The Literature Program at Stockton University

Bravo! Emily Van Duyne for this wonderful mention of "Loving Sylvia Plath" written by Denise Duhamel.

The Best American Poetry The Best American Poetry. The news of the world, brought to you by poets.

Our PBS Books Readers Club is hosting an author talk with the amazing Percival Everett on July 31! 🎉 He'll be discussing his latest book, James, a deep and compelling reimagining of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the viewpoint of Jim, Huckleberry's friend and escaped slave. 📖 Don't miss this engaging and thought-provoking discussion! Stay tuned!

What have you read? What would you add?

The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century (Gift Article) As voted on by 503 book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

The Mighty Red
A Novel
By Louise Erdrich
October 1, 2024

The Mighty Red In this stunning novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich tells a story of love, natural forces, spiritual yearnings, and the tragic impact of uncontrollable circumstances on ordinary people’s lives. History is a flood. The mighty red . . . In Argus,

In honor of the holler-day, a poem from The Ekphrastic Review a while back.

Parade

What I mean is…is parade is history,
celebrated after the war is won,

the enemy done and the myth sips a cordial,
lights a cigar and polishes its story.

It was pageantry all afternoon.
And in the evening it was debris.

What we need is a song, you and me.
Let’s have us a song--

I place a guitar in Tennessee
And strike a chord

A minor chord that floats
Like feathery floss

Across the breezy slopes
And in the sky

Ain’t that the sky
A chorus of pundits cries out sharply

Things as they aren’t
trump what they are

What they are

This and a few others can be read at.

Five Poems after David Hockney After Wallace Stevens After Picasso, by Peter E. Murphy Five Poems after David Hockney After Wallace Stevens After Picasso Author's note: "In 1937 Poetry Magazine published most of Wallace Steven’s poem, “The Man With The Blue Guitar,”...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/27/books/review/gabrielle-zevin-interview-by-the-book.html?unlocked_article_code=1.3k0.ImQO.i60Tqq8e2GaT&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Gabrielle Zevin Loves Edith Wharton, but Not ‘Ethan Frome’ (Gift Article) “It doesn’t make me esteem Wharton less. If anything, I take comfort in it, as a novelist.” Her own smash book “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is out in paperback.

Congratulations to the Alliance Heritage Center for receiving the 2024 Innovative Archives Award! 👏

A digital museum and archive centering on the lived experiences of the first successful Jewish farming village in the United States housed at Stockton has been recognized for its preservation and accessibility efforts by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC).

The Alliance Heritage Center, established in 2019, preserves and disseminates the history and culture of the Alliance Colony and similar Jewish farming communities in southern New Jersey.

📰 Read more at: https://stockton.edu/news/2024/alliance-heritage-center-wins-archive-award.html

New York City has adopted a new literacy regimen under which many public elementary schools are effectively giving up the teaching of books, Xochitl Gonzalez writes. The initiative is called, ironically, NYC Reads.⁠ https://theatln.tc/dYBr2ZJH
⁠
Schools can choose one of three programs: two of which implement the science of reading by teaching whole books, and a third, named Into Reading, that replaces individual books with one textbook for each grade, all called “myBook.” Those textbooks include phonics lessons and excerpts of longer narratives. Instead of reading and discussing whole books, students will frequently study a few paragraphs at a time.⁠
⁠
More than two-thirds of New York City school districts have selected the Into Reading curriculum; Phase 1 of the program began in 2023, and districts had to adopt a curriculum immediately. While some full books are included within “myBook,” and the publisher says students have opportunities to read whole books, teachers, parents, and students have had a different experience with the curriculum, Gonzalez writes. At Brooklyn School of Inquiry, parent Alina Lewis successfully opposed Into Reading, organizing the community based on its disenchantment with the curriculum. Testimonies from students revealed they missed reading books and were bored.⁠
⁠
Not all schools have parents with the resources and know-how of BSI. Phase 1 included many of the districts in the city’s most heavily immigrant, Black, and brown areas, Gonzalez writes. Schools in Phase 2 had more time to evaluate programs and train teachers on the curriculum. “It’s not an accident who is Phase 1 and Phase 2,” Lewis, a former teacher and school administrator, told Gonzalez. “I think we took them by surprise, because they literally sought all the either Black and brown districts or the heavily immigrant districts. And they figured they’d be quiet.” ⁠
⁠
“Knowing how to read is crucial, but loving to read is a form of power, one that helps kids grow into curious, engaged, and empathetic adults," Gonzalez continues. “And it shouldn’t belong only to New York’s most privileged students.”⁠
⁠
🎨: Tyler Comrie for The Atlantic

Job Opportunity: Associate Director, LGBT Center at UPenn

Associate Director of the LGBT Center University Overview The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Pe...

There's still room for you at Saturday's poetry festival in Burlington NJ. I will be offering advice that will "motivate and inspire" you and, who knows, maybe even make you laugh. And if you're free, so is the festival. See you there.

