This Week in English | December 9-15, 2024
As we head into the final week of classes, we have a lot of work on our collective hands, but also much to celebrate. For those readers who are on or around the Orono campus, please take special note of Wednesday’s opportunity to gather together to lessen the stress with good company and fun activities. We hope to see you there!
English Department Creative Writing Awards Open for Submission
Submissions are now open for the Steve Grady Creative Writing Competition in fiction and poetry (undergraduate and graduate), the Grenfell Poetry Prize (undergraduate), and the Robert C. Hamlet Playwriting Contest (undergraduate and graduate). The deadline for submissions is January 3, 2025. All submissions should be sent to nola.prevost@maine.edu and must not include your name on any of the documents submitted (judging is blind). For more information including eligibility and submission guidelines, see the poster below.
De-Stress Fest for English Majors and Minors on Wednesday
The Committee for Student Engagement and Support is hosting a Winter De-Stress Fest for all English Undergraduate Majors and Minors this Wednesday, December 11th, from noon to two. Stop by the Writing Center (Neville Hall 402) to pet some friendly dogs, have some hot chocolate, make a de-stress ball, and decorate some cookies. See the poster below for more information.
Ellis Publishes and Presents Recent Poems
Long-term part-time faculty member Kathleen Ellis has two poems in the fall 2024 The Cafe Review film issue and is a finalist for the Steve Kowit Poetry Prize 2024 for her poem “Looking for Allen Ginsberg in a Power Outage in Old Town, Maine.” She will be reading her recent poems at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, December 14 at the Bangor Book Fair & Festival at the Bangor Public Library.
Adams Poem on Display at Gallery in Ellsworth
Hollie Adams’s poem “Sun Salutations: A Poem for Sol Invictus” is on display at the Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth as part of their current exhibition, SOL INVICTUS: The Return of Light,which runs Dec. 3-Jan. 10. The opening reception will be held Saturday, December 21, 4–6pm with the featured poets reading at 5pm.
Moxley Poem on Display at Gallery in San Diego
Quint Gallery is pleased to present a new suite of paintings made by Monique van Genderen since a summer stay in Sea Ranch, a beacon of modernist architecture located on Highway 1 in Sonoma County and set between the coast and the Gualala river.
In addition to van Genderen’s paintings, there will be a short film and documentation of the central painting in progress by Lile Kvantaliani, and an original poem by Jennifer Moxley, responding to the film.
Van Genderen writes of the show, which opened on Saturday:
Three works that were made for each other. In support of each other. In reaction to each other. First the painting, then its documentation, then documentation on the person that made the painting. Then the poem, its logic is modular, one of response and repetition. The poet mixed up the lines and let the images guide her. Precise and timed, tuned to a moment in mid-August. But anyone can do it. You can do it too.
You can say the lines in response to the images, the soundtrack, the person. Two friends from different generations went on a trip. They had in mind to make their own works, using each other’s company, in support of each other’s work. The film was to be about the death of an artist. Maybe it still is.
The paintings are also a process of response and repetition. They have images that obstinately repeat, putting the pressure on to remember something that looks like something else. The order is embedded in the process, and the process becomes transparent, closing the loop to make the circle. That circle that entwines friendship, mirroring the self in another’s gaze.
Hood Publishes Story
Tori Hood’s memoir “Black Cherry Merlot” was published in Split Lip Magazine’s November issue. Hood writes: “It was one of my favorite things I’ve written in the last year and I was so happy to have it accepted by one of my personal favorite lit mags!”
Undergraduate Literary Journal Open for Submissions
The Open Field is the student-edited undergraduate literary journal sponsored by the English Department and devoted to publishing poetry, prose, mixed-genre writing, and visual art by the undergraduates of all majors and disciplines at the University of Maine. This year’s editors include English majors Sydney Kraft and Finlee LeBouef, who have sent along a call for submissions by December 13, 2024 (the last day of classes). Use the QR code in the poster below to learn more!
Submissions Open for English Department Writing Studies Colloquium
This spring semester (likely February 28 / March 1), the Department of English will be holding its first mini-conference focused specifically on writing studies research and pedagogy. The 2025 Writing Studies Colloquium at the University of Maine is now accepting abstract submissions from members of the UMaine community (undergraduate and graduate students, faculty) interested in presenting their work.
Presentation options include posters, Flash/Pecha Kucha talks, and traditional presentations. Topics must be related to work in Writing Studies/Rhetoric and Composition, broadly conceived, but can focus on pedagogy, empirical research, or theory. This is a great opportunity to experience presenting in a conference setting and adding a line to your CV/resume! It’s also a wonderful opportunity to learn about the wide variety of research happening in the field on our campus.
The deadline for entries is January 31, 2025 (midnight) and acceptances will be sent by February 7 with additional details. Our submission portal (Google Form) asks for: presenter’s name and position, a ~150-word abstract of the presentation, presenter’s email address, and the technical needs for the presentation.
The exact date and times will be set once we know how many presentations to accommodate. You can also direct questions to Heather Falconer.
This Week in English 166 was sent to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the department on December 9, 2024. If you would rather not receive these weekly bulletins, please reply with <unsubscribe> in your subject line. Earlier installments are archived on our website. If you’re on Facebook, please consider joining the English Department Group. We’re also (since March of 2024) on Linked In. To learn more about faculty members mentioned in this bulletin, visit our People page.
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University of Maine Land Acknowledgment
