Department of English ANNUAL NEWSLETTER 2019

Veronique Lee ’11 From Amherst to Uganda: a career in international development

1 WELCOME FROM THE CHAIR

Acting Department Chair Donna LeCourt. Photo: D. Toomey

Dear Friends and Alums,

It’s an exciting and challenging time for by current faculty, alumni, and students efforts. Stay tuned for more and do be in the Department of English as we seek in April, offer opportunities for all of us touch if you would like to help us get the out new directions in English studies to reflect upon why the humanities and word out about how valuable an English (environmental humanities, gaming English in particular are so important major can be in the 21st century. Stay culture, Arab American literature) and in our times for not only careers but connected through our improved website, seek to help others understand what also understanding each other and our join us through LinkedIn, and keep abreast The Literary Arts Fair, one of many events featured positions globally. of our activities through Facebook and in the 2019 Juniper Festival. Photo: Noah Loving TABLE OF CONTENTS an English major can entail. Although nationally the number of English majors Instagram. Please use those venues to keep Department News ...... 4 continues to decline, and UMass is Department faculty continue to lead in us informed of your doings, as well. We want very much to know, and we may want The Troy Lectures on the Humanities and Public Life ...... 5 not immune to such a trend, we are such endeavors, winning high prestige Thanks for editorial assistance are owed awards such as the MacArthur “genius” to tap your expertise! to Meg Caulmare and Jennifer Jacobson. Alumni Spotlights...... 6 heartened by the creativity of our majors grant, writing residences, Fulbrights, “best Undergraduate Studies...... 8 and their ability to, in the words of article” honors, and taking on leadership On a side note, let me say that when you Cover Photo: Veronique Lee ‘11 among the Graduate Studies...... 9 Veronique Lee ’11, “be nimble” and to positions on campus and beyond. I’m read this in the spring semester, Randall Tegalalang rice fields in Ubud, Bali (Indonesia). MFA Program for Poets and Writers ...... 10 “understand the versatility” of their skills. Photo: Michael Buehler delighted to share some of those accolades Knoper will have returned as chair of the Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies...... 12 In this newsletter, we see the variety of and experiences here. I’m just as happy department after a much-deserved fall UMass Writing Program...... 13 work English majors go on to do, from Western Massachusetts Writing Project...... 14 to report that our faculty continues to sabbatical. While my presence as chair was being award-winning writers to program fleeting, the achievements described in this Program for Professional Writing grow as we are currently searching for a developers and English teachers. The newsletter are sure to be lasting. and Technical Communication...... 15 specialist in African American literature. department continues to seek ways to The department has also launched a new Oxford Summer Seminar ...... 16 highlight the diversity of careers open task force on helping to grow the major —Donna LeCourt, Live Performance: International Theatre Festival Immersion ...... 17 to English majors and to invite alumni and is considering everything from Acting Chair Recent Books ...... 18 to share their stories and expertise with highlighting the variety of paths through Returning Alumni ...... 21 our current students. Panels such as “The an English major and the ways it helps Giving to the Department, 2019 Donors ...... 22 State of English Studies, 2019,” offered one engage the world to new recruiting

2 3 DEPARTMENT NEWS

Stephen Clingman delivered the Bram Anna Rita Napoleone, director of the Fischer Memorial Lecture at Oxford University of Massachusetts Amherst Writing University in October. This prestigious Center and site director of the Western event is held every year at Rhodes House in Massachusetts Writing Project (WMWP), was celebration of the life and commitment to awarded a $15,000 Public Service Endowment justice shown by Bram Fischer. Grant for the UMass Writing Center.

David Fleming received the 2019 National Jeff Parker received a Fulbright US Scholar Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) grant to Kyiv, Ukraine. The Fulbright Program Richard C. Ohmann Outstanding Article in is one of several United States cultural College English award. The award recognizes exchange programs whose goal is to improve an outstanding refereed article in the past intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and volume year that makes the most significant intercultural competence between the people contribution to scholarship or research, or of the United States and other countries theory or pedagogy, in English studies. through the exchange of persons, knowledge, and skills. It is one of the most prestigious and Laura Furlan was named as the program chair competitive fellowship programs in the world. of the Five Colleges Native American and Indigenous Studies program. Students in the Jordy Rosenberg’s novel, Confessions of the Five College Native American and Indigenous Fox, was shortlisted for the UK’s Historical Studies (NAIS) certificate program explore Writers Association Debut Crown award. Native American and Indigenous histories, Rosenberg also appeared as an invited guest literatures, and cultures. at the Sydney Writers Festival and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. John Hennessy and Ostap Kin were awarded the John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize for Chair of the Troy Lecture Committee Steven Clingman, Natasha Tretheway, and MFA Program Director Jeff Parker. Photo: Dennis Vandal Translation for their translation of Serhiy TreaAndrea M. Russworm has been named Zhadan's poems. The prize was established the series editor of Power Play: Games, Politics, The Troy Lectures on the Humanities in 1999 by Bonnie Larkin Nims, trustees of Culture (Duke University Press). Russworm The English Department Troy Lecture, 2019 THE TROY and Public Life are presented in honor the Poetry Foundation, and friends of the late was also honored by Indiana University’s Black of the late Frederick S. (Barney) Troy, poet, translator, and editor. Film Archive and Cultural Studies program LECTURES ON THE Natasha Trethewey emeritus professor of English, honorary United States Poet Laureate, 2012–2014 with a “master class,” designed around her Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 2007 professor of the university, and former University of Massachusetts MFA for Poets and Writers, 1995 Edie Meidav was selected as the Jane Geuting work. HUMANITIES AND university trustee. The list of past speakers Camp Fellow by the Virginia Center for the is singularly distinguished, and includes Creative Arts (VCCA). The Jane Geuting Ocean Vuong, author of the New York Times PUBLIC LIFE “You Are Not Safe in Science; Nadine Gordimer, Sherman Alexie, You Are Not Safe in History”: Camp Fellowship was established in 1988 bestselling novel On Earth We're Briefly Margaret Atwood, Judith Butler, J. M. in memory of former VCCA president Jane Gorgeous (Penguin Press, 2019) received On Abiding Metaphors Coetzee, Seamus Heaney, Salman Rushdie, and Finding a Calling Camp and is endowed by her family and the a MacArthur Fellowship. Commonly but Wole Soyinka, and Zadie Smith. James L. Camp Foundation. unofficially known as a "genius” grant, the fellowship is awarded annually by the John This year’s Troy Lecture was delivered by Sabina Murray received a Samuel F. D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Thursday, October 3, 4:30pm Natasha Trethewey ’95MFA , a Pulitzer Conti Faculty Fellowship. The fellowships typically to between 20 and 30 individuals, Bowker Auditorium, Stockbridge Hall Prize-winning poet and two-time US poet are awarded to UMass Amherst faculty working in any field, who have shown Natasha Trethewey is the author of Monument (2018); Thrall (2012); Native Guard (2007); Bellocq’s Ophelia (2002); and Domestic Work (2000). Trethewey is also the author of the laureate. Her talk, given on October 3, poetry chapbook Congregation (2015) and the prose book Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on members in recognition of outstanding "extraordinary originality and dedication in the Mississippi Gulf Coast (2012). was entitled “‘You Are Not Safe in Science; accomplishments in research and creative their creative pursuits and a marked capacity “Trethewey has a genuine gift for verse forms, and the depth of her engagement in You Are Not Safe in History’: On Abiding language marks her as a true poet.” — Washington Post activity and their potential for continued for self-direction" and are citizens or residents Metaphors and Finding a Calling.” excellence. of the United States. Free and Open to the Public Doors open at 4:00pm