Poetry Festival Register Registration is free, but please consider making a donation to support the Arts Guild. Poet Biographies PETER E. MURPHY was born in Wales and […]

The Norton Library Podcast
But I Wouldn't Give Myself (The Awakening, Part 2)

But I Wouldn't Give Myself (The Awakening, Part 2) - The Norton Library Podcast In Part 2 of our discussion on The Awakening, editor Laura Fisher tells us about her first encounter with the novel, discusses her approach to teaching it, explores her favorite line of the text, provides a killer Awakening playlist, and more! L...

The Norton Library Podcast
Don't Nap for Self-Care. Wake up! (The Awakening, Part 1)

Don't Nap for Self-Care. Wake up! (The Awakening, Part 1) - The Norton Library Podcast In Part 1 of our discussion on The Awakening, we welcome editor Laura Fisher to discuss Kate Chopin's writing career, the novel's reception and themes, as well as some of its major characters. Laura R. Fisher is an associate professor of English a...

Here’s a story to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasions on D-Day, a story of how my GI father fell in love with a barmaid in a small city in Wales, how he got wounded and sent back to NYC, how he returned to Wales to marry his beloved. A story of how I learned a secret or two about my origins.

peteremurphy.com

The recent episode schedule for The Last Word, a podcast about writers and writing in the South Jersey area and beyond:

March 21st Jacob Camacho, associate professor of creative writing here at Stockton writes from a Chamoru perspective about island life and shares the themes he's most passionate about in his writing.

April 4th Liz Clark Wessel writes and translates from her home in Stockholm, Sweden, and participates in the Dodge Poetry Festival as well. She reads from her new book of poems, None of It Belongs to Me

April 18th Julian Talamantez Brolaski, former Pew fellow and visiting poet at UPenn writes about the natural world, California, and shares some new songs.

May 2nd Deborah Bayer, a beloved local physician who worked for decades with AIDS patients in the Atlantic City area reads from her book of poems, Rope Made From Bandages

May 16th Meghan Privitello chats about their recent published poetry and projects

May 31st Emily Van Duyne talks about her new exploration of the life of American poet Sylvia Plath, Loving Sylvia Plath: A Reclamation.

June 13th Agri Ismael discusses his new novel Hyper, about financial currency and its supremacy over the lives of a family who has fled Kurdistan.

You can listen to the podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4lD3aCxwV8DHseTW9uQntN

The radio versions (including re-runs) will play on 91.7 WLFR FM this summer, every other Thursday, the same days that the podcast drops.

The Last Word Listen to The Last Word on Spotify. A radio show and podcast on writers and writing, this show features writers from everywhere, but most often, writers from South Jersey in the USA. Transcripts of episodes are available on request at our Instagram .

Every now and then, when it seems necessary, I repost this article I wrote a while back.

Donald Trump vs. Richard Cory in Atlantic City Commentary Politics February 3, 2016 Donald Trump vs. Richard Cory in Atlantic City The casino magnate is hollow inside—and that's how he likes it. By Peter E. Murphy Share Tweet E-mail Image from Flickr user thirddesign. I started teaching in Atlantic City “B.C.”—which means before casinos....

Alice Munro, a Literary Alchemist Who Made Great Fiction From Humble Lives

Alice Munro, a Literary Alchemist Who Made Great Fiction From Humble Lives (Gift Article) The Nobel Prize-winning author specialized in exacting short stories that were novelistic in scope, spanning decades with intimacy and precision.

2024 Pulitzer Prize Winners & Finalists 2024 Prizewinners and finalists, including bios, photos, jurors and work by winners and finalists

Paul Auster, the Patron Saint of Literary Brooklyn, Dies at 77

Paul Auster, the Patron Saint of Literary Brooklyn, Dies at 77 (Gift Article) With critically lauded works like “The New York Trilogy,” the charismatic author drew inspiration from his adopted borough and won worldwide acclaim.

Who knew that "Blasting Emily" could be such a blast. GIve it a shot or two or three.

Based on the best seller, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tommorow by Gavbrielle Zevin.

Emily Blaster Play EMILY BLASTER, the game inspired by Gabrielle Zevin's novel TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW.

Call 1-855-763-6792 to hear Chrissy Malvasi read her poem, "Time." We all need forgiveness, and Chrissy helps me get closer to it.

The Marygrove Conservancy has partnered with us to present the 35th Contemporary American Authors Lecture Series (CAALS). Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, former poet laureate of the United States, and professor of English and African and African American Studies at Harvard, Tracy K. Smith, will read from her award-winning work followed by discussion lead by Nandi Comer, the Michigan Poet Laureate to discover more about Prof. Smith’s work and legacy. Save the date for April 19 at 8 PM ET!

Sponsorship of this program has been brought to you by: The Lillian and Don Bauder Foundation, Michigan Arts and Culture Council, National Endowment for the Arts, and The Kresge Foundation & AARP Michigan.

LITT Bash: candid smiles and camaraderie.

Congrats to the writing award winners!

New Sigma Tau Delta members!

Congratulations to the literature essay award winners!

Congratulations to the Creative Writing award winners!