DEI: More of What We are Reading Now

Periodically, our department put out a list of Reading Recommendations for those wishing to learn more about diversity, equity, and inclusion. With the aim of expanding on that effort, our DEI committee would like to provide another update on some of the works that we are currently reading or have recently read that touch on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We're interested in reading books that change, challenge, and expand our thinking on what's happening in our lives and in the world around us. We hope you'll find some exciting or intriguing titles on this list. For those interested in viewing more suggestions, we encourage you to revisit our earlier lists of recommended titles (here and here). You may also want to explore Falvey Library's diversity and inclusion subject guide.

Adrienne Perry: I’ve finished two books in the last week that I’m still thinking about. The first is Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. The second is After the Lights Go Out by John Vercher. I’d heard of Yu’s book before I picked it up (it won the National Book Award in 2020), but I was eager to see how he used the screenplay format and, more importantly, how he wrote about Asian stereotypes, race, and assimilation. The book is about these topics and a lot more. It’s funny, but also really searing. John Vercher is a Philadelphia-based writer and a mixed-race writer, like me. I was eager to read about Xavier “Scarecrow” Wallace, a thirty-something MMA fighter who is suffering from memory loss brought on by his years of fighting. There’s so much happening in this terrific book, but one of the things I found myself most moved by was Xavier’s relationship with his white father, whose racist attitudes rear their ugly head as he struggles with his own memory loss in the form of dementia. The ending is totally gutting. Highly recommend both! 

Mary Mullen: Energized by the Palestine Writes Literature Festival which I attended this September, I’m reading Palestinian literature translated from Arabic. First, Ibtisam Azem’s The Book of Disappearance—a speculative novel that wonders what would happen if one day all the Palestinian people vanished from Israel. This imagined disappearance highlights Palestinian survival despite ongoing colonial violence, on the one hand, and questions the logic of colonialism, on the other. Second, I hope to read Adania Shibli’s Touch and We Are All Equally Far From Love. I read her novel, Minor Detail, a few years ago and it still haunts me and shapes my thinking so I very much look forward to reading her other writing. 

Yumi Lee: Ursula K. LeGuin, The Wizard of Earthsea trilogy: a beautifully written, completely engrossing tale that transports you to another world that then refracts back onto our own. The first fantasy series about a boy going to a wizard school; still one of the only fantasy series with a hero who’s not white. Come for the talking dragons, stay for one of the most inspirational stories of personal growth through hardship that you’ll ever read.

Travis Foster: Feeling hopeless as the mass destruction and killing in Gaza grows more tragic by the day, I’ve been reading Palestinian poetry: a literature that stands witness to the miracle of survival against overwhelming odds. I’ve returned several times to Mahmoud Darwish’s “A Soldier Dreams of White Lilies.” Written at the end of a decade during which Darwish had frequently been arrested by Israeli authorities, the poem opts to imagine peace by embracing the humanity of its eponymous IDF soldier, Darwish’s would-be enemy. As the soldier reflects upon a Palestinian peasant he had shot to death, he gradually comes to realize:

I need a kind heart, not a bullet.

I need a bright day, not a mad, fascist moment of triumph.

I need a child to cherish a day of laughter, not a weapon of war.

I came to live for rising suns, not to witness their setting.

Lisa Sewell, "The Land of Nod"

 Lisa Sewell's poem, "The Land of Nod" was published on the Academy of American Poets poem-a-day site on December 6. Read the full poem here.

Legacies of Revenge: Dress as your Favorite Avenger Day

 A belated post with photos of Professors Alice Dailey and Chelsea Phillips in their Legacies of Revenge class on Dress as your Favorite Avenger Day.

Photos from the Nature Writing Workshop

Photos from Cathy Staples's Nature Writing Workshop visiting Rushton Farm's saw-whet owl banding station. The primary objective of owl banding is to provide data to answer questions about Saw-whet Owl health, migration, and habitat. All the Rushton Farm banders are federally licensed to handle the owls and collect data. 

This Wednesday: A Life of Writing: A Reading and Q&A with Thomas Swick and Ariel Delgado Dixon

 Join us for an exciting reading and conversation with two phenomenal authors! Thomas Swick is a veteran travel writer, newspaper editor, and Villanova alum celebrating the publication of his new memoir, Falling into Place. Ariel Delgado Dixon is the author of Don't Say We Didn't Warn You, and Sourland, forthcoming from Random House. Swick and Delgado Dixon will share their paths to becoming writers, as well as their varied and interesting experiences, from Swick’s life behind the Iron Curtain to Delgado Dixon’s work as a farmer. This event is a good fit for anyone interested in travel writing, becoming a novelist, journalism, and editing (for starters). Refreshments provided! 

