University of Minnesota English

Congrats to Prof Daniel Philippon, whose new book on sustainable food writers and activists Wendell Berry, Carlo Petrini, and Alice Waters is out now! Bill McKibben says: "These are three of the most interesting people in the world, and so it is no wonder that their stories intertwine and ricochet in fascinating ways"
Book celebration on Sept 30:

The Farmer, the Gastronome, and the Chef: In Pursuit of the Ideal Meal A celebration of Professor Daniel Philippon's new book exploring sustainable food systems and the impact of writers and activists Wendell Berry, Carlo Petrini, and Alice Waters.

We're looking for a new assistant professor! Tenure track starting fall semester 2025 with a 2/2 course load. Scholar with strength in literature and culture/media in English produced after the turn of the 20th century through the present, with a primary focus on colonialism and its afterlives. Deadline October 11. Spread the word!

English Seeks Assistant Professor Tenure track position in 20th and/or 21st Century Literatures in English! Application deadline: Oct 11.

Good morning sunshine.

The Department of English offers deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of former Professor Lillian Bridwell-Bowles, a faculty member from 1981 to 2004 who was a leader in writing instruction programming and pedagogy.

Remembering Lillian Bridwell-Bowles The feminist scholar of writing studies was a leader in community-University engagement and an award-winning teacher.

Coming up this Sat: The floorshow for Autoptic, Minneapolis' comics and independent print festival, is at the U's Coffman Union a week from this Saturday! (Sunday is all about workshops and programming at MCAD.) Free & open to the public:

Autoptic | The 2024 Autoptic Festival – August 17th and 18th in MPLS, MN Autoptic | The 2024 Autoptic Festival - August 17th and 18th in MPLS, MN

"What poetry did for me was to teach me close attention to language. I care about ideas. I care about thinking critically about whatever comes to me. I care about the truth"

Lewis Hyde was a Sociology major, but we'll claim him too because he helped edit the literary mag here--& he wrote cool books like The Gift!
University of Minnesota Alumni Association

Tales of a Life Writer Lewis Hyde has followed his pen from a start at the Minnesota Daily to being lauded by literary heavyweights like Margaret Atwood.

"My soul's job has always been....to record and bear witness to my family’s and my ancestors’ (human) experiences, as their lives and their abilities to survive, to thrive, and to love the best way they knew how were and are the very foundation and essence of my own life" - Alum Taiyon J Coleman

My Soul's Job Excerpt from Traveling without Moving: Essays from a Black Woman Trying to Survive in America.

Retired Prof Charles Baxter's Blood Test makes the list!
"A new book from Baxter, an American master, is always a cause for celebration—and this one sounds hilarious and off-kilter in the best way, following a middle-American divorced dad who discovers that he has a predisposition to murder"

Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2024, Part Two Well, it’s been a pretty bad year so far, all things considered, with the strong potential to get worse. But as always, there’s a silver lining (of sorts): the books. Now that the year&…

Prof Kim Todd on bears in Sonoma County: "It’s part of a trend all over the country: bears venturing into small towns and suburbs.... In one surreal occurrence, last year a black bear climbed a tree in Frontierland in Disney World, a real wild animal exploring a fake version of the 'Wild West.'"

Black Bears Move Into the North Bay - Bay Nature For the first time in history, black bears are living in North Bay counties, occupying an ecological niche once filled by grizzlies.

Not only an English alum but a longtime English professor here! Congratulations, Prof Emeritus Wright.

Distinguished scholar and trailblazing agent of change John Wright (MA ‘71, English; PhD ‘77, American Studies) has been named a recipient of the University's Outstanding Achievement Award!

Check out the many impacts he made at the U and elsewhere 👇
https://cla.umn.edu/news-events/news/outstanding-achievement-award-john-s-wright

Next Tuesday Prof Julie Schumacher will share from her latest comic novel The English Experience (and possibly address what it's like to lead a group of students in study abroad!) at Magers & Quinn Booksellers, along with Carl Elliott (The Occasional Human Sacrifice):
https://www.magersandquinn.com/event/Carl-Elliott-and-Julie-Schumacher-in-conversation/351

"I like to joke that I’m the only Z-list reality star that’s also a novelist, like I might have cornered the market on that Venn diagram." MFA alum Sally Franson interviewed by Prof V. V. Ganeshananthan re: her new novel about a Swedish reality TV show and her experience as a Swedish reality show contestant on the Fiction/Non/Fiction at LitHub podcast.

Sally Franson and Emily Nussbaum on Reality TV Novelist Sally Franson and critic Emily Nussbaum join host V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about reality television. Franson, a recent reality TV show winner whose new novel, Big in Sweden, is from the…

"It’s been said before, but an English degree helps you learn how to think. The study of fiction helps us better understand much of the non-fiction we read every day, such as magazine and newspaper articles, and even helps us understand conversations with one another. This is an invaluable asset in just about any career—and in life, for that matter." - BA alum Bryan Winkler, technical writer

Technical Writing & Editing: A Career for English Majors Bryan Winkler leads a team that develops proposals to win government energy project contracts.

So many lit events around town this week! MFA alum Asha Thanki launches her "emotionally powerful" debut novel Thurs with Prof Ganeshananthan at Magers & Quinn. BA alum Patrick Nathan (new novel The Future Was Color) helps present Santiago Jose Sanchez's new Hombrecito July 16 at Moon Palace. Our former EK Visiting Writer Kao Kalia Yang reads from her three new books July 17 at Milkweed. & MFA alum Kathryn Savage (Groundglass) interviews Georgia Cloepfil July 18 at Next Chapter about her "riveting" love letter to soccer, The Striker and the Clock. Time to plan a excursion....

