Monthly Archives: February 2011

“Poems in Five Decades” reading on March 10

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The English department is pleased to present “Poems in Five Decades: A Retrospective,” with James McGowan, Professor Emeritus of English, reading work published over a lifetime. The event is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 10, in the Turfler Room (second floor) of Memorial Center. It’s free and open to the public.

Later that evening, Professor David Vayo will perform musical compositions that were inspired by McGowan’s poetry at a New Music Cafe, 8:00 p.m. in Westbrook Auditorium of Presser Hall. We’ll add details as we get them.

Professor McGowan taught in the English department from 1969-2000, and took students on travel courses to such places as Paris and Ireland to study and write poetry.

Delta lit-crit deadline extended

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The Delta has decided to extend the deadline for submissions. Critical essays are now due by Sunday, Feb. 27, and if your paper is chosen you will see it in March, when the issue is published.

To submit an essay send as attachment to iwudelta@gmail.com. Submissions must have been written within the last year for an IWU class.

If you have questions, contact Christy Spees at iwudelta@gmail.com.

Campus awaits Jorie Graham

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Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jorie Graham arrives tomorrow for a much-anticipated visit to Illinois Wesleyan. Many faculty and students have attended sessions on “How to Read a Jorie Graham Poem,” and so the Q&A session scheduled for tomorrow, February 22, at 4 p.m. in the Hansen Student Center should be a lively one. English professor Mike Theune will moderate, with questions also coming from the audience. The event is free and open to the public.

Graham, whose many honors include a MacArthur Fellowship and whose most recent book is Sea Change (2008), is the Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University. Her main presentation will be at the Founder’s Day Convocation, 11 a.m. on Wednesday, February 23, in Westbrook Auditorium of Presser Hall. That event is also free and open to the public.

March 4 deadline announced for IWU fiction/poetry contests

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Illinois Wesleyan University student poets and fiction writers are invited to enter annual competitions for the Academy of American Poets University Prize and the Babbitt’s Prize for Short Fiction. The prizes, administered by the English department, are open to all currently enrolled students. In previous years, non-English majors and minors have won frequently. Students may submit only one entry to each competition. All entries should be submitted to Julie Lappin, English department office coordinator, in the English department’s main office (first floor, English House) by 4 p.m., Friday, March 4.

To enter the Academy of American Poets’ Prize, students should submit 4-6 poems, single-spaced, with the total length not to exceed 12 pages.

To compete for the Babbitt’s Prize, students should submit up to 18 double-spaced pages of fiction—either a single short story or a segment from a novel that can stand alone. Any style is acceptable—even genre, if it breaks the mold—but judges will be looking for literary quality, energy, innovation, interesting plots, memorable characters, dialogue that rings true, fresh language, and a sure voice.

Founded in 1955, the Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize program has launched the careers of many promising poets, including Sylvia Plath, Tess Gallagher, Mark Strand, and Joy Harjo. The winner from each school receives $100 and a certificate, and is announced in the Academy of American Poets’ publications and news releases, with a chance for publication in a future anthology.

The Babbitt’s Prize for Short Fiction (formerly the Clockwatch Review Prize for Short Fiction) began in 1997 as a way to promote and encourage aspiring fiction writers at IWU. The winner receives $50 cash and $50 store credit from Babbitt’s Books, downtown Normal.

Members of the English department faculty will serve as preliminary judges, with five manuscripts for each competition passed on to a final off-campus judge who’s an accomplished, published writer.

Argus staffers travel to Chicago, accept ICPA awards

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On February 18-19, Argus staffers traveled to Chicago for the annual Illinois College Press Association convention—two days of sessions on layout and design, reviewing, reporting, photography, and legal issues, all presented by professionals working for Chicago-area newspapers.

Keynote speaker Ellen Warren, senior correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and a member of the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame, encouraged students to speak up and tell people what they want. And if the answer is no, respond with “Well, what do I have to do to make it happen?” Warren, who has covered the White House and every other beat for the Tribune, said that she became legendary columnist Mike Royko’s first female legman by being aggressive. She dropped her resume off on a Sunday, leaving it with the doorman and asking him to give it to the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. “I knew he’d be working. He’s a journalist,” she said.

