Ohio University English Department News

Zakes Mda featured writer at Ohioana Book Festival

2008-05-13T18:54:00-05:00

Zakes Mda is a featured writer at the Ohioana Book Festival in Columbus. He will be participating in a number of reading and panel discussions at the Ohioana Library and in outreach programs at some schools in the Columbus area and at WOSU radio station. Professor Mda is also one of the ten Ohio writers who are being honored by Ohio First Lady Frances Strickland.

Paul Jones receives Nancy Dasher award

2008-05-13T18:42:00-05:00

Unwelcome Voices wins the competitive Nancy Dasher Award this year. Dr. Joe McLaughlin nominated Dr. Jones' book for consideration and the book was selected as the winner of this year's award.

Janis Holm’s dramatic monologues performed by the Mercury Players

2008-05-13T18:39:00-05:00

Janis Holm's dramatic monologues "If Paris Hilton Wrote Poetry" and "Shopping with Winona" were performed by the Mercury Players in Madison, Wisconsin, last month. Another monologue, "Abduction, Again," will be performed later this month.

Reading and Book-Signing for Visiting Author Joel Peckham

2008-04-29T15:55:00-05:00

On Saturday at 7:00 p.m., Jackson and Traci Connor will host a reading and book-signing for visiting author Joel Peckham at their home, 146 Morris Avenue. Peckham is an Assistant Professor of American Literature at The University of Cincinnati, Clermont College. His poetry and essays on grief and recovery have been published in many journals, including The Black Warrior Review, The Literary Review, The North American Review, River Teeth, and The Southern Review. His second collection, The Heat of What Comes, has just appeared from Pecan Grove Press and will be available at the reading.

Congratulations to Jennifer Schomburg Kanke

2008-02-12T14:37:00-05:00

Jennifer Schomburg Kanke's poem entitled "Cropping" will be published in Earth's Daughters, issue number 72.

Congratulations to Rachael Peckham

2008-02-12T14:35:00-05:00

Rachael Peckham's lyrical essay, “Of Saints and Neighbors: A Pathology of Place,” has been accepted for publication in Oxford Magazine.

Creative Writing Program receives GERB award

2008-02-12T14:03:00-05:00

The Creative Writing Program in the Department of English was selected from a pool of six finalists to receive a GERB award. The Program will use the new $131,000 in base funding to offer an additional doctoral student stipend, increase stipend amounts for other graduate students and fund a visiting professor. Fifteen to 20 graduate students are enrolled in the program annually. Though the program has a national reputation for fiction, poetry and non-fiction writing, low stipends have turned some good prospective graduate students away, said Stocker Professor of Creative Writing Darrell Spencer, who was instrumental in the GERB proposal. "We will increase our graduate pool and be competitive with the best schools," Spencer said. The visiting professor position also will aid the program, he added, by offering students more diverse insight into their work. There currently are eight faculty members in the Creative Writing Program, which was founded in 1964.

Michelle Disler receives two nominations for 2008 Pushcart Prize in Nonfiction.

2008-01-25T14:36:00-05:00

Michelle Disler recently received two nominations for the 2008 Pushcart Prize in Nonfiction.

Second Issue of /nor available

2007-11-29T17:00:00-05:00

The second issue of /nor is now available at their website: www.ohiou.edu/nor. The first issue is sold out.

Announcing the 2008 Spring Literary Festival

2008-02-20T21:03:00-05:00

Since 1986, The Spring Literary Festival has featured some of the world's finest, most distinguished writers of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. This three-day festival will be held from Wednesday May 7th to Friday May 9th on the Ohio University campus in Athens, Ohio. It is sponsored by the Program in Creative Writing of the Department of English and is generously funded by the College of Arts and Sciences. All readings and lectures are free and open to the public as the featured writers present, lecture, and read from their work.

This year's writers include Tony Hoagland, Kathryn Harrison, Thomas Glave, Edwidge Danticat, and Lee K. Abbott. For a detailed schedule of this year's Literary Festival click on the "Special Programs" link of our website.