Poster design by Moira Clingman. 4 5 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHTS

I’m happy to have so much writing to do. I’m deeply Working alongside, and most importantly, thankful that people want to hear from me. It means almost learning from people from all walks of life is one of the everything right now.” greatest privileges in my work.”

PATRICIA MATTHEW ’03PHD VERONIQUE LEE ’11

Photo courtesy Patricia Matthew. Photo: Michael Buehler. Patricia Matthew is an associate professor with 8,000 words on abolitionist porcelain Walker in Wisconsin was making moves to of English at Montclair State University and when Lapham’s Quarterly asked me to write You’re a program development manager at What do you like most about your work? Any advice for students interested in a dismantle Wisconsin’s tenure system and writes about the history of the novel and 1,500 words about my work for their online TechnoServe. Can you tell us about your A few years ago I had the chance to career like yours? asked me to add a coda to her essay about British abolitionist literature and culture. platform. It’s now a journal article under employer? co-design a program to help rural Be bold and explore the different pathways it. UNC Press gave me time to write about Her work has been published in various review. TechnoServe is a nonprofit organization communities in central Mali cope with and for doing international development work. diversity and activism when a space opened journals and magazines including Women’s What ties it together is a feeling that based in Washington, DC, that works to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Having a sense of curiosity and appetite up in the project. I still wasn’t ready. After Writing, Nineteenth-Century Gender deepened after my mother passed away in build sustainable solutions to alleviate We pulled together a multidisciplinary to learn has certainly kept me energized the election, everything blew up, especially Studies, the Keats-Shelley Journal, PMLA, 2016, just before Written/Unwritten was poverty in developing countries. team of experts from Mali to implement in my work. In my short career, I have for Black and Latinx faculty. I started getting European Romantic Review (with Manu published. I lost so much with her passing the activities we were proposing. Working had exposure to international think tanks, invitations from administrators (those Chander), The Atlantic, and Lapham’s that my work needed to matter enough And your own work there? alongside, and most importantly, learning interned with USAID in Uganda, and surprised me) to speak to the structural Quarterly. She is also a specialist in to keep me grounded. Writing was how I’m responsible for business development from people from all walks of life is one of worked with large, for-profit organizations problems the book exposes. Faculty of color diversity and inclusion in higher education I coped, and I did it without worrying and proposal writing. My work begins the greatest privileges in my work. to implement agriculture and governance and the editor of Written/Unwritten: too much about where it would land and called on me to help them figure out how with analyzing trends in donor priorities projects in Mali, Haiti, and the Democratic to do their work at a time when they were Diversity and the Hidden Truths of Tenure whether or not it fit into some cohesive and funding. These donors run the gamut Is there a project of which you’re Republic of Congo. required to do the kind of diversity service (UNC Press, 2016). narrative about my work as a “scholar.” from grant-making organizations like the particularly proud? we had all been taught should be kept at bay Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to Recently I completed an assignment Any general advice for undergrads because it wouldn’t get us tenure. Your scholarly work—from “Jane Austen Your edited collection Written/Unwritten: government donors like the US Agency in Madagascar to explore how local planning their careers? and the Abolitionist Turn” to “The Ideology Diversity and the Hidden Truths of for International Development (USAID) communities, in concert with district-level Be nimble, understand the versatility of Projects you’re working on at present? of the Mermaid”—is remarkably wide Tenure addresses the ways institutions of and the UK Department for International authorities, can incorporate nature-based your skills, and always keep your CV I’m writing a book about British abolitionist ranging. Yet you also publish public-facing higher learning implicitly and explicitly Development, to corporate foundations solutions to minimize risks associated with up to date! literature, sugar, gender, Romantic and humanities writing. Do you see these two disenfranchise groups of academics. It like the MasterCard Foundation. Since more intense storm surge and prolonged Regency era literature, and material culture kinds of endeavors as distinct? As parts of a was published before the 2016 presidential we try to develop solutions that will have drought. larger project? election. Do the essays it contains seem as and how it all fits together to inform a positive, and hopefully transformative, contemporary relationships between white I picked up a copy of Patricia Williams’s timely now? More timely? impact, my work also requires a deep Has your background in English Studies feminists and Black women. I’m reading and The Alchemy of Race and Rights when I was I had no idea what would happen with understanding of socioeconomic contexts helped you? rereading a lot of critical race theory. A lot. at UMass and read it in one sitting. The first the book after the election. This says a lot and cultures. The ability to analyze, understand, and time through it was primarily therapeutic. about a particular kind of bubble I am synthesize text is important. You get this What excites you as a teacher? As a scholar? It was also the first time I saw a Black in at Montclair. We need a more diverse Exactly how did you come to a career in from essentially every English course I feel very protective of my students these woman work in two ways at the exact same faculty (I am currently the only Black international development? you take. Good writing skills are equally days so I am more worried than excited. time, and I realize now that her “Diary” English professor in the department), but I declared my English major as a freshman important. But effective communication I want them to evolve intellectually in mode shaped my post-tenure relationship the student body is so diverse that I didn’t at UMass thinking I would become a high isn’t just about the words on the page. classrooms that let them think in messy but to my writing. have a clear sense of what other faculty of school English teacher. As I took more To this day I remember—and use—the nuanced ways about what happens in the I didn’t plan it this way, but the color had been dealing with at their truly courses, I became much more invested in principles of visual hierarchy I learned in literature we read, and I have to work harder public essays are almost always where I predominately white institutions until writing and in putting my writing skills to Janine Solberg’s technical writing course. work through ideas that are rooted in my the election put a spotlight on it. I could to ensure that they can. other uses. Along the way I also developed research—especially my writing about certainly see the rumblings of it ahead I’m happy to have so much writing to an interest in international relations and British literature. “Jane Austen and the of the election. As I said in a Los Angeles do. I’m deeply thankful that people want to specifically international development Abolitionist Turn” evolved from an essay Review of Books interview, contributor hear from me. It means almost everything issues, which led me to pursue a master’s I wrote for The Atlantic. I was wrestling Leslie Bow wrote to me when Governor right now. degree, and ultimately a career in this field. 6 7 PROGRAM REPORTS