Teach-in on Palestine: Solidarity, Mon. Nov. 6

There will be a second teach-in on Palestine focused on Solidarity taking place on Monday, November 6 in the Driscoll Auditorium. The event will take place from 4:00-6:00 pm and will be followed by a student-led strategizing session from 6:00-7:00 pm. Come with questions. There will be pizza!

Speculative Fiction in Historical Perspective, Wed. Nov. 8 6:00-7:15 pm

 Please join us on November 8th, 2023 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. for an in-person event at Larson Kelly Auditorium in Driscoll Hall. This is a collaboration between the Lepage Center, the English Department, and Global Interdisciplinary Studies to consider what speculative fiction can tell us about real world history.

Science fiction, fantasy, horror, post-apocalyptic fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, alternate history, weird fiction, climate fiction, all their overlap and subgenres come out of a milieu of real world experiences for their authors, shaped by the structures within which they live their lives. From gothic horror to Afrofuturism, writers and artists have responded to the real world by creating fictional ones that speak to the conditions of society, different understandings of what has come before, and conceiving what might come next. From Mary Shelley to Ursula K. Le Guin to N.K. Jemisin; from Jules Verne to Samuel R. Delany to Kim Stanley Robinson; all these writers, their peers, critics, and more have been living and working through history. When we look at their work, what does it say to us?

This event will be moderated by Dr. Maghan Keita, Professor of History and Global Interdisciplinary Studies and Founding Director of Global Interdisciplinary Studies and Africana Studies at VIllanova. Our panel will be comprised of Dr. Heather Hicks, Professor and Chair of English at Villanova and an expert on Post-apocalyptic fiction and Gender in Post-Modern fiction; Dr. Travis Foster, Associate Professor of English and Academic Director of Gender and Women's Studies at Villanova who expertise includes Gender, Sexuality, Race, and Genre; and Dr. Patricia Lott, Assistant Professor of American Studies, African American and Africana Studies, and English at Ursinus University, whose expertise includes Afrofuturism, Emancipation, Public Collective Memory, and more.

This event is free, open to the public, and ACS Approved.

Professor Michael Dowdy's Tell Me About Your Bad Guys forthcoming spring 2025

Professor Michael Dowdy just signed a book contract with University of Nebraska Press. They will publish his collection of essays on fathering in anxious times, Tell Me About Your Bad Guys, in spring 2025. For more about this collection and his other essays, see his personal website.

Meet the English Department’s Mike Malloy and Amanda Eliades!

By Ariel Hooks

I had a chance to interview Graduate English Program Coordinator Mike Malloy and Undergraduate English Senior Administrative Assistant Amanda Eliades and am thrilled to introduce them to current and prospective students in the English department. I talked to them about their respective roles within the English department, common questions students ask them, Villanova resources students might not know about, and what they’re currently reading. Read on to learn more about these wonderful people.

Q: What is your role within the English department? What does a daily schedule look like for you?

Mike Malloy

Mike has many roles within the department, but he mostly works with the English graduate program and its students. As the Graduate Program Coordinator, he tackles anything related to the logistics of the program, including recruiting prospective students, helping students understand the program, answering any logistical or administrative questions from newly-admitted and prospective students, connecting students with faculty, promoting the program on the English department’s website, orienting newly-admitted students to the program, and more. If students need help with or have questions about internships, alumni, careers, or graduate student-specific resources on campus, Mike can help with all of this, too! In addition to the many hats he wears, Mike is also the internship coordinator for the graduate English program and produces the alumni newsletter, and he organizes the alumni career panel for undergraduate students interested in English. His daily schedule primarily focuses on directing students to the correct resources and ensuring that every graduate English student is notified about funding, deadlines, department policies, and when bagels are available in the English department (SAC 402, every other Tuesday!)

Amanda Eliades

Amanda helps with the entire undergraduate English experience, including advising students; assigning advisors; reaching out to all new English majors and minors with an introductory email including English-specific resources, access to the internal site (english.villanova.edu), flyers for upcoming English events, career resources, clubs and publications on campus, internships of the week, and more; assisting with faculty and course scheduling; and acting as the primary advisor for all English minors. Amanda also keeps the English department stocked with goodies and treats! She matches new English majors with a peer advisor, or a fellow English major from the English Advisory Council. Any English major from sophomore to senior can serve as a peer advisor and can join the council; they hold pizza parties and fun events for English students. Much of Amanda’s daily schedule focuses on talking to students and coordinating events for the English program, including procuring catering and flyers. A fun fact about Amanda is that she helped co-found the English Poetry Society at Villanova when she was an undergraduate here.

Q: What can students come to you for? What are some of the most common questions you encounter from students?

