Undergraduate Newsletter, Fall 2007, English
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Department of English and Comparative Literature San José State University Fall 2007 Spring 2008 Welcomes ZZ Packer as Contents Lurie Professor by Kathy Geary ZZ Packer 1 by Kathy Geary The spring semester of 2008 will CLA: Meeting Today’s Greatest 3 welcome a fresh face to the Depart Authors ment of English and Comparative by Huy Tran Literature. ZZ Packer will hold the Lurie Distinguished Professor in SJSU Says Farewell to John 4 Creative Writing position on the Pollock by Amy Craven SJSU campus. Ms. Packer will be the seventh visiting author to hold Nick Taylor: A New Face, A New 6 this position at SJSU. Her book, the Bellingham Review Award, Direction Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, is the and a Guggenheim Fellowship in by Nick Dinicola SJSU Campus Reading Selection fiction. The title story in her short- Room to Lounge 7 for the 2007-2008 school year. story collection, Drinking Coffee by Ellen-Tara James As Lurie Professor, Ms. Packer Elsewhere, was published in The will be speaking at a variety of New Yorker in the 2000 debut History of the English Dept. 9 events next semester, as well as fiction issue. ZZ Packer will most by Lauren Minkel teaching both an undergraduate certainly be a welcome addition to Post Grad: Looking to the 10 literature course (English 177: TR both the Department of English and Future 1200-1330) and a graduate work Comparative Literature and the by Jordan Baker shop in writing fiction (English 241: SJSU campus at large. R 1600-1845). Though born in Chicago, Awards: Will Write For Food 12 She comes to SJSU with stellar Zuwena (Swahili for “good”)was by Andrea Waldron credentials. After graduating from raised in Atlanta, Georgia and Real World Experience: 13 Yale in 1994, Ms. Packer attended Louisville, Kentucky, an upbring Internships The Writing Seminar at Johns that imbues her writing with the by Rochelle Jackson-Smarr Hopkins University and The Writers’ essences of the American South. Workshop at Iowa University; she With race relations and conflicts The Writing Center 14 by Larry Chu received a Stegner Fellowship at woven into the fabric of her Stanford University and recently storytelling, Packer captivates her Spring 2008 Course 15 was a Jones Lecturer at Stanford. In reader with events told through the Descriptions addition to these accomplishments, eyes of African-American youth, Ms. Packer has received multiple exciting the senses with a view that The Chair’s Message 22 John Engell awards for her published works: a focuses on the quintessential human Rona Jaffe Writers Foundation experience, crossing both racial and Grant, the Ms. Giles Whiting Award, cultural barriers. The stories in ENGLISH DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER Drinking Coffee Elsewhere capture the growth of February 27 at 7:30 PM, the Music Concert Hall. the human spirit through life’s drama as experienced The evening with ZZ Packer will include a lecture, by her young black characters, and her voice allows a reading, an audience Q&A and a book signing. her readers to connect with her protagonists. I had such an experience with her story, “Our March 5 at 3:00 PM at Mt. Pleasant High School. Lady of Peace.” In that story, a young teacher who is The event will be of similar format. looking to make a difference accepts a position to teach English in an inner-city public school. Having If you have not yet read Drinking Coffee Else personally assisted in an array of demographically where, don’t worry; there is plenty of time to get it read diverse educational programs, I found myself stepping before Ms. Packer’s arrival on campus next semester. into the classroom along side the character in the Watch the bulletin boards in Faculty Office Building story and sharing the frustration and sense of inad next semester and check the CLA announcements for equacy that an instructor can feel when trying to reach more information on opportunities to learn more about the unreachable student. ZZ Packer and her experiences with the craft of writing. The stories in Drinking Coffee Elsewhere guide the reader toward a sense of hope, but nearly always end in a calamity of sentiment that questions the emotional rationality of life. The tone of Packer’s storytelling is tense, and resolutions never come easily. Having demonstrated her mastery of the short story, Packer is currently finishing her first novel, titled The Thousands. The post-emancipation novel is about “the forgotten masses of blacks who went West.” In honor of National Black History Month in February 2008, as Lurie Professor Ms. Packer will feature in three literary events hosted by the SJSU Center for LiteraryArts. February 27 at 1:00 PM, the University Room. Scheduled for the afternoon is a conversation with ZZ Packer, a Q&A, and a book signing. The Lurie Chair The Lurie Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing position was established through the generosity of Connie and Robert Lurie to bring a distinguished author to San José State University to teach for one semester each year. The permanent endowment provides association with and education by the selected Lurie professor for SJSU students and the public through university courses and public appearances. The program that began in 2000 has thus far brought the following distinguished authors to the SJSU Campus: Ursula K. Le Guin, Carolyn Kizer,Al Young, Molly Giles, Simon Winchester, Ishmael Reed, James D. Houston, and James Kelman. 