English News Archive

A snippet of Erica Fretwell's piece, “From Lynchings to the Capitol: Racism and the Violence of Revelry.”: “The braiding of entertainment and violence that occurs when white people riot is the twisted line that leads from 19th-century lynching to the insurrection. Lynching photographs teach us that today’s images of the failed coup – on the one hand clownish, on the other terrifying – are not dissonant; in reality, they go hand-in-hand. Enjoyment is not a by-product but a central feature of white people’s violence towards Black people and, more broadly, Black political power.”

Eric Keenaghan’s interview on Interchange (hosted by Doug Force)--"How to Be Antifascist"--about Muriel Rukeyser & her book The Life of Poetry was aired and published online.

Edward Schwarzschild will discuss his novel "In Security" with Adam Johnson, author of "The Orphan Master's Son." The event is online and will be held from 6:00-7:00 pm Friday, January 21. Tickets are available through Eventbrite by clicking the article title.

Naomi Shihab Nye wrapped up her poetry column this year by featuring James Crews' poem "The Body Electric." James Crews is a lecturer in the English department, and regularly teaches creative writing. The article, including his poem can be found here.

Professor Erica Fretwell was interviewed by Philip Mackenzie for his podcast The Deep Dive to discuss her book Sensory Experiments (2020). The title of the episode is "Psychophysics, Mysticism, and Meaning," and in it they discuss the arcane science of psychophysics and what it tells us about culture, race, and the world around us. The episode aired December 3. You can listen by clicking the article to activate this link.

We are happy to announce the launch of a special portfolio featuring the work of five of our students, most of whom are recent graduates, at the website Muriel Rukeyser: A Living Archive. The site is hosted at Eastern Michigan University and is published by Professor Elisabeth Daumer. The five contributors--Sam Buczeksmith, Modina Jackson (who received the 2020 Arlene F. Steinberg Memorial Award for her essay), Vered Ornstein, Lily Pratt, and Chloe Ross--were all students in Professor Eric Keenaghan's Fall 2019 course on Muriel Rukeyser. Click on this article to access all of the links

In a Novelist’s Hands, the Job of a TSA Worker Comes to Life — with Thrills. Edward Schwarzschild, Creative Writing program director, wrote a literary thriller, In Security, whose official publication release is Thursday, October 1. It’s been praised by four Pulitzer Prize authors: Richard Russo, Adam Johnson, Gilbert King and William Kennedy.

Mari Christmas, our recent alum and now assistant professor at Allegheny College, was recently selected as one of the recipients of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award. She will be giving a reading at NYU (hosted virtually) this Thursday, September 17 at 7pm. It will be a great event and it’s a wonderful chance to support one of our own.  This is an incredibly prestigious honor. Mari was one of six recipients of the award this year. You can read more about each of them on the Rona Jaffe Foundation site.    Full press release for the award and reading