Fall 2021 Graduate English Forum
2021-11-18 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Via Zoom
992441The first Graduate English Forum will be held on November 18th via Zoom, featuring PhD candidates Tania Islam and Vanessa Loh, who will describe their intriguing work. Faculty response and Q&A will follow. All Graduate Students are expected to attend. Click here for more details.

Crunch Time Cafe
2021-12-07 - 2021-12-14 | Charles Library
Join us from December 7 to December 14 at Charles Library for our Crunch Time Café, a series of events during study days and final exams that includes free food, activities, and therapy dogs.

December Weekend Writing & Research Retreat
2021-12-11 10:00 - 16:00 | Via Zoom
The December Weekend Writing & Research Retreat is a virtual retreat offered by the Student Success Center. During the Weekend Writing & Research Retreat, you’ll set a writing goal and commit to focused working time. You’ll work independently (but alongside a virtual community of other writers) in 50-minute chunks with 10-minute breaks in between.

CHAT Reading Group: Putting the Humanities PhD to Work
2022-01-20 12:00 | Via Zoom
CHAT will provide a FREE COPY of Putting the Humanities PhD to Work by Katina Rogers to the first 20 registrants to support engagement in our active discussion!
Graduate students in the Humanities are especially encouraged to join. Faculty and administrators are also welcome.
Discussion moderated by Kate Brelje (Philosophy).

Poets & Writers Series – Mary Gordon (Fiction) in Conversation with Kiley Reid
2022-02-10 17:30 | Via Zoom
Mary Gordon is the author of nine novels, including Final Payments, The Love of My Youth, Pearl, There Your Heart Lies, and Payback; seven works of nonfiction, including the memoirs Circling My Mother and The Shadow Man; and four collections of short fiction, including The Stories of Mary Gordon, which was awarded the Story Prize. She has received a Lila Acheson Wallace Reader’s Digest Writer’s Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2007. She is Professor Emerita at Barnard College and lives in New York City.

Graduate Forum
2022-02-17 15:00 | Via Zoom
The Graduate Forum will continue in the Spring with a Zoom event on Feb. 17, featuring two more of our advanced doctoral students and moderated by Ryan Omizo.

Scott Thompson: “The Social Ecology of Character: Reading Popular Psychology and Determinism in the Victorian Sensation Novel”
Micah Savaglio: “Teaching Disability and Access: Unflattening Multimodal Composition”

See this flyer for more information: 2-17-22 GRADUATE ENGLISH FORUM SERIES
Zoom link TBA.

Eli Goldblatt, “Can We Talk? What Creative Writing, Literary Criticism and Composition/Rhetoric Can Learn From Each Other About Writing”
2022-02-25 10:30 - 12:00 | Via Zoom
For too long, colleagues have taught side by side but avoided conversations about what we know in common or can learn from each other about writing and writers. We have let administrative and historical boundaries stand in the way of companionship and mutual support in the difficult task of teaching students and investigating discourses, genres, and writing practices. Eli Goldblatt will share some ideas he’s been considering in a project he calls Lit to Lit: Literacy and Literature in Conversation. Participants are free to read his recent article, “Imagining the Local: William Carlos Williams, John Dewey, and Community Literacy”—Eli will briefly summarize the Lit to Lit project but move quickly to small group discussions among participants about what common ground we have for productive conversation.
This talk is sponsored by the First Year Writing Program at Temple University, and no registration is required to attend.