On April 5, Our students presented and nearly two dozen high published their work nationally and school Department of internationally, and several received English chairs from around acknowledgment and funding from Massachusetts came to external organizations. Together these Parawat Changthong ‘20, Yashika Issrani ‘20 and Victoria Bourque ‘20. Photo: Elena Kalodner-Martin South College to meet with achievements speak to the excellent students and faculty and to work being produced across the discuss “The State of English UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES graduate community.” Studies, 2019.” Faced with declining enrollments, the Speakers included Jenny Adams, Nick department continues to remind any and Bromell, and Rebecca Lorimer Leonard all listeners that English is not only a vital of the UMass Amherst Department of GRADUATE STUDIES part of any well-designed undergraduate English; Head of English at Canton High program in the arts and sciences but is School Rebecca Ashley; and Head of This year, 2019, was a highly productive continued in his position as international received acknowledgment and funding also good preparation for a wide variety Secondary English Language Arts in the year for the MA and PhD programs in student faculty advisor, helping support from external organizations. Together of careers. We have been marshaling our Springfield Public Schools Brian Dickey. English. Seven students defended their our international graduate students, who these achievements speak to the excellent alumni to demonstrate how well our Participants also heard from current dissertations and received their PhDs: continue to be a strong presence in the work being produced across the graduate graduates do in the world and to build a English majors, most of them graduates Gregory Coleman, Sarah D’Stair, Elizabeth department. community. network of mentors for current students. of Massachusetts public high schools: Fox, Gayathri Hewagama, Neelofer The department’s LinkedIn group now has Julia Avila, Victoria Bourque, Parawat Qadir, Heather Wayne, and Victoria Of course, funding is crucial to our This fall also saw the second iteration of the 379 members! Changthong, Grace Dugan, Tess Halpern, Worth. Several of these graduates have students making successful progress Graduate Student Methods Symposium, Yashika Issrani, Mira Kennedy, and Natalie already taken up tenure-track and long- through the program, and I am happy which brought three leading scholars At the same time, we’ve been turning to the Mezzina. Students talked about their term teaching positions at colleges and to report that we had another successful to campus to lead workshops on Black high schools, both to make connections experiences in high school and college universities across the US. In addition, year of being granted new graduate school Studies, Queer Studies, and Postcolonial for students interested in teaching but also English as well as their plans for life after seven students passed their two-area exams fellowships to support our incoming and Studies. This gathering was organized and to ensure that secondary English teachers UMass. We hope to host similar events in and seven students successfully completed continuing students. Four of our incoming implemented by a committee of graduate know what English at UMass Amherst is the future. their advisory sessions or qualifying exams. cohort were awarded either research students. We also look forward to the like today—how vibrant and diverse our enhancement and leadership (REAL) English Graduate Organization’s revival programs are and how well our students do As always, the department thanks Chief The Graduate Office has continued to diversity fellowships from the graduate of the Graduate Student Conference this in the world beyond. Undergraduate Advisor Janis Greve and work on mentoring initiatives aimed at school or summer funding fellowships. coming spring. Undergraduate Studies Office Manager supporting our graduate students as they In addition, six of our PhD students were “The State of English Studies, 2019.” On April 5, nearly two dozen high school Celeste Stuart for their hard work on behalf pass through these milestones. In the fall awarded a summer dissertation fellowship, A final note of thanks to our administrator Photo D. Toomey Department of English chairs from around of our students this year! semester, we offered our graduate writing and two of our students were awarded Wanda Bak for her dedication to our office Massachusetts came to South College workshop, intended to demystify the dissertation research grants. Our students and to our students. We could not do the to meet with students and faculty and —David Fleming, process of writing by breaking it down into also presented and published their work work we do without her generous care and to discuss “The State of English Studies, Director of Undergraduate Studies achievable steps. Under the direction of nationally and internationally, and several support. 2019.” The event was jointly sponsored Associate Graduate Program Director Jane by the Department of English and the Degenhardt, the office also ran a successful —Daniel Sack, Western Massachusetts Writing Project, dissertation workshop and helped graduate Director of Graduate Studies with participation from the College students form writing groups based on of Humanities and Fine Arts and the research areas. Professor Mazen Naous University Writing Program.

8 9 PROGRAM REPORT

Arisa White and Jung Yung at the 2019 Juniper Festival. Photo: Noah Loving

Kamila Shamsie (far right) and other members of the Class of 1998 after her reading. Photo: Ben Barnhart The Literary Arts Fair at the 2019 Juniper Festival . . . brought MFA PROGRAM FOR POETS AND WRITERS community members, students, faculty, and Faculty fellowships, publications, Kamila Shamsie ’98MFA who was featured prizes, and residencies abound: Peter in the Visiting Writers Series. Mira Bartók accepted students to Gizzi had a six-week residency at the ’08MFA, Hannah Brooks-Motl ’13MFA, campus for another MacDowell Colony last summer. The Andrea Lawlor ’12MFA, Zach Savich UMass Sustainability Curriculum ’11MFA, Arisa White ’06MFA, and Jung Yun dynamic celebration of the Fellowship to cultivate teaching excellence ’07MFA participated as readers, panelists, literary arts.” in sustainability was awarded to Noy and in the Literary Arts Fair at the 2019 Holland. Edie Meidav was selected as Juniper Festival, which brought community the Jane Geuting Camp Fellow at the members, students, faculty, and accepted Visiting writer Ken Calhoun and Mona Awad Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. The students to campus for another dynamic at the Pop Up Reading, 2019 Juniper Festival. Photo: Noah Loving 2019 Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship celebration of the literary arts. went to Sabina Murray. Jeff Parker received a Fulbright US Scholar grant to In MFA and Juniper staff news, we bid Kyiv, Ukraine. Ocean Vuong received a farewell to longtime program assistant, MacArthur “genius” Award and his debut Barbara McGlynn, who retired in July. We novel On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous, a welcomed Cheena Marie Lo, a poet from New York Times bestseller, was longlisted the San Francisco Bay Area, as the new for the National Book Award. Dara Wier program assistant this fall. Jennifer Jacobson, received a Lannan Foundation Fellowship. associate director, had a short story featured in the Masters Review. Betsy Wheeler, In other news, we’re pleased to host four managing director of the Juniper Summer guest MFA faculty this year: prose writers Writing Institute, received an Orein Arts André Alexis and Mona Awad and poets Residency. Jacobson and Wheeler submitted CAConrad and Shayla Lawson. a successful grant application to the Charles Hayden Foundation, securing $65,000 to It’s been a delight to see so many alumni support the attendance of 29 high school on campus of late including Natasha writers from New York and Boston at the Trethewey ’95MFA, Pulitzer Prize winner Young Writers Institute. This is the third and 19th poet laureate of the United States, year the Hayden Foundation has funded UMass undergrads work at Juniper as who delivered the 2019 Troy Lecture; and scholarships for high school writers to attend program assistants. Juniper. Photo: Ben Barnhart 10 11 AFFILIATED PROGRAMS

