See NU STUDY MATRIX for a complete listing of ALL writing courses offered at NU www.northwestern.edu/writing-arts/study.html THE NEWSLETTER OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY’S CENTER FOR THE WRITING ARTS VOL. 8WRITING NO. 1 MATTERSFall 2007 CWA 2007 FALL QUARTER SYMPOSIA The Black Arts Movement in the Broader International Day of Writing Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement Friday Tuesday October 26, 2007 October 16, 2007 2:30-4:30 p.m. 2:00-5:00 p.m. Harris Hall, Room 108, Reception follows 1881 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL Norris University Center Northwestern Room, Our visitors from Indonesia, Egypt, Russia, Hong 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL Kong, Bulgaria, and Australia are currently in residence at the International Writing Workshop The panelists will be Angela Jackson, poet, novelist at the University of Iowa. The writers will and playwright; Sterling Plumpp, poet, scholar, editor present brief readings of their work in and activist; Carolyn Rodgers, poet, feminist and translation, and a discussion of literary cultures educator; and Sala Udin, Freedom Rider, actor in the and literary practices will follow. establishment of the Pittsburgh Black Horizons Theatre, under the direction of his childhood friends, Rob Penny Guest writers are: and August Wilson, elected member of the Pittsburgh Nirwan Dewanto, Indonesia City Council, where he served for 11 years. Hamdy El Gazzar, Egypt Ksenia Golubovich, Russia Co-sponsored by the Center for the Writing Arts, the Lawrence Pun, Hong Kong Departments of African-American Studies, English, and Political Science, and the Office of the Dean of the Weinberg Aziz Nazmi Shakir-Tash, Bulgaria School of Arts and Sciences. Lindsay Simpson, Australia SPECIAL EVENTS ON CAMPUS Nancy Horan, author of Loving Frank Michael Lesy, author of Murder City:The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties Thursday October 11, 2007 Friday November 2, 2007 5:15-5:45 p.m. reception 5:45-6:45 p.m. reading/discussion 12:30-1:30 p.m. (pizza lunch served) A book signing will follow University Hall, Hagstrum Room 201 Harris Hall, Room 108 1881 Sheridan Rd, Evanston, IL Hampshire College Professor of Literary Journalism Michael Lesy is among the inaugural United States Artists Nancy Horan's debut novel Loving Frank details Frank Fellows. Lesy, who has taught at Hampshire College since Lloyd Wright's passionate affair with Mamah Cheney; 1990, has published a dozen books, including Wisconsin both of them left their families to be together, creating a Death Trip, which has been in print since it first appeared in Chicago scandal that eventually ended in violence. 1973. Lesy will be participating in the 18th Annual Chicago Currently on the New York Times bestseller list. Humanities Festival this November. THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTER FOR THE WRITING ARTS NU CENTER FOR THE WRITING ARTS Mark Your Calendars: ADVISORY BOARD Mary Pattillo MEMBERS Sociology and African-American Studies, WCAS 2007/2008 Wednesday, October 17, 2007 A Reading from Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City Reginald Gibbons Director of the Center for the Writing Arts, WCAS, English & Classics 12:30-1:30 p.m. Ken Alder WCAS, History Leigh Bienen School of Law Ed Roberson Jack Doppelt Medill School Fall Quarter 2007 Visiting Writer in Doug Foster Medill School Residence Robert Gundlach WCAS, Linguistics & The Writing Program Tuesday, October 30, 2007 George Harmon Medill School Carol Henes Kellogg School of Management Spoken Word Poetry Reading John Keene WCAS, English with Musical Accompaniment Mary Kinzie WCAS, English Dan Lewis School of Education & 5:15-6:15 p.m. Social Policy Dittmar Gallery, Norris University Center Sarah Maza WCAS, History 1st floor, 1999 Campus Drive Dan McAdams School of Education & Social Policy Saul Morson WCAS, Slavic Lang. & Lit. James R. O’Laughlin WCAS, Writing Program PLANNING WRITING EVENTS THIS QUARTER? Frances Paden WCAS, Writing Program and Gender Studies LET US KNOW! Abe Peck Medill School John Rudnicki McCormick School of Just a reminder that the Center’s biweekly electronic digest, Engineering NU Writing Event Digest, highlights NU writing events and Barbara Schwom WCAS, Writing Program reaches students, faculty, and staff via the Center’s growing Ken Seeskin WCAS, Philosophy Carol Simpson Stern School of Communication, email list. If you know of an upcoming event related to writ- Performance Studies ing, whether it be an author’s visit, departmental program, Charles Whitaker Medill School or even an off-campus event involving NU students or facul- Patti Wolter Medill School ty, please let us know! We will do our best to publicize all writing-related programming. If you would like to receive WRITING MATTERS the electronic NU Writing Event Digest, please send an email Fall 2007 Vol. 8 No.1 to: [email protected] or call us at 847-467-4099. Editor: STACY L. OLIVER Newsletter of