2 FALL 2007 othy is just an amazing person to meet. She throws around colorful words like nobody’s business, telling Meeting Today’s people how the publishers can keep writers down and how it was like at the forefront of the woman’s Greatest Authors movement.” by Huy Tran The second author to be featured in this year’s Major Author Series is Salman Rushdie, winner of the Booker Prize. Rushdie’s works include Midnight’s Children and Satanic Verses. In Midnight’s Chil dren, he presents a journey through thirty years of For more than two decades, the the SJSU Center modern India’s path to independence through the eyes for Literary Arts’ (CLA) Major Authors Series has of two characters who are switched during birth. been the most significant literary series in the region, Midnight’s Children has significantly shaped Indian providing SJSU students and the South Bay commu writing in English, as many consider it one of India’s nity the chance to interact with writers of contempo best works since that nation’s independence. rary literature of the highest caliber. To date, the The CLA will host one event with Salman Rushdie Major Authors Series has hosted presentations by on November 8, 2007 at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by the twenty-eight winners of the Pulitzer Prize, fifteen Associated Students of SJSU. The event will be a winners of the National Book Award, and five winners reading of his work by Rushdie, followed by a con of the Nobel Prize, and continues to bring more versation and public Q&A ,followed by a book- award-winning authors every year. From Neil Gaiman signing session at the Morris Daily Auditorium. Admis to Gore Vidal, the CLA has brought the best of the sion to the even is $10 for students and $25 for best to our campus. st general admission. In its 21 year of the Major Authors Series, the The third autor to be featured in this year’s Major CLA brings four outstanding writers to the campus Author Series is ZZ Packer, who will also be serving during the 2007-2008 academic year: Dorothy as the 2008 Lurie Distinguished Professor in Creative Allison, Salman Rushdie, ZZ Packer, and Kimiko Writing in the Department of English and Comparative Hahn. Literature at during the spring semester next year. Dorothy Allison, winner of the 2007 Robert Penn Packer’s Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, a critically Award for Fiction and National Book Award finalist, acclaimed collection of eight short stories, is the SJSU was the first author featured in this year’s Major 2007-2008 Campus Reading Selection and the focus Authors Series. Her major works include Bastard out of a variety of book discussions that will be held of Carolina, Cavedweller, Trash, and Two or Three throughout the academic year across campus. Her Things I know for Sure. Earlier this semester, the stories deal with highly developed characters in CLA hosted an informational session to acquaint the scenarios that African-Americans constantly face. community with her major book, Bastard out of The CLA will host three events with ZZ Packer: a Carolina, followed by two on-campus presentations. conversation and public Q&A, a reading and book That book, which became a major motion picture, signing, and a visit to Mt. Pleasant High School. The explores drinking, sexual abuse, and gender issues; its first event will be held on February 27, 2008 at 1:00 conflict centers on Anney Boatwright and her bastard p.m., location to be announced. The reading and daughter Ruth Anne, who is sexually abused by book-signing session will be held later in the day on Anney’s new husband. February 27, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the SJSU Music Allison’s visit made quite an impact and left many Concert Hall. The final event with ZZ Packer will be pleasantly stunned by how blunt she was abut her a visit to Mt. Pleasant High School on March 5, 2008 beliefs and experiences. According to Tina Quach, a at 3:00 p.m. All Packer events are free admission. University of California Berkeley student who traveled The fourth author to be featured in this year’s 1.5 hours to attend one of the Allison events, “Dor Major Authors Series is Kimiko Hahn, winner of the 3 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER American Book Award and the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize, a prize given out only once every three years.