelsey Williams, soprano; Lynn Maxfield, tenor; and Rene Lecuona, piano.

Nov. 15 (Thr.)—Joan Shelley Rubin will be the University of Iowa Center for the Book’s Brownell speaker on Thursday, Nov. 15.

Nov. 28 (Wed.)—The celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Blake will be celebrated with a birthday cake in the library and a reading at Prairie Lights featuring members of the UI community reciting favorite passages from his works. More details as they become available.

Dec. 14 (Fri.)—2008 Old Gold Summer Fellowship applications due to DEO. More details here.

Feb. 1 (Fri.)—Deadline for submission of reports to DEO on Career Development, Faculty Scholar, or Global Scholar Awards taken in Fall 2007.

Feb. 21 (Thr.), 7:30 p.m., UI Museum of Art—This “Writers-in-Residence” reading will feature NWP student Elena Passarello. Joining her will be Mary Ruefle.

March 2-March 4, 2008—The Center for the Book will host Michael Warner as an Ida Beam Scholar.

Apr. 17 (Thr.),7:30 p.m., UI Museum of Art—This “Writers-in-Residence” reading will feature NWP student Amelia Bird. Joining her will be Stephen Kuusisto.

May 2 (Fri.)—The Graduate Awards Ceremony

Other Calendars

UI Master Calendar of Events | UI Academic Calendar | The Writers Workshop Reading Schedule

Future Issues

Please send any items for Reading Matters or the departmental calendar to Carolyn Jacobson at carolyn-jacobson@uiowa.edu. Reading Matters appears every other Thursday during the semester, and submissions should be received by 5 p.m. the day before. Please send submissions for the next issue by 5 p.m. on Wed., Sept. 12. Thanks very much.