Carla Anderson Doctoral Defense
2022-03-08 14:00 - 15:00 | Via Zoom
All graduate students and faculty are encouraged to attend Carla Anderson’s doctoral defense on Tuesday, 3/8 at 2 PM.
Zoom Link: https://temple.zoom.us/j/99303107420
Title: Reading Trauma in Contemporary Northern Irish & Irish Poetry
Abstract:
This dissertation will examine the works of five contemporary Northern Irish poets who lived through the Troubles, a period of intense sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about thirty years from the late 1960s until the late 1990s. Ciaran Carson, Medbh McGuckian, Paul Muldoon, Colette Bryce, and Leontia Flynn each write in different experimental modes to express the traumatic experiences of the Troubles. Through a discussion of selected works by these poets, this dissertation will develop a revision of established trauma theory and suggest a mode of reading works about trauma that emphasizes the generative potential of writing about trauma with non-normative narrative styles and poetic techniques.
Carson’s middle-era poetry transposes post-traumatic responses into poetry, using poetic form and atemporal narrative to draw the reader in. McGuckian’s deeply interior poems initially seem to resist interpretation, but ultimately, the reader as witness plays an important role in processing traumatic experiences. Muldoon’s playful and allusive poetry reflects on traumatic experiences without becoming stuck in any repeating narrative, emphasizing the generative potential for using poetry to transform the past into infinite imaginative possibilities. Colette Bryce and Leontia Flynn, writing in the “post-Agreement” era after the ceasefire, each seek distance and alternate perspectives that allow them to both look back at the past and look forward into the future.

Queer Theory Reading Group
2022-03-17 | TBA
You are invited to join us for the first semester of the Queer Theory Reading Group. The first meeting will be Thursday March 17, 2022.
Our intention is to gain familiarity with Queer Theory by reading foundational texts of the movement. Through our discussions we will attempt to answer questions like What is Queer Theory? What does Queer Theory have to do with literature? Is Queer Theory applicable to my work? How can I use Queer Theory in my writing?
This semester we will begin by reading the first chapter of Queer Theory Now(2020) by Hannah McCann & Whitney Monaghan, called “Defining Queer Theory.” With that chapter as a foundation, we will undertake readings of works by Adrian Rich, Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and others.
We welcome anyone who is Queer Theory curious, from any department—undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty members.
Email Vanessa Loh at vanessa.loh@temple.edu for more details & PDF’s of the readings.

Distinguished Alumni Speaker Series – Daniel Morse
2022-03-17 15:00 | Via Zoom

Poets & Writers Series – Anthony Cody (Poetry) in Conversation with Jena Osman
2022-03-17 17:30 | Via Zoom
Anthony Cody is the author of the poetry collection Borderland Apocrypha, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry in 2020. The collection also won an American Book Award, a Southwest Book Award, and the Omnidawn Open Book Prize. The book explores the destabilized, hostile landscapes and silenced histories of borderlands. He is a CantoMundo fellow from Fresno, California, with lineage in both the Bracero Program and the Dust Bowl. He co-edited How Do I Begin?: A Hmong American Literary Anthology, and co-edited and co-translated Juan Felipe Herrera’s Akrílica. He collaborates with Juan Felipe Herrera and the Laureate Lab Visual Wordist Studio at Fresno State, and serves as an associate poetry editor for Noemi Press and a poetry editor for Omnidawn.

Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference
2022-03-23 - 2022-03-26 | Philadelphia Convention Center
The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference is in Philadelphia this March! See the flyer for panels featuring Temple Creative Writing and MFA faculty:

Tania Islam's Doctoral Defense: "Things Left Unsaid: Historical Silences and Multiethnic Women’s Fiction"
2022-03-23 11:00 | Via Zoom
All graduate students and faculty are encouraged to join us for Tania Islam’s doctoral defense, “Things Left Unsaid: Historical Silences and Multiethnic Women’s Fiction,” on Wednesday, 3/23 @ 11 AM via Zoom.
Dissertation Committee: Miles Orvell, Daniel O’Hara (Emeritus), and James Salazar
Abstract:
My dissertation titled “Things Left Unsaid: Historical Silences and Multiethnic Women’s Fiction” addresses the use of narrative by four ethnic American women authors, namely Dina Nayeri, Edwidge Danticat, Julia Alvarez, and Amy Tan (immigrants or second-generation citizens), who write about personal tragedies and trauma to address the issue of omission and silence in historical records.
I argue that these literary works are an admixture of narrative and history that function as a mode of storytelling that allows readers to bear witness to events of social and political importance. Transnational and literary theorists have often prioritized the émigré status of these women authors to argue that they have been able to become successful spokespersons for their people because of their journey away from their homeland. However, my dissertation employs an interdisciplinary approach to demonstrate the opposite—these women authors may refashion themselves as hybridized citizens, but they do not sever ties with their homelands, nor do they speak for the entirety of their respective ethnic communities. On the contrary, through their fictions, these authors focus on the importance of individualistic and personal storytelling to counter the silencing effects produced through the unidimensional processes of History that do not incorporate a multitude of voices and points of opinion. I argue that the use of narrative and storytelling by these four ethnic American women authors redress such omissions.

