Villanova BIPOC Writers Read Their Work

On Tuesday, November 17, students, alumni, and faculty who have participated in the BIPOC Writing Group read from their work, which included poetry, prose, and nonfiction. The BIPOC Writing Group meets every other Tuesday evening via Zoom. For details, please contact Dr. Adrienne Perry at adrienne.perry@villanova.edu.

The reading was hosted by Dr. Adrienne Perry (top left) and featured the following presenters (clockwise from top left): Dr. Yumi Lee, Lydia McFarlane, Arman Salem, Kamakshi Ranjan, and Cindy Rene.

Students in Prof. Karen Graziano's Legal Writing Class Take Part in Online Panel

On Tuesday, November 17, seven students from Professor Graziano’s “Legal Writing” seminar participated in an online panel in which they shared their experiences of conducting legal research. Students discussed the challenges and excitement of conducting legal research in a range of areas, from patent law and assisted reproduction to monetary bail. They also discussed the opportunities the course provided to network with legal experts around the country and to deepen their understanding of the legal profession. 

The panel was hosted by Professor Karen Graziano (top left), and included the following student presenters (clockwise from top left): Solange Stamatos, Karina Zakarian, Jen Lambert, Arianna Bufalino, Catherine Cook, Jacqueline Solomon, and David Izzo.

Students in Prof. Staples' Class in Stoneleigh Gardens Read Their Poetry and Prose

On Monday, November 16, the students in Prof. Cathy Staples Nature Writing Workshop read selections of their poetry and prose on Zoom to an audience of students, faculty, and community members. This event was sponsored by Stoneleigh and the Natural Lands conservation organization. Professor Staples and her students have spent the semester meeting in a safe, socially distanced manner in the Stoneleigh gardens, which are adjacent to the Villanova campus.

Pictured (clockwise from left): Prof. Cathy Staples as host, and student readers Sydney Monroe, Meg Glinka, Lyndey Gallagher, Anna Connolly, Anna Keller, Alexandra Penzi, and Gabby Isola.

Submit Your Work to WIT, Villanova's Multilingual Literary Journal

WIT, an annual multilingual literary journal for Villanova students, is inviting students to submit their work for publication in its 2021 issue. WIT, which stands for Writing in Tongues, was first published in the spring 2018 semester in the Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies, focusing on GIS languages: Arabic, Chinese, Irish, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. The editors accept poems or very short creative prose compositions, original or in translation, along with artwork in any medium (drawing, painting, photograph, computer graphics etc).

Copies of previous issues of WIT are available for the curious at the GIS office (Garey 36), through several faculty members teaching GIS languages; at Falvey Library, and in PDF form through Arabic Instructor Barbara Romaine, who will send you the files if you contact her at barbara.romaine@villanova.edu. Selected compositions will be published bilingually (that is, in your language of study with facing English translation). The deadline for submissions is February 19, 2021.

Villanova Faculty and Students Read Their Poetry and Stories

On Wednesday, November 11, four Villanova writers—two students and two faculty members-- read from their work to an audience of more than one hundred students, faculty, and other Villanova community members. Dr. Tsering Wangmo began the evening by reading a selection of her recent poems. Sophomore Jacqueline Carroll read next, sharing a section of one of her short stories. Dr. Alan Drew then read from his upcoming novel. The readings concluded with senior Tia Parisi, who read several of her poems. The event concluded with a Q-and-A. 

Submit your Creative Work to POLIS magazine

POLIS, a Villanova Literary Magazine, is now accepting written and visual submissions for our Fall 2020 edition! Submissions can take the form of poetry, prose, visual art, and photography and can be emailed to polislitmag@gmail.com. The deadline to submit is November 15th. Please email the editors with any questions.

Annual Luckow Family Lecture: Dr. Rob Nixon on "The Less Selfish Gene"

On Tuesday, Dr. Rob Nixon, professor in the Humanities and the Environment at Princeton University, delivered Villanova English's Annual Luckow Family Lecture: "The Less Selfish Gene: Forest Altruism, Neoliberalism, and the Tree of Life.". About 85 students and faculty attended the lecture, delivered by Zoom, which was followed by a lively Q & A. In his talk, Dr. Nixon argued that the recent surge of interest in popular science writing about forest ecosystems and plant communication reflects public curiosity in models of the natural world and modes of flourishing opposed to the egotism and individualism popularized by neoliberalism. 

Haikus from Dr. Wangmo's Introduction to Creative Writing Class

Students in Dr. Tsering Wangmo's Introduction to Creative Writing class searched online to offer reasons and remedies to a fellow writer who had a sudden nosebleed in class. Then, they decided to offer haikus instead.   

Pictured, from left to right: Andrew Crean, Elizabeth Nacion, Casey Conniff, Zachary Tipton, Garrett Whitton, James Lynn, Jacqueline Carroll, Kashae Garland and Lindsay Cook.  

Fall 2020 Pre-Registration Reception: Report and Photos

Villanova English's Fall 2020 Pre-Registration Reception took place in Driscoll Tent on Friday, November 30, bringing together more that 40 students and English Faculty members. As a tribute to Louise Gluck, the American poet who recently won the Nobel Prize for Literature, poems by Gluck were attached to the boxed lunches. During the lunch, two English majors, Mike Keeley and Meghan Edwards, shared information about their recent internships working for a political advertising agency and the staff of a congressional campaign respectively. Next, Tia Parisi, the student editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Ellipsis explained the vision of the magazine and invited student volunteers and submissions. English faculty also talked about our new English courses for the spring, and department chair Dr. Heather Hicks, reminded students about the Internship Advising that is now available, by appointment, with English Program Coordinator Mike Malloy (michael.malloy@villanova.edu). We ended with a raffle of literary prizes and the reading of a MadLib by Dr. Alice Dailey. Throughout the event, a table staffed by  Student Advisory Council members Calista Huang and Amanda Atkinson answered questions for students interested in the major or minor.