Dr R. Victoria Arana to participate in "Behind the Looking Glass"

As a pioneer in the field of Black British writing, Dr. Arana has been invited (in August 2011) to join Britain’s newest academic project, “Behind the Looking Glass," as one of a small core of leaders, to kick off the UK’s Black British Literature Research Network. The initial planning meeting of the core group is to take place at Leicester University (in Leicester, England), October 7-8, 2011. Dr Arana is Professor of British Literature and a member of the Department's graduate faculty. She is also the author of several seminal texts on Black British travel writing.

Britney Wilson wins The Black Theatre Network S. Randolph Edmonds Young Scholars Competition

Wilson's essay "Every Woman in No Man's Land: Triumphs of the Modern Black Woman at the Expense of the Black Male Character in the Works of Lynn Nottage" has won 1st place in the Division I level of the 2011 S. Randolph Edmonds Young Scholars Competition sponsored by the Black Theatre Network. As first place winner, she has been invited to deliver her paper at the 2011 Black Theatre Network Conference in Winston-Salem, N.C., to attend a special Young Scholars awards ceremony and reception in her honour during the conference, and her paper will be published in the conference edition of BTNews. In addition to a monetary prize, she will also receive a free one-year membership in the Black Theatre Network. Congratulations Britney!

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Dr. Jon Woodson publishes Anthems, Sonnets, and Chants Recovering the African American Poetry of the 1930s

Jon Woodson’s Anthems, Sonnets, and Chants is a thoroughly engaging work. He makes a convincing case for not only reading a wide range of neglected poetry from the period, but for reading it through the rich interpretive lens he provides. This is a major work of scholarship which genuinely breaks new ground in the field.” —James A. Miller, professor of English and American studies, The George Washington University

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Department of English Partners with The Hurston/Wright Foundation for Writers’ Week Workshop

Sunday, July 10 – Friday, July 15, 2011
at Howard University

Hurston/Wright Writers' Week is the first multi-genre summer writers' workshop for writers of African descent. This is a week long non-residency program of classes and presentations by publishers, agents and published writers. Writers' Week brings together an international community of Black writers who work in a nurturing/safe space to discuss their work, its meaning, and unique aesthetic. The workshop attracts published and unpublished writers, college students, seniors, retirees, and professionals.

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The Department of English Receives the NEH Challenge Grant for the Sterling Allen Brown Endowed Chair in English and the Humanities

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the Department of English a Challenge Grant in the amount of $500,000, with matching 2-1 funds from the University, in support of the Department's efforts to endow a chair in honor of Sterling Allen Brown. The award encourages collaboration among the English Department and other departments in the Humanities Division and in the Division of Fine Arts. The award also inaugurates the "Howard Humanities Seminar" for faculty and the "Howard Arts and Humanities Atelier" for students to be held in the Fall and Spring semesters respectively.

The full schedule for activities related to the Fall 2011 Sterling Allen Brown Endowed Chair in English and the Humanities program will be announced shortly. To support this program with charitable gifts, please call 202-806-6730.

Info Session on Publishing

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
2.10-3.30pm, Locke Hall, Room 100

Interested in a career in publishing? Join a representative of the Columbia Publishing Course to hear about their one-of-a-kind instructional program focused on entry-level publishing careers, such as editors, literary agents, publishers, designers, publicists, and more.

The Columbia Publishing Course provides an intensive introduction to all aspects of book, magazine, and digital media publishing, from evaluations of manuscripts to the sales and marketing of finished products. At CPC students learn directly from leaders in the industry--writers, editors, publishers, design directors, illustrators, advertising experts, and publicists. The Columbia Publishing Course provides unparalleled access to the publishing industry and includes extensive preparation for the job market, culminating in a job fair. Recent graduates have landed at Random House, HarperCollins, Scholastic, Marie Claire, Glamour, DailyBeast.com, and NYmag.com. 

Join Lindy Hess, director of the Publishing Course, to hear about the course and careers in the publishing industry. 

http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/page/216-columbia-publishing-course/217

For more information, contact the Department of English (Locke Hall, Room 248) at 202-806-6730.

Dr. Alla Tovares Publishes How to Write about the Media Today (Writing Today)

It was inevitable. From cable news to blogs, social networks, and instant messaging, the everywhere, all-the-time mass media of today not only has revolutionized how we communicate—it has itself become a major topic of that communication, as students, scholars, professionals, and everyday citizens consider its scope, its impact, its innovations, and its limitations.

Dr. Gregory Jerome Hampton Releases Changing Bodies in the Fiction of Octavia Butler: Slaves, Aliens, and Vampires

Changing Bodies in the Fiction of Octavia Butler: Slaves, Aliens, and Vampires is a timely text that critically situates Butler's fiction in several fields of study including American, African-American, gender, and science fiction studies.