Students can come to Mike for any technical question, such as credits received and credits still needed, policies, deadlines, funding, academic standing, and more. He is the point person for graduate English students interacting with Villanova University as a whole; if you get an email from the university or from other departments that you just don’t understand, Mike can help you understand it. He’s looking out for graduate English students all across the university! On the undergraduate side, Mike typically helps with internships, careers, and department resources. He understands that “you’re a student and have a lot of information coming at you and you can’t focus.” Having someone available to direct you to a resource is always a positive!

Students can come to Amanda for anything they have questions about. She can direct students to the appropriate resource or will find the answer and relay it back. The most common questions she receives are if a course counts for the English major/minor or if something looks correct on the degree audit. She’s always happy to chat.

Q: What’s one Villanova or English-specific resources that students might not know about, but should?

The binders produced by graduate students for their Professional Research Option (PRO) course are in the conference room in SAC 402 and are recommended by Mike. These binders contain the final reports of students who took the PRO course and are a detailed outline of a career in which a Masters in English is useful, as well as a report on the state of the industry, possible career trajectories, a model resume and cover letter, a compilation of research on currently open positions in the field, and more. Interviewees for these reports speak candidly about their field, so they’re a great way to get the inside scoop on a potential career. Mike also recommends the bimonthly bagels and coffee and the YouTube archive of previous Literary Festivals, which goes back 20 years! 

Amanda says that most students know about the career center but don’t realize how individualized and helpful it is. The name might sound daunting, but the environment is incredibly friendly! Amanda believes the career center should be used by students more, as the career center can help every student, offers highly individualized support and services, points students to career-specific events, and maintains alumni lists that students can use to connect with alumni. Each department also offers personalized CV/resume/cover letter creation and revision based on your specific needs and the industry’s standards.

Another resource that students might not know about is the internal site for the English department: english.villanova.edu. A button on the right side of the page is labeled “Current Student Resources” and takes current English students to the SharePoint for everything English department-related at Villanova. The SharePoint includes the academic calendar and department handbook, a model plan/timeline of courses to take as an English major, internships, extracurriculars, local literary sites, record stores, bookstores, and a list of resources for getting published.

(One resource I also found over the summer is the CLAS Syllabus Archive, located here. Find previous syllabi from any course in CLAS, professors and graduate courses included!)

Q: What are you currently reading?

For a couple of years, Mike has exclusively read fiction in the Irish language to immerse himself in the language. He’s active in local Irish-speaking circles and has a background in Irish Studies. He’s currently reading Na Ríthe Beaga, translated from French, which is a satirical novel about parents who put their kids on social media. It’s ominous from the get-go but is a great insight into the social media world.

Amanda is currently reading the Practical Magic series, but don’t give her any spoilers! She loves Sandra Bullock and wants to finish the series before watching the movie. I asked her if she thought any movie adaptation has been better than the book, and her answer was a resounding “There has been no instance where the movie was better than the book.” For Amanda, you get more context and background information from the book, and you can use your imagination – there’s nothing better than your imagination when you’re reading!

Mike Malloy can be emailed at michael.malloy@villanova.edu and his desk is located to the left of the conference room. Amanda Eliades can be emailed at amanda.eliades@villanova.edu and her desk is located directly to the right when you enter SAC 402.

VU English Merch (Now with 75th Anniversary Merch!)

We have 75th anniversary crew-neck sweatshirts and t-shirts in stock, as well as hats, totes, hoodies, and more! Stop by the office or write to Program Coordinator Mike Malloy if you are interested!

Introduction to Asian American Literature Course!

 This spring, Professor Yumi Lee will be teaching a new course, Asian American Literature. See the poster:

Fall Pre-Registration Reception--This Friday at 11:30: RSVP now!

Please RSVP to Amanda Eliades for the English Pre-Registration Reception by this Wednesday, Oct 18^th, at noon! Then join us on this Friday, Oct. 20^th, in SAC East Courtyard from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. for great food, information about Spring 2024 courses, internships, and news about the English department, in general! This is a great chance to socialize with English professors, majors, minors and students interesting in English. The reception will feature a free lunch and a raffle with a chance to win literary prizes and English Department swag.  There will also be delicious cupcakes to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the English Major at Villanova!

Professor Jean Lutes Publishes "Feminisms"

Jean Lutes just published "Feminisms" in The Cambridge Companion to the Twentieth-Century American Novel and Politics.  A brief summary of the chapter:

"Twentieth-century feminist activism and thought spread with an urgency and ambition unseen before, as advocates for women achieved mass recognition, unsettled long-held convictions, and upset the status quo in ways unimaginable in previous centuries. No novel genre escaped these changes or failed to register them. Feminist politics reshaped the content, and sometimes the form, of the novel. Yet, dramatic as the expansion of US women’s opportunities was, progress was never unchallenged or universal. Feminist political gains inspired significant backlash: Patriarchy supporters fought back. Meanwhile, feminist organizing fractured from within. Before the twentieth century even began, women of color were explaining why they couldn’t be expected to identify only as women, as if all women belonged in a single category. Their message often went unheeded, particularly in the most widely circulated versions of feminist thought, which elevated white middle-class experiences over those of working-class, Indigenous, Black, Latina, and Asian women. Throughout the century, narratives by women of color pushed back against the white supremacist version of feminism. The American novel narrated multiple feminisms, triumphant and defeated, jubilant and anguished, razor-focused and utterly lost."