KINNEY CENTER FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY RENAISSANCE STUDIES

The Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary After apple picking—graduate student Renaissance Studies launched a series of teaching associates Thomas Pickering, Robin Garabedian, Elena Kalodner-Martin, new research and arts initiatives this year. Jeremy Levine, Ashley Canter, One is Foraging Shakespeare, a podcast Rebecca Petitti, Kate Artz and Tori Sheldon. Photo courtesy Elena Kalodner-Martin in which host Jennifer Thornton speaks with local directors, writers, and artisans to discover the sometimes-surprising Center Director Marjorie Rubright and Arts & Academic Programs Coordinator Liz Fox. ways in which our creations today find Photo: Brittany Hathaway UMASS WRITING The UMass Writing Program continues to University, Kolkata, India, and recently their roots in the Renaissance. Another is the palm of your hand.” This exhibit invited and Heide Estes (Monmouth University), grow! This year UMass Amherst increased earned a PhD in English from UMass the Players Project. Under the founding visitors to consider how the Renaissance both field-defining voices in premodern PROGRAM its freshman class by almost 700 and as Amherst, specializing in post-colonial direction of Noah Tuleja, the project brings predicted our digital age. The center also environmental humanities, are the a result, the Writing Program placement theory and literature. Ray teaches College a cross-campus company of Five College hosted a new workshop on Shakespeare conference keynote speakers. readers (under the guidance of Anne Bello Writing and coordinates the Charles Moran actors together to workshop contemporary and the law. Paul Yachnin, Tomlinson and our placement coordinator) read an Best Text Committee; she will lead a social dramas that use the Renaissance as a Professor of Shakespeare Studies (McGill Please visit our website to learn of our unusually large number of in-coming justice pedagogy fellowship group in spring touchstone for thinking about today’s University), was in residence for the annual upcoming events, work-study and This year the student placement essays. Likewise, our 2020. Prior to coming to UMass, Aaron cultural questions. This fall the Players read Dan S. Collins Lecture during which internship announcements, and to listen office staff (Heidi Terault and Becky Blajda) Tillman was an associate professor of Peter Whelan’s The Herbal Bed, a drama time he invited us to participate in the to episodes of Foraging Shakespeare. As Writing Program hired three went above and beyond the call of duty English and director of the honors program about a court case involving Shakespeare’s Shakespeare Moot Court Project. Just as we we plan future episodes of the podcast we new faculty to offer stability, to make sure our students were properly at Newbury College. While at Newbury, placed, had classrooms to meet in, and he was one of three faculty members who daughter. We also introduced The Refinery, think of the Civil Code or the judgments welcome your ideas for topics and featured fresh perspectives, and new a forum for advanced graduate students of the Supreme Court as law, our workshop artists. teachers to teach them. On an already redesigned their composition sequence to to share work-in-progress with an invited explored Shakespeare as law: a ShaxMoot. writing pedagogy expertise.” crowded campus, the Writing Program better serve writers of varying experiences scholar whose research is shaping their The hearing considered the right to medical For more information, go to: added over 40 sections of freshman and abilities. Tillman teaches College thinking. At the inaugural meeting, Liz aid in dying for an advanced Alzheimer’s www.umass.edu/renaissance/ composition for the year. Much thanks Writing, our first-year writing course, and Fox (UMass) and Professor Stephen Spiess patient. Using All’s Well That Ends Well as to all our Writing Program teachers who co-leads the Writing Program’s curriculum (Babson College) explored the theme, the law, the lively workshop explored the —Marjorie Rubright, Director, continue to take this growth in stride and committee. Welcome to all three! “Un/Chaste: Whore Plays & Cosmopolitan nature of interpretation, the intersections The Arthur F. Kinney Center for still richly engage our students through Desires.” of law and consent, and the way in which Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies innovative pedagogy across campus. Two additional notes, worthy of mention. value and meaning intersect in the creation Under the leadership of Anna Rita Experiential of law and literature alike. This year the Writing Program hired Napoleone, the Writing Center continues learning is at three new faculty to offer stability, fresh to serve a large number of students on the the heart of As this newsletter goes to press, the center perspectives, and new writing pedagogy UMass Amherst campus and at the Mount the center’s is planning an ambitious trans-historical expertise. Devin Day graduated from the Ida campus. In October, a group of 10 high teaching mission. graduate conference, “Eco-Entanglements: University of Missouri with both an MA school students from Deerfield’s Frontier UMass English Ruin, Grafting, Stratification ca 920-2020.” and PhD in English literature with a focus Regional School visited the UMass Writing undergraduates Organized by English graduate students on contemporary American novels. He Center to observe tutoring sessions and visited the center Melissa Hudasko and John Yargo and to brings a deep knowledge of teaching first meet with staff. The visit, supported by a throughout the From the “Tiny Books” be held on February 22, the conference year writing and running a writing center. $15,000 Public Service Endowment Grant, year to learn Special Exhibit. will grapple with the questions: What are Day teaches the College Writing course and is part of an ongoing collaboration between about the history the ecological affordances of thinking serves as a staff member of UMass’s Writing the Writing Center and the school. of the book, Renaissance printing practices, with the medieval and early Modern Center supporting its day-to-day and and to try their hands at calligraphy arts. pasts? And, why turn to the medieval outreach efforts. Shakuntala Ray received —Rebecca Dingo, Director, University of Librarian Jeff Goodhind curated a number and early modern past to consider the an MA in English literature from Jadavpur Massachusetts Amherst Writing Program of special exhibits including, “Tiny Books, environmental crisis our world faces today? Students practicing calligraphy. How to carry the world of knowledge in Jean Feerick (John Carroll University) 12 13 AFFILIATED PROGRAMS

Yashika Issrani ‘20, Deborah Chatigy ‘08 and The young writers of Armory Camp. Julia Avila ‘20. Photo: Kevin Hodgson