Hernan Diaz, our fall ‘24 Freier visiting author, made the top 50 of the new NYT “100 Best Books of the 21st Century.” Sign up for our free Oct 9 reading when registration opens in August: you can ask what he thinks of “best of” lists! More info to come.

grieving gets its discipline done,
that’s who’s not gone’s abiding
rehearsal

Prof Douglas Kearney shares and reads a new , "To Ghost Is to Stay":

To ghost is to stay. by Douglas Kearney | Zócalo Public Square Douglas Kearney is the author of nine books. In 2023, Kearney received the Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism from the Poetry Foundation. He teaches at the University of Minnesota.

What does English major Alisha Wong most enjoy about our home, Pillsbury Hall? “Externally, it’s one of the prettiest buildings on campus. Internally, the best students are housed in there.” ❤️ The junior is balancing English studies with a major in Human Resources and Industrial Relations.

“The English department has allowed me to learn something I love while simultaneously letting me unravel things about who I am,” says Wong.

Antique, out-of-print, first-edition, vintage, classics, broadsides, etc. etc.: browse all sorts of bookish delights this Friday & Saturday at the annual Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair! In St. Paul at Hamline U:

Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair: July 12th - 13th 2024 The Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair: A summer book fair for everyone.

"Is it ambitious historical fiction? A precisely crafted character study? A disarming work of magical realism? Yes."

Happy pub day to MFA alum Asha Thanki and A Thousand Times Before! The Star Tribune Books review (gift article):

University of Minnesota grad Asha Thanki's debut novel is epic mystical 'A Thousand Time Before' Asha Thanki, who received her master's degree from the University of Minnesota, debuts with novel

“Whether through discovery, making connections between people and other people or resources and people, libraries are all about access" Cheers, Minnesota Daily

Opinion: Libraries are an essential public resource As far as government institutions go, libraries may be the least offensive. Libraries provide free books, information, internet access, and shared space to question, learn or simply exist. Public libraries are the epitome of a public good. They are non-excludable, free, non-rivalrous and many people...

Hello from Pillsbury Hall! Medusa is basking today, in between Minnesota showers....

With sadness, we share the news that MFA alumna Laurie Lindeen has died. A 2004 graduate, she published the memoir Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story (Atria, 2007), which describes her co-founding of the influential all-woman 1990s-era rock band Zuzu's Petals. Deepest condolences to Lindeen's family, friends, and colleagues.
[Gift article]

Minneapolis musician-turned-writer Laurie Lindeen of Zuzu's Petals dies at 62 Her 2007 memoir, "Petal Pusher," colorfully documented the music career that gave way to writing and starting a family.

The new UMN president, Rebecca Cunningham, starts today--and our Pillsbury Hall steps starred in the Strib interview feature.

Gift article: https://strib.gift/y830lacpj

Emily Buchwald (PhD ’71), the founder of local publishers Milkweed Editions and Gryphon Press, is profiled in the new Minnesota Alumni Magazine! “Emilie is really one of the people who invented the idea of independent nonprofit publishing,” says the UMN Press' Douglas Armato. “Partly through Emily’s creativity and influence, we ended up with this vibrant publishing scene in Minneapolis."

From Pen to Page Book publisher and editor Emilie Buchwald knows the importance of a good story, well told.

Got room in the beach bag? How about a “sidesplitting yet wistful” tale of a Swedish reality TV show starring Americans? A “riveting, timely” story of a gay Hungarian immigrant working as a screenwriter in McCarthy-era Hollywood? A “hilarious” climate-change novel featuring the voice of an orca? Check out new publications from English alums and faculty at the link in our bio.

What is English major Bernadette Recheck doing this summer? She and 31 other fellows are spending six weeks in Washington DC discussing significant issues in government, leadership, and public life with scholars and political leaders. Recheck was selected as a fellow of the Hertog Foundation’s summer Political Studies program. Congrats!

Home - Hertog Foundation Fellowships & seminars for college undergrads and recent grads. Study the theory and practice of politics in Washington, DC. Stipends & housing provided.

All hail the recipients of our 2024 Ruth Christie Teaching Award: Lecturers Heather Holcombe and Sruthi Narayanan; Prof Andrew Scheil, and Senior Lecturer Ann Tandy-Treiber. Who selected the winners? Junior and senior English majors vote to determine which faculty have had the most positive influence on their educations.

Prof Douglas Kearney wrote the libretto for the new “The Comet/Poppea," commissioned by the American Modern Opera Company, a combo of a W.E.B. Du Bois story and Monteverdi opera:

A New Opera Mashes Up Monteverdi and W.E.B. Du Bois (Gift Article) “The Comet/Poppea” radically pares down a classic and blends it with a premiere by George E. Lewis for an original show that will travel widely.

Prof V. V. Ganeshananthan wins the Women's Prize for Fiction!

Together in all their glory!
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction and Doppelganger by Naomi Klein winner of the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction: https://bit.ly/_WP2024


With thanks to Audible, Baileys and Findmypast

Thrilled to be collaborating with ReEntry Lab next year to offer writing workshops accessible to justice-impacted writers, as well as facilitating connections to faculty and programs here at the U that focus on the carceral system--all via a Liberal Arts Engagement Hub residency:

Announcing our 2024-25 Liberal Arts Engagement Hub Residencies Check out our 2024-25 Liberal Arts Engagement Hub Residencies and learn how these vital partnerships are deepening our culture of engagement with the community.