At the awards banquet for college journalists and their advisers—this year representing 32 schools—The Argus was presented with six certificates and two plaques:

Honorable Mention-Editorial Cartoon—Brandon Dorn

Honorable Mention-Sports Feature—Max Brooks

3rd Place-Editorial—Eliiot Boden

2nd Place-Column, Excluding Sports—Dani Jauregui

2nd Place-News Photo—Rachel Rock

2nd Place-Other Cartoon, Strip or Panel—Sam Harris

1st Place-Other Cartoon, Strip or Panel—Kaz Frankiewicz

1st Place-Sports Column—Brett Luy

Congratulations to the winners and to the staff for all their hard work. Pictured are Hannah Griffin, Jackie Connelly, Nicole Travis, James Podrasky, and Eliot Boden.

Want to read for World Poetry Day?

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Attention students and faculty: International Studies is seeking poems centered on the theme “Childhood and Globalization” for possible inclusion in this year’s World Poetry Day Reading, Tuesday, March 22, at 4 p.m. in the Hansen Student Center.

Poems may be self-written or the work of others, in English or in another language accompanied by an English translation. Email submissions to Regina Lensalata, rlinsala@iwu.edu. For questions or additional information, contact Prof. Sonja Fritzsche (sfritzsc@iwu.edu), Prof. Mike Theune (mtheune@iwu.edu), or Prof. Joanne Diaz (jdiaz@iwu.edu).

Lit crit opportunity: The Delta is accepting submissions

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“If you do not write for publication, there is little point in writing at all.” George Bernard Shaw

IWU’s journal of literary criticism, The Delta, is now accepting submissions for this year’s publication. As the editors (and GBS) remind, you’ve worked hard on those English essays, so get them published! All you have to do is send them in. If your paper is chosen, it will appear in The Delta in March. Submissions are due Monday, February 21. To submit an essay, send as an attachment to iwudelta@gmail.com. Submissions must have been written within the last year, for an IWU class. If there are any questions, contact Christy Spees at iwudelta@gmail.com.

And remember, as Sylvia Plath once said, “Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing.”

Full Tongue & Ink line-up announced

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Here’s the rest of T&I’s jazzy PDF flyers_everyone and the schedule:

Friday, Feb. 25—4 p.m., Seth Abramson keynote (CNS C102); 5 p.m., Marc Smith Masterclass (CNS C102); 8 p.m., Poetry Slam featuring Marc Smith (CNS C101).

Saturday, Feb. 26—9:30 a.m., Reading Art: Contemporary Artists’ Books (CNS E103); 9:30 a.m., Tom Quinn on Screenwriting (CNS E101); 10:30 a.m., Mad City Poets (CNS E103); 10:30 a.m., Graphic Novels featuring Jeffrey Brown (CNS E101); 11:30 a.m., LUNCH; 1 p.m., Seth Abramson MFA discussion (CNS C102); 2 p.m., Laura Van den Berg keynote (CNS C101); 3 p.m., Laura Van den Berg master class (CNS C102).

STD Book Club scheduled for March 2

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This announcement comes from Sigma Tau Delta co-presidents Kaz Frankiewicz and Korey Williams:

Sigma Tau Delta will host it’s annual Book Club event on Wednesday, March 2nd featuring our own Dr. Bray’s book Reading with Lincoln.  Witness the development of one of America’s greatest presidents through the material he himself read.  Sigma Tau Delta will hosta a discussion of the book at noon in the Cartwright Room in the Memorial Center in preparation for a Q&A Session with the author in the Davidson Room at 4:00PM.  If you wish to pick up a copy of the book, there are copies available on Amazon.com, in the bookstore, and the Ames Library.

Even if you haven’t read the book and are interested, stop by the Davidson Room for the Q&A and it might just whet your appetite.