In fall 2019, the Professional Writing words, “outstanding work that will really WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS WRITING PROJECT PROGRAM FOR and Technical Communication Program make a difference.” It wasn’t all work, of doubled its retinue of teaching assistants, course. In late May, we hosted the annual The Western Massachusetts Writing Project Springfield Armory National Historic Site, teachers used C3WP materials showed PROFESSIONAL as PhD candidate Elena Kalodner-Martin program reunion at a local restaurant, (WMWP) was selected by the Library of where an ongoing partnership between statistically significant growth in four WRITING AND joined Thomas Pickering, each teaching where current students and grads from Congress 2019 Literacy Awards Program WMWP, the Armory, and Springfield areas of argumentative writing: content, a section of Introduction to Professional years past met and mingled. as a Best Practice honoree. The Literacy schools has led to a fifth year of week-long structure, stance, and conventions. TECHNICAL Writing. Students spoke highly of their Awards Program honors organizations writing activities with a historical theme. Students also “demonstrated greater dedication, enthusiasm, and concern for We are gratified and reassured that that have made outstanding contributions This project is part of a larger initiative proficiency in the quality of reasoning COMMUNICATION their intellectual and academic well-being. job placement—thanks in part to to increasing literacy in the United States between the National Writing Project and and use of evidence in their writing” (SRI We continue to adapt the program with notices sent by program alumni, now or abroad. The $5,000 award recognizes the National Park Service to encourage International). These same results were new software, and to respond to larger at 380 and counting—was very robust. WMWP’s promotion of literacy and more place-based curriculum connections. documented by teachers from schools changes in the profession, especially the Congratulations to all! development of innovative methods and in western and central Massachusetts growing field of user experience. effective practices, and exemplifies the The WMWP held its 27th Summer and teachers and coaches from the —Janine Solberg and David Toomey, ongoing work to which WMWP teacher Leadership Institute, which brought Massachusetts Department of Youth This year many program graduates Co-directors, Program for Professional consultants are committed, as seen by the together K-college teachers. They spent two Services who participated in the program. returned to speak to our classes, sharing Writing and Technical Communication various programs this past year. weeks immersed in writing, reading, and knowledge of workplace cultures and reflective inquiry. They will conduct action- WMWP’s fall conference, Best Practices long-range career planning. Among the This year, the WMWP was delighted with research projects in their own classrooms in the Teaching of Writing, featured one of returnees was Deb Chatigny ’08 now the success of our youth summer programs. and come together for three reunion its teacher-consultants as keynote speaker: a documentation manager at Vertica. Three week-long sessions were held at meetings. Declan O’Connor. He is the current and Thanks in part to her efforts, Kevin Xu South College for kids ages 8-17. Another founding principal of Chestnut Accelerated ’19 was hired as a junior tech writer at youth summer program took place at the Also, in the summer, WMWP was Middle School: Talented & Gifted, a Vertica, and Yashika Issrani ’20 and Julia pleased to offer the College, Career, and grade 6-8 public school in Springfield, Avila ’20 interned, performing in Deb’s Community Writers Program (C3WP) Massachusetts. O’Connor’s keynote speech for the third consecutive year. C3WP focused on social justice and teaching. specifically addresses the Massachusetts He emphasized the importance of having The WMWP held English Language Arts and Literacy a racially diverse staff that reflects the its 27th Summer Leadership Curriculum Framework, which calls for racial diversity of the student body and of This year many students to be able to “write arguments to encouraging conversations about racial Institute, which brought support claims in an analysis of substantive power dynamics. program graduates returned together K-college teachers. topics or texts, using valid reasoning and to speak to our classes, relevant and sufficient evidence,” not only —Anna Rita Napoleone, They spent two weeks in the English classroom, but in content- WMWP Site Director sharing knowledge of immersed in writing, reading, area classrooms as well. Students whose workplace cultures and long- and reflective inquiry.” range career planning.”

14 15 AFFILIATED PROGRAMS

This year students saw between 35 and 50 different performances over the course of their stay, and The “Shakespeare’s Worlds” class—Rachel Carr, Juleen Johnson, Professor Adam Zucker, still managed to find time to Mayrose Beatty, Samantha Souza, and Brendan McPherson. Photo: Jason Moralee explore the city, to hike up Arthur’s Seat (the mountain in the middle of the medieval city), and to rally for an evening cèilidh (Scottish contra dancing).” In summer 2019, 10 English majors and half a century in a university that is more Howe Street, Edinburgh. Photo: D. Toomey OXFORD SUMMER an MFA poet joined the UMass Oxford than twice as old as the US Constitution. Summer Seminar. In the heart of the Learning in this environment helps us to SEMINAR “City of Dreaming Spires,” 44 students engage with humanistic endeavors from lodged at Trinity College, explored the the deep past. As Professor Adam Zucker, LIVE PERFORMANCE: INTERNATIONAL UK, journeyed to France, the Netherlands, who also joined the seminar as a faculty Italy, and Hungary, and engaged in member, put it: “There is nothing quite like THEATRE FESTIVAL IMMERSION intensive coursework modeled on Oxford’s teaching Shakespeare in Oxford! The plays Learning in this unique tutorial system on topics including come alive in the quads and libraries and This past summer marked the twelfth year environment helps us to Shakespeare, Jane Austen, British detective gardens and alleys of the city . . . it’s like Eighteen students from three institutions performance, street spectacle, and more of the Department of English’s summer fiction, prose fiction writing, and British living in a history play, without all of the witnessed performances from around conventional dramatic theatre. We saw a study-abroad course, Live Performance: engage with humanistic politics. beheadings.” the world, and then gathered together to film created before our eyes, were put into endeavors from the deep International Theatre Festival Immersion, meet artists and to develop their responses a coma in the pitch dark, cooked a burger and our second year in partnership with UMass students have been walking on —Jason Moralee, Director, in conversation and in writing. After an onstage, and witnessed a performance with past.” the University of New Mexico (UNM). The the same stony paths now for more than Oxford Summer Seminar online course introducing students to the a newborn baby in our own apartment. Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the world’s festival and to a variety of theatrical strat- largest arts festival with more than 3,500 egies, we spent two weeks in Edinburgh. A number of other festivals also occupy performances each day spread across 400 This year students saw between 35 and 50 the streets of Edinburgh during August: different venues. This past year I acted as different performances over the course of students were able to attend readings at the faculty representative from UMass, their stay, and still managed to find time the Edinburgh International Book Festival UNM Theatre Professor Dominika Laster to explore the city, to hike up Arthur’s Seat (the world’s largest of its kind), concerts at directed the program, and Professor Rachel (the mountain in the middle of the medie- the Music Festival, and some extraordinary Anderson-Rabern of Franklin and Mar- val city), and to rally for an evening cèilidh exhibitions at the Arts Festival. We look shall College rounded out our team of (Scottish contra dancing). forward to next summer’s edition of the instructors. We were also joined by our festivals and what that may hold. own Emeritus Professor Jenny Spencer, Together, our group saw performances who founded the study abroad course more from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Iran, —Daniel Sack, Program Advisor, than a decade ago and now leads groups of Ireland, Italy, United States, and the Live Performance: International Theatre older visitors to the festival, and Professor United Kingdom. These ranged across a Festival Immersion David Toomey, who has been a regular visi- variety of forms including cabaret, circus, Oxford skyline. tor to Edinburgh over the last several years. dance, puppet shows, mask, site-specific