 

Teach In On Palestine

On Wednesday, October 18 from 6-8 pm the Villanova Center for Arab and Islamic Studies will host a teach in on Palestine featuring English faculty members. Come with questions!

In the News: Why Majoring in the Humanities Can Be a Great Career Move

 U. S. News and World Report just published an article, "Why Majoring in Humanities Can be a Great Career Move."

From the article: 

It turns out that your parents were wrong. English majors – and others in humanities fields often seen as even less “marketable,” like philosophy and film studies – can get great jobs right out of college.

“The reason why our humanities interns are wanted is because they have research and writing skills,” says Jeffrey Cohen, dean of humanities at ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Those skills serve companies well.”

 

Professor Megan Quigley on University Updates Code of Conduct to Include A. I.

A recent article in The Villanovan discusses new additions to Villanova's Code of Conduct. It features Professor Megan Quigley saying:

“I don’t believe in just banishing it,” Quigley said. “Well, for certain assignments I do. I already have assignments in my classes where the students give a paper prompt to ChatGPT and then we analyze what it produces for its strengths and weaknesses.”

Later in the article, she comments: 

“I would say that, for me, writing and thinking go hand in hand,” Quigley said. “Analyzing and synthesizing information, finding out what a strong versus weak claim is, whether you need those skills for law or teaching or writing or journalism, I think you are still going to need to have them.”

Check out the full article here. 

English Department Film Trip: October 3!

Join professor Megan Quigley, Tuesday Oct. 3 at 7:00 pm, at our local independent theater, BMFI, for an advanced screening of “Cat Person,” an adaptation of the ’story that broke the internet’ when it was first published in The New Yorker in 2017.

The story is linked here. The wild follow up (read the story first) is linked here: Cat Person & Me.

Shoot Professor Quigley (megan.quigley@villanova.edu) an email if you plan to join—or just show up! Tickets are $11.00. Buy tickets here: https://brynmawrfilm.org/event/advance-screening-cat-person/

Not the Cruelest Month

This weekend, professors Kamran Javadizadeh and Megan Quigley put their poetry skills to work at the T. S. Eliot conference in Cambridge, MA. They co-taught a seminar on "T. S. Eliot and Close Reading” to a group of professors and graduate students at the Houghton Library at Harvard University on Friday. Megan later delivered a lecture, “Perfectly good, normal and right: Eliot, Attraction, and Intimacy,” in Emerson Hall, the same philosophy building where T. S. Eliot took his philosophy courses at Harvard a century ago. What is “close reading”?  Take a class with Megan or Kamran or listen to Kamran’s podcast (linked here Apple & Spotify) to find out!

Celebrating 75 Years of the English Major

 Check out this article from The Villanovan, written by the one and only Caitlyn Foley, on celebrating 75 years of the English major at Villanova.

This Week in the English Department

 

Reading Sci-Fi with AI

On Friday Sept. 15th, Dr. Megan Quigley presented a paper in Switzerland (really on zoom!) on reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun with ChatGPT and the Logic and Modern Literature Conference at the University of Lausanne.

She thanks Erica Hayes, in Falvey Library’s Digital Scholarship Lab, and Jamie Wojtal, her RA, for assistance with AI side of the project.

What do you think ChatGPT wrote when prompted to answer if the border between human and artificial intelligence was vague? And what does that mean for humanity’s “evolution” with AI?

Professor Kamran Javadizadeh in The New Yorker

 Professor Kamran Javadizadeh reviews Ben Lerner's The Lights in The New Yorker. Check out his essay here.

Fall 2023 BIPOC Creative Writing Hangouts

BIPOC creative writing hangouts with Professors Adrienne Perry, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Yumi Lee and Kimberly Takahata begin next week, at 6pm on Tuesday, September 19th. This is the fourth year! The hangouts are open to staff, faculty, students, and alumni who self-identify as folks of color. They take place in person, with pizza! No creative writing experience is necessary. 

Favorite Summer Books!

The start of the semester doesn't have to mean the end of reading for pleasure. Members of the advisory council share their favorite book from the summer to help you build your to-be-read list.

Kaitlin Gibson recommends Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: "a great piece of feminist fiction that was lighthearted but grounded in the reality of the female experience. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie would approve!"

Hannah de Melo's favorite summer book was The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

Jo Mastrodomenico's favorite summer book was The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

Gabe Jimenez enjoyed reading The Bomber