Faculty Working Papers Series – Carissa Harris
2022-04-07 15:30 | Via Zoom

GEA Eighth Annual Symposium
2022-04-08 | Via Zoom
The Graduate English Association will host the Eighth Annual Symposium featuring the research of our English graduate students. This is an opportunity for all graduate students in English, including 4+1, MFA, PhD, and MA students, to formally present work to our intellectual community of graduate students and faculty. Click here for more information.

Pizza Party
2022-08-29 14:00 | Mazur Hall Terrace, Polett Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19122, United States
Join us at 2 p.m. Monday, August 29th on the Mazur Terrace! Grab a slice of pizza, meet new grads and catch up with friends.

Graduate English Program Welcome Back Party
2022-09-15 15:00 - 16:30 | Mazur 821
The Graduate English Program is hosting a Welcome Back Party on Thursday, September 15, from 3 to 4:30 PM in Mazur 821. (See the attached poster.). We hope to host such gatherings on a more regular basis, now that the campus is alive again, and this opening event is designed to welcome everyone back to campus and provide an opportunity for students and faculty to chat outside the boundaries of the classroom–even though it’s still in Mazur! Please try to make it, even if just to stop in and say hello.
RSVP Here: https://www.punchbowl.com/partypage/a7399412be1053bd?utm_campaign=Invitation&utm_source=Punchbowl+Transactional+Mail&utm_medium=email

How to "Hack" Your English Grad Program
2022-09-19 14:00 | Mazur 1138
Have you ever wondered…

What it means to “network” in academia
What journals you should be reading (and publishing in)
What you should be doing outside of class to set yourself up for success in grad school

Get answers to these questions (and more) in this workshop focused on grad school “hacks” — tips and tricks to help you thrive in your program, in and beyond the classroom. Free pizza and drinks also provided!

Resume and Cover Letter Writing for Graduate Students
2022-09-21 16:00 - 17:00 | Via Zoom
Learn effective strategies for developing your resume and cover letter for diverse career paths. Session will cover: 1) The differences between a CV and a resume 2) Best practices for writing a graduate student resume 3) Tips for drafting a cover letter

Poets & Writers Series – Rebecca Curtis (Fiction)
2022-09-22 18:00 | Via Zoom

Book Talk: Smooth Operating and Other Social Acts by Roland Williams
2022-10-06 15:30 | Mazur 821
Through a cultural study of writings about slavery in the United States, Smooth Operating and Other Social Acts uncovers a mode of behavior adopted by African Americans for relief from the brutality of black bondage. Roland Leander Williams grants that African Americans have been beaten, but he guarantees that they have not been broken. While he acknowledges that they have been demeaned, he assures that they have not been diminished. Williams confesses that African Americans have been done harm, but he confirms that they have not become disheartened. Close readings of classic slave narratives, along with some neo-slave narratives—including The Conjure Woman (1899), Kindred (1979), Dessa Rose (1986), and The Good Lord Bird (2013)—furnish proof that African Americans have preserved their dignity and elevated their status through ingenious applications of improvisation. Smooth Operating and Other Social Acts establishes as well that a dim view of African Americans, propagated by black bondage, bears a resemblance to sexual discrimination, which prompts female targets of its gaze to practice dissembling. Reception to follow.

Poets & Writers Series – Nikki Wallschlaeger (Poetry)
2022-10-06 18:00 | Via Zoom

Writing Life Part I: Good Writing Practices
2022-10-17 14:00 | Mazur 821

Poets & Writers Series – Alex Gilvarry (Fiction)
2022-10-20 18:00 | Via Zoom

Poets & Writers Series – Mei-mei Berssenbrugge (Poetry)
2022-11-03 18:00 | Via Zoom

Exploring Humanities Careers (in partnership with the Career Center)
2022-11-07 14:30 | Mazur 821