16 17 RECENT BOOKS

BY FACULTY

Joselyn Michelle Almeida. Martín Espada, ed.,What Saves Us: Poems Ruth Jennison and Julian Murphet, eds., Condiciones Edie Meidav and Emmalie Dropkin, Peggy O’Brien, Tongues. Dublin: New Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Communism and Poetry: Writing Against Para El Vuelo. Los Libros del Mississippi eds., Strange Attractors: Lives Changed by Island Books, 2019. Gorgeous: A Novel. Penguin Press, 2019. Trump. Northwestern University Press, 2019. Capital. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. Poesia, 2019. Chance. University of Massachusetts Press, “Fizzing with energy, these poems arrest the “Vuong writes about the yearning for "Far more than a protest anthology, Martin “Now, more than ever, it is necessary that “Condiciones Para El Vuelo [Conditions for 2019. reader with earthy language, wry wordplay, connection that afflicts immigrants. But Espada’s What Saves Us brings together we take seriously the connection between Flight] is a poetry collection that blends "Each essay reckons with contradictions, and clear-eyed compassion. O’Brien’s ‘ocean’ also describes the distinctive way portraits of Trump’s enablers with the poetry and communism, which is to say, various themes: love, loss, and nature in consequences, and risks. The moving, reframing of the classic exchange between Vuong writes: His words are liquid, flowing, myriad voices of the lost, abandoned, and the connection between the living breath its different landscapes and geographies. muscular collection holds an unexpected Abelard and Heloise moves from ‘horns rolling, teasing, mighty and overpowering. marginalized. These stories of immigrants, and the unending criticism of everything These poems convey longing as well as the sort of magic, a sparkling nudge to stay and haloes’ to Airbuses and touchscreens, When Vuong’s mother gave him the oh-so- minimum wage workers, alcoholics, victims, that exists. By taking a broad, dynamic desire to return to those origins of the self open to change." — Boston Globe meshing the medieval with the personal.” apt name of Ocean, she inadvertently called broken angels, and dreamers redeem their swipe from the contemporary landscape, that may answer questions about being and — Katie Donovan into being a writer whose language some of lives and install their voices in our hearts." Communism and Poetics: Writing Against living consciously in freedom.” "Strange Attractors reminds us that even us readers could happily drown in…Like so — Cary Nelson, author of Revolutionary Capital answers this urgent call. It should be —Isabel Alamar chaos has a pattern, and now more than James Tate, The Government Lake: Last many immigrant writers before him, Vuong Memory: Recovering the Poetry of the heard as far and wide as the name of Marx ever, we are grateful for it. Attraction is Poems. Ecco, 2019. has taken the English he acquired with Robert Bagg. American Left himself.” — Anne Boyer, poet, scholar, and Four by Euripides: Medea, evidence of the sublime. The very idea “The rare American poet who managed difficulty and not only made it his own— professor at the Kansas City Art Institute Bakkhai, Hippolytos and Cyclops. sparks revelation." — Annie Liontas, author to make poems that were at once fanciful he’s made it better.” — Maureen Corrigan, Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, ed., The University of Massachusetts Press, 2019. of Let Me Explain You and grave, mundane and transcendent. Fresh Air Robert Bagg's translations are prized for Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and Little . . . His work is singular in American making ancient Greek dramas immediate Lord Fauntleroy. Library of America; poetry for marrying goofball humor and and gripping. His earlier translations of Combined edition, 2019. childish jouissance to a lyricism that never the plays of Sophocles and Euripides have The book contains three Burnett novels, seems cheap or self-serious—an unusual been performed over seventy times, across other written materials by Burnett and achievement.” (The New York Times Book a wide array of stages. This edition includes remastered illustrations. Gerzina is also Review) accessible new translations of four plays by the author of a Burnett biography, Frances Euripides [that] sustain the strengths that Hodgson Burnett: The Unexpected Life of the Bagg is known for: taut and vivid language Author of The Secret Garden, and is editor of and faithfulness to the Greek. several editions of The Secret Garden. From Page to Stage

Eric Berryman, Jonathan Burke, BY ALUMNI Adam Colman, Drugs and the Addiction Aesthetic in April Matthis, Daniel J. Bryant, Nineteenth-Century. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. and Ezra Knight. The following represent recently Photo Joan Marcus Sean Moore. Slavery and the Making of Early American published books written or Libraries: British Literature, Political Thought, and the Martha Ackmann ’88 PhD, is a journalist and author whose book, edited by graduates of the PhD Transatlantic Book Trade, 1731-1814. Oxford University Curveball (Chicago Review Press, 2010), recounts the story of Toni Program. Press, 2019. Stone, the first female player in baseball’s Negro League. Award- winning playwright Lydia R. Diamond has adapted Ackmann’s Matteo Pangallo. Playwriting Playgoers in Shakespeare's work for the stage. Toni Stone, performed by the Roundabout Theater. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. Theatre Company and featuring April Matthis in the title role, premiered on May 23 at the Laura Pels Theatre in New York City. 18 1919 The following represent recently published books written or edited by graduates of the MFA program.

Eric Baus. How I Became a Hum. Octopus Gabriel Bump. Everywhere You Don’t Karen Skolfield. Battle Dress. Arisa White. Fish Walking & Other Xu Xi. This Fish is Fowl: Essays of Being, Books, 2019. Belong. Algonquin, 2020. W. W. Norton, 2019. Bedtime Stories for My Wife. Per Diem University of Nebraska Press, 2019. Press, 2019. Hannah Brooks-Motl. Earth. The Song Melissa Caruso. The Unbound Empire. Diane Wald. Gillyflower.She Writes Matthew Zapruder. Father’s Day. Copper Cave, 2019 Orbit Books, 2019. Press, 2019. Arisa White and Laura Atkins. Biddy Canyon, 2019. Mason Speaks Up. Heyday Books, 2019.

