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Faculty in the Creative Writing Program recorded short videos throughout the Fall 2020 semester, each reading a selection from their own work. An exhortation by alumna Toni Morrison (M.A. ’55) was the inspiration for the project. Morrison famously wrote, “we speak, we write, we do language,” in considering the artist’s task in troubled times.“The...
Poet and professor Valzhyna Mort participated in an author interview about her new book on National Public Radio's Morning Edition program:"And when she was a teenager, in her native Belarus, she started to look for music in language. She became a poet; her new book is Music for the Dead and Resurrected, and one of the poems that caught my eye is...
Ishion Hutchinson, associate professor of English and director of the creative writing program, has an essay on election grief, "Reliving the Funeral," in the New York Review of Books:"The day after that day, four years ago, was funereal. Most people I spoke to said it was like a funeral, and it was like a funeral too to other people they had...
One week after Election Day, Black feminist scholars will examine the current socio-political and cultural moment in “Triangle Breathing: A Conversation with Hortense Spillers and Alexis Pauline Gumbs, moderated by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon," associate professor of English.REGISTER HERE to attend this free event!"We will think through the...
On Monday, November 2, 2020 at 5 pm professor Ella Maria Diaz will be presenting a slideshow and talk about the sociopolitical, cultural and artistic traditions of Dia de los Muertos in the United States. Diaz’s 2017 book, Flying Under the Radar with the Royal Chicano Air Force, won the 2019 Book Award for the National Association for Chicana...
The first literary festival featuring multiple African languages will take place virtually from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2 as part of Afrolit Sans Frontières, a series of virtual literary festivals for writers of African origin. The festival will take place simultaneously on the Afrolit Sans Frontiéres Facebook page, YouTube and on Twitter via the handle...
The Fall 2020 Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series continues with writer, editor, and alumna Wah-Ming Chang (MFA '06) on Thursday, October 29 at 7:00 p.m. EST.REGISTER HERE to attend this free event!Conversations with other writers have been foundational to Wah-Ming Chang’s work, from her graduate student years through a career in the...
Jonathan Branfman, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of English, has published an op-ed on gay marriage, "Unmasking the ‘Right to Harm:’ the US Supreme Court and the Attack on LGBTQ Lives," responding to Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito."Does the right to discriminate trump the right to live freely? Supreme Court Associate Justices...
For the October 6 edition of the All Things Equal podcast, host Gary Stewart is joined by Cornell professors Carol Boyce-Davies and Anne Adams on the Toni Morrison reading of The Bluest Eye on October 8.Listen to the podcast here.Carole Boyce Davies is Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters and professor of Africana studies and English....
The College of Arts and Sciences is celebrating gifts from alumni, many through the Winokur Future Faculty Initiative, which have allowed the college to create a number of new endowed professorships.The two newest professorships have been awarded to Carole Boyce Davies, the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters and professor in Africana...
The Fall 2020 Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series continues with writer, activist, and professor M. Evelina Galang. Galang presents a craft talk, "Truth or Dare: Grounding Beautiful Sorrow, Beautiful Sky in Historical Accuracy," on Thursday, October 15 at 7:00 p.m. EST.What is a writer’s responsibility in creating fiction? How does a...
Chelsea Mikael Frazier, Faculty Fellow in the Department of English, has a powerful new piece, "Black Feminist Ecological Thought: A Manifesto," in Atmos Magazine:"In mainstream films, books, and political discourse exists the erroneous notion that Black women and their communities do not care about the natural environment, sustainability, or...
The Fall 2020 edition of the Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series has gone virtual!Poet, professor, and Cornell alumnus Michael Prior (MFA '17) will premiere the series with a reading from his magnificent new collection, Burning Province, on Thursday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.REGISTER HERE to...
Goldwin Smith Professor of English Helena María Viramontes' work, "The Moths," is featured in The Chills at Will Podcast, hosted by Pete Riehl:"On Episode 17, Pete discusses 'Incredible Endings and Mother-Child Relationships,' as seen in writing by Pat Mora and Helena María Viramontes."Mora's poem,'Elena' has been a favorite of Pete's in his...
Carole Boyce Davies, Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters, has an article in The Crisis, "The Promise of Kamala Harris:""We still revel in claiming firsts: First Black person to be president, senator, congressman. And this is not just a United States phenomenon. It occurs across Africa and the African Diaspora. "Following enslavement...
Department of English alumna Christine "Xine" Yao spoke about "Imposter Syndrome and Other Anxieties" in an episode of her PhDivas series podcast."Do you ever feel like you don't belong? Imposter syndrome names the feeling of being out of place that even successful people can experience -- and this is widespread in all levels of the academy."Liz...
Valzhyna Mort, assistant professor of English, has a superb poem, "To Antigone, A Dispatch," in The New Yorker.Read the full poem on The New Yorker website, here.The poem is published in the print edition of the August 31, 2020, issue.Valzhyna Mort was born in Minsk, Belarus. Her new poetry collection, Music for the Dead and Resurrected,...
Caroline Levine co-wrote an essay with Russ Castronovo for Inside Higher Ed about rethinking the academic calendar: "It's just one example of how the pandemic could open up opportunities to leave the well-trodden pathways of tradition in favor of smarter alternatives.""Fearful that Thanksgiving 2020 will turn out to be a super-spreader event for...
Carole Boyce Davies, professor of Africana studies and English, was quoted on Kamala Harris on 33 media outlets, including KATU, in an article titled "Polls suggest broad approval of Biden's VP pick, but some aren't sold on Harris," by Stephen Loiaconi:"WASHINGTON (SBG) — Former Vice President Joe Biden’s choice of Sen. Kamala Harris as his...
Ella Maria Diaz, associate professor of English, published an essay on language and academic criticism for the Diacritics blog:"In the midst of a national reckoning over visual and symbolic representation in the United States—or, the grassroots takedowns and official removals of statues of colonial figures and founders of the nation during the...
Ploughshares is pleased to announce that “Gas Stations of New Mexico” by Ashley Hand will be published in the Summer 2020 issue.About the IssueWe are pleased to announce the upcoming release of our Summer 2020 issue. As guest-editor Celeste Ng writes in her introduction, “Stories are more than documentation: they are a portal in time, through...
Christine "Xine" Yao, Ph.D. '17, was invited to contribute to the BBC Rethink Project, which asked leading thinkers from across the globe how the coronavirus crisis can make us rethink the world. In her program, Yao explains how masks are an expression of commitment to the collective good."PhDiva Xine Yao was invited to contribute to the BBC...
Literary scholar Jonathan D. Culler, the Class of 1916 Professor of English and Comparative Literature in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been elected to membership in the British Academy.Culler is one of 86 new fellows in the humanities and social sciences elected to the prestigious academy.A specialist in literary and cultural theory...
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Program is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 Biddy Martin Graduate Prize and the LGBT Studies Undergraduate Prize. The Biddy Martin Graduate PrizeDavid Eichert, J.D., Cornell Law School"It ruined my life": FOSTA, Male Escorts, and the Construction of Sexual Victimhood in American...
Valzhyna Mort, assistant professor of English, has written a new essay on the Belarusian writer Ales Adamovich for the Criterion Collection: "Read and See: Ales Adamovich and Literature out of Fire.""A nonverbal man sits on a bench on a village street. With his hands, he tells the story of his village. His hands say that all of the villagers...