the Northwestern University Center for the Writing Arts. All rights reserved. Published three The Center for the Writing Arts presents a variety of distinguished writers from times during the school year at Northwestern University, 1880 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208. both on and off campus. For complete calendar and recent additions visit: www.northwestern.edu/writing-arts/ PAGE 2 WRITING MATTERS/FALL 2007 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTER FOR THE WRITING ARTS DIRECTOR’S LETTER Two unusual events sponsored by Christopher Merrill and Hugh the Center for the Writing Arts Ferrer. These writers will give a By Reginald Gibbons events will take place in October. public presentation of their work, Director, The Center for the Writing The first is a roundtable on the lega- and talk and answer questions, Arts, Professor of English and cies both cultural and political of the from 2:30 to 4:30 that Friday (a Classics Black Arts movement, drawing on reception will follow). They will the presence in Chicago of four have dinner with undergraduates important African American poets, thanks to the support of Nancy and including also a notable figure Anderson of the Residential The activities of the Center for from Pittsburgh. Visiting Writer in Colleges. The visitors: the Writing Arts this year Residence Ed Roberson, a distin- include the teaching and guished poet, has invited to campus Nirwan DEWANTO (essayist, readings and lectures by the poet and fiction writer Angela poet, editor; Indonesia) has pub- Visiting Writers in Residence Jackson, poet Carolyn Rodgers, poet lished his essays and poems in (poet Ed Roberson in the fall, Sterling Plumpp, and the social numerous Indonesian journals, nonfiction writer Alex activist Sala Udin, who until recently magazines, anthologies, and Kotlowitz in the winter, and was a member of the city council of newspapers; he is also the editor fiction writer Mary Ann Pittsburgh (a city which has of a newly published anthology of Mohanraj in the spring), the produced a remarkable group of the best short stories of the many CWA-sponsored presen- African American artists, including Kompas Daily newspaper. He has tations by faculty and guests, Mr. Roberson himself, novelist John curated several literary arts festi- the updated web "matrix" of all Edgar Wideman, playwright August vals, most recently the 4th Utan Northwestern courses that Wilson, sculptor Thaddeus Mosley, Kayu International Literary focus on or emphasize writing, and others). From 2:00 till 5:00 on Biennale in Jakarta and Central and more. The purpose of all the afternoon of Tuesday, October 16, Java. CWA activities is to create, the participants in the conference support and further under- will make brief presentations and Hamdy EL GAZZAR (playwright, graduate and graduate oppor- discuss with each other and with the fiction writer, novelist; Egypt) has tunities for the study of audience the Black Arts movement been widely published in the Arab writing at Northwestern, both in retrospect. (A reception will fol- world. He has written and direct- within CWA itself and across low the conference presentations.) I ed several plays and written docu- the university; to facilitate a believe that such a public conversa- mentary films for Egyptian TV. continuing discussion in the tion is unprecedented at His debut novel, Black Magic university community about Northwestern, and in itself will be (2005), won the 2006 prize for the how best to situate writing as a an important moment in the history best novel by a writer under 40 crucial part of a university of the Black Arts era. (And for that from the Sawiris Foundation in education; to help coordinate reason the event will be video-taped the university's multifarious and edited for later webcasting.) Cont. on page 5 courses and programs in writ- ing across departments, Also unprecedented will be our programs and schools; and Northwestern International Day of also to welcome audiences Writing on Oct. 26, with guests from from the metropolitan area to the International Writing Workshop the rich array of public events at the University of Iowa, thanks to on campus that are focused on the kind help of the Director and writing. Assistant Director of that workshop, WRITING MATTERS/FALL 2007 PAGE 3 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTER FOR THE WRITING ARTS WHAT ARE YOU READING? We asked these questions: 1) What scholarly/professional book or article are you currently reading? 2) What book are you reading at the moment largely for pleasure? 3) What is the next book (work or pleasure) you hope to read? 4) What do wish all your students would read? 5) Has any book you’ve recently read changed your thinking about your own work? and how? Daniel Garrison Professor WCAS, Classics 1. Lester K. Little, Plague and the End of Antiquity. The Pandemic of 541-750. 2. Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policeman's Union. 3. A.A. Long, From Epicurus to Epictetus.