RETURNING ALUMNI

Department of English alumni who, in person or remotely, shared their experiences with us in 2019. Heather Christle. The Crying Book. Nancy L. Davis. Ghosts. Finishing Line Madeline ffitch. Stay and Fight. Farrar, Catapult, 2019. Press, 2019. Straus and Giroux, 2019. Jesse Buday ’08, Senior Technical Documentation Specialist, Pegasystems. Michael Earl Craig. Woods and Clouds Emmalie Dropkin (co-editor). Strange Emily Hunt. Company. The Song Cave, Deborah Chatigny ’08, Documentation Manager, Vertica. Interchangeable. Wave Books, 2019. Attractors: Lives Changed By Chance. 2019. Shevonne Commock ’18 University of Massachusetts Press, 2019. , Career Navigator, JVS Boston Christie DiJusto ’13, Associate Editor, Oxford University Press Chanel Dubofsky ’01, Freelance Writer Fran Fleming ’18, Technical Writer, athenahealth Kristen Forscher ’18, Technical Writer, Brooks Automation Nathan Frontiero, ’17, Junior Copywriter, Brigade The Department of English recognized the acheivements of its Rachel Halpern ’14, Content Strategist, Facebook students at the Annual Scholarship and Awards Celebration held on April 22 in Old Chapel’s Great Hall. Photo: D Toomey Andrew Hammond ’86, Tech Solution Architect, IBM Bryan Hilliard ’93, Senior Director of Sales Enablement, Attivio and Founder, Principal Trumpet, Occasional Brass and Strings The following alumni, all working in publishing in New Emily Mias ’13, Senior Product Manager, Drift York City, hosted undergraduates who “shadowed” them. Matt Oliver ’18, Technical Writer, athenahealth Jeanne Julian. Dorothea Lasky. Patricia O’Donnell. Like the O in Hope. Animal. Wave Books, The Vigilance of Stars. Beth Codey ’14, Penguin Random House The Poetry Box, 2019. 2019. Unsolicited Press, 2019. Judah Phillips ’97, Founder/Principal, SmartCurrent Angela Simonelli ’05, Supervisor, Information Development, Stephanie Meyers ’05, Inc. and Fast Company Anjali Khosla. Ghostbot. Wendy’s Lesle Lewis. Rainy Days on the Farm. Lev Raphael. State University of Murder. Rocket Software Eden Univer ’10, Hearst Magazines Subway / Nor By Press, 2019. Fence Books, 2019. Perseverance Press, 2019. Rebecca Tarr Thomas ’10, Acquisitions Editor, Adams Media Amanda Pritzker ’04, Grand Central Publishing Taylor Wise ’17, Technical Writer, athenahealth

20 21 GIVING TO THE DEPARTMENT

The Department of English is grateful to the alumni and other donors Amanda K. Dahill-Moore Katie Hays whose contributions and support are key to our creating a vibrant Mariah Dahill-Moore Edward G. Hayward Carol A. DeLuca Sheila D. Hayward experience for our students. Your generosity allows us to offer student Christopher M. Dennis Brian T. Henry THANK YOU FOR YOUR scholarships, to teach innovative courses, and to sponsor visits by Martin E. Deren Nathaniel P. Herold, Karen Herold internationally renowned writers and scholars. Please consider making Michelle M. Derusha Floyd D. Herring, Lynn Dgetluck Mariela Palomino Herring GENEROSITY! a contribution, thereby enriching the lives of our students and investing Amy C. Diehl Anne J. Herrington, Tina K. Plette in our common future. Thank you! Mary A. Dinovo Victor Ho Maria DiSano-Niemi Flournoy C. Holland The individuals and organizations below made donations to the Stephen Dixon Anne C. Holmes, Contributions may be made online at: James E. Dobson Matthew B. Gifford Department of English between January 1 and December 31, 2019. James J. Dobson Courtney Holmes umass.edu/development/give Timothy Donnelly Ellen Ingrid Howes Karen J. Donovan Melissa N. Hubbell Carey A. Douglas Kathryn L. Hueber Samuel Ace Donald R. Brown Meghan C. Driscoll Debra M. Hughes Nathan W. Adams, Laniesha Shaneara Brown Emmalie Dropkin Emily A. Hunerwadel Caitlin C. Adams Alan R. Burne, Janet Burne Jeanne A. Dubino John Hunerwadel Susan F. Durkee Karen Hunerwadel Lynne J. Agress Shannon Amelia Burns Participants in the Juniper Institute for Young Writers. Photo: Ben Barnhart Patricia P. Allen CM Burroughs Lisa A. Dush Dianne Ice Kirstin Allio Carol A. Burton William D. Dyer Randall Ice James L. Altieri Judith E. Buswick Jane Brower Dykema Christopher W. Ivusic Richard N. Eid J.E. & Marjorie B. Pittman American Online Giving Alta-Mae Butler Shawn R. Lyons Michael W. Morris, Jr. Anne Brennan Rosen Howard F. Swinimer Nicole S. Erhardt Foundation, Inc. Foundation Sandee Bybee David J. Magazu Edward Mullany Lauren M. Rosenberg Sharon Tagle, James Tagle Corwin A. Ericson Phoebe S. Jackson Amherst College Annette Byrdy Nicholas Maione Anne E. Mullin Jonathan Michael Ruseski Estate of James V. Tate Alan Felsenthal Jennifer Jacobson Jennifer A. Amigone Joseph G. Callahan Robert L. Mandeville Margaret A. Murphy-Richardson Garrett D. Russell Madison Elizabeth Taylor Steven F. Ferrara Nicholas V. Jeffway Lois R. Andelman Edward H. Cardoza, Jr. Amy E. Mariano Jonathan S. Myerov Ruth Stone Foundation Inc. Anita Thebo Anne E. Ferreira, Melba P. Jensen, David D. Jensen Emily M. Anderson Timothy Carlson Melissa M. Marieb Cynthia M. Neider Michael C. Ryan Annette M. Thomas Stephen J. Ferreira Christine I. Joenk Lucy Hoag Armstrong Diane Caruso Hope C. Martin Brian K. Nelson Fiona Saltmarsh James M. Thomson Fidelity Investments Charitable Juleen E. Johnson Christine A. Ashe M.P. Carver Michael S. Marturana Brian P. Neumann, Lee Scheingold David M. Toomey Gift Foundation Julia Johnson Jeannine C. Atkins, Peter A. Laird J. Scott Cary John A. Massa Elizabeth K. Bouvier Paul K. Schnabel William A. Tremblay Valerie Fiksdal Riley E. Jones Bonnie L. Badin Dorothy M. Champlin Massachusetts Cultural Council Vinh Q. Nguyen Schwab Fund for Gregory Trimmer Lisa Fishman Gregory D. Juwa, Ava J. Juwa Kristine M. Baker Charles Hayden Foundation Anna Mastrandrea Timur Rustamovich Niyazov Charitable Giving Katrina E. Turner Jessica L. Fjeld Suzanne W. Kelley Ronald P. Barriere Kathryn C. Chase Pamela Matz Mary E. Norcliffe Gregory S Schwartz Janis G. Urbanek, Mark A. Urbanek Paul Gerard Flamburis Athenia Rael Kennedy Gail A. Barry John W. Chelgren Peggy Mayer Drisana Norlie Robert V. Scialo, Colleen E. Scialo Judith A. vanBever-Green Michael W. Flanary Laura M. Kenney, Michael A. Bars Daniel J. Chelotti Sheila M. McAleney Lisa R. Olstein Mary A. Scott John Vincent Herman J. Fong William A. Sundstrom Mira L. Bartok, Douglas P. Plavin Kathleen E. Chick Alanis Shalonda McAlmont Mathew L. Ouellett Tristen L. Scott Vinh Q. Vuong Paul E. Forte Stacie R. Klinowski Joseph F. Bartolomeo, Heather M. Christle, Irma P. McClaurin Anita Page Michael Sechrist John Wagner Elaine I. Fortier Jim E. Kobylecky Lydia J. Sarro Christopher N. Deweese Lawrence E. McCormick Caryl Pagel Patricia Sechrist Pierre A. Walker Glenn L. Fortin, Wendy Fortin Veronica Kornberg Matthew W. Bayne, Karen E. Bayne Michele R. Christle Mary C. McCormick Jeffrey S. Parker, Alina Parker Janet L. Serman Jeanette R. Wall, William F. Wall Michelle K. Fowler Daniel J. Kozuch Sherry Bearnot Kenneth L. Chute Frances Mccue Carley A. Pelletier Francis J. Sersanti, Mary E. Sersanti Mary C. Walsh, Erik P. Kimball Ann E. Garner Alyssa Krawczyk Karen E. Beaton Ward Stephen R. Clingman, Pauline A. McDonough Bruce M. Penniman, Arnold D. Sgan Art Weingarten John F. Gately II Richard G. LaFosse Elisabeth E. Bennett, Moira Clingman Elizabeth Mceleney Valerie S. Penniman Bernard H. Shapiro Esther Weingarten Katherine Genovese Dylan J. Lane Stephen Bennett Sarah C. Coates Christopher J. McGinley Emily C. Pettit Lauren Shapiro Jay K. Weingarten Anna Gergen Thomas Langlas Paul R. Bergeron Arda Collins William M. McGovern, Guy G. Pettit Edward Sharples Jr. Benjamin Wheeler Pamela Giannatsis Dorothea S. Lasky Samantha L. Bernecker Ryan Joseph Comeau Virginia G. McGovern Rosalie P. Porter Ronald A. Sheffler Elizabeth J. Wheeler Mary D. Gibney, Colin E. Gibney Brett Lauer David R. Bernstein, Community Foundation of Carson Eleanor McGrath Linda A. Poulin Jennifer K. Shelgren Eric Wheeler Dobby Gibson Rachel Lavery Angela Carbone Western Massachusetts William E. McGrath, Edward J. Powers, Jr. Thomas Shin Miriam B. White Peter G. Gizzi Kelly Law, Cuong Tran Gene M. Bernstein Bernard Connaughton Shirley H. McGrath Marita Prater Lori Shine William L. Whitman Daniel M. Glosband Adrienne E. Laws Daniel E. Berthiaume David G. Conners Kelly Mcguinness Jacqueline Provencher Nicole Sibley Dara Wier Merry C. Glosband Joyce R. Leavitt, Russell L. Leavitt Robert E. Bessel Marsha R. Connor Christine Mcmasters Dean Rader Serah M. Sibley Leslie J. Wilder John F. Glynn Diane Leblanc Brittany Billmeyer-Finn W. Bruce Cooper, Kendra Cooper Patricia J. McTaggart Martha M. Ragland John P. Sieracki Marilyn F. Winey, W. Fred Winey Dennis L. Goeckel, Heather A. LeBlanc Elliott H. Bird Stella Corso Michael C. Medeiros Hilary Rand Diane M. Sinico Constance G. Wones Karen D. Skolfield Charles J. Leibson Harold B. Bjornson, Jr. Andrew F. Costello Jr. Patricia Medeiros Debrah K. Raschke Samara Skolnik James P. Wright Leonard G. Gougeon Daniel M. Leonard, Jennifer G. Blackburn, Elisabeth J. Cotton Tessa Menatian Estate of Meredith Raymond Douglas Sloane Jr. Xeric Foundation Christopher G. Graham Lorena N. Leonard Gregory R. Blackburn Kelly K. Coulsey, Carol R. Mendoza, Christopher M. Reilly, Nancy Reilly Gloria Slosberg Kevin Xu Barclay E. Green Richard Lerner, May Louie-Lerner Becky A. Blajda Joshua A. Coulsey Ernesto Mendoza Philip Reilly Michael P. Smolens Lynn Xu Carol L. Griggs Lesle J. Lewis, Daniel C. Lewis Kiyanna Blakey Christophe G. Courchesne, Emilie C. Menzel Alice W. Reinhardt Rebecca A. Songer Alan Yang Andrew M. Grodin Cheryl Ley Kerry E. Blum Sarah J. Courchesne Michael Mercurio Stacey Resnikoff Cynthia M. Spencer Raymond S. Yelle Melanie J. Guentzel Paul Lisicky Paul G. Blumberh Michael E. Craig Kathy Mervosh Laura J. Ress Bruce H. Stanford Matthew J. Zapruder Sheila M. Hallissy John P. Lloyd Kristin L. Bock Patricia J. Crapo Natalie O. Mezzina Wendy A. Ritger Sarah A. Starkweather Alan Zipkin Ambar M. Hammond Kelin E. Loe Antidote Books Christina J. Cronin, Elizabeth Terese Mikesch Beth Roberts Gertrude Stein JoAnne V. Zywna Tara A. Hancock River Lord Bettina M. Botti Mark R. Langevin Carol E. Mitchell Norene A. Roberts Sara L. Stelzner Emily Harris-Greene Katherine McKayla Lovering James E. Boudreau Dyanne M. Crowley Holly B. Morris Denise E. Robitaille Catherine E. Stewart Aimee Harrison Amy V. Lowe Kathleen S. Breiten Christine N. Crutchfield Janet M. Morris, Andrew Morris Jason W. Rogers Michelle Sullivan James Haug, Alexandra Kennedy Matthew R. Lowe Catherine Bresner Mark L. Curelop Michael W. Morris, Sr., Martha C. Ronk Larisa Svirsky Karen L. Hawkins Natalie D. Lyalin, Joshua V. Bolton Elaine K. Brigham Wendy J. Curtice Mary Joan M. Morris Jake Rose Mathew R. Swiatlowski Hannah M. Brooks-Motl Joanne Dahill Terrance Hayes Morton Lynn, Susan Lynn

2222 23 NON PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID AMHERST MA PERMIT NO. 2 Department of English E445 South College 150 Hicks Way Amherst, MA 01003-9274

Photo courtesy Molly Trowbridge

Kendall Higgins ‘19 and Molly Trowbridge ‘19 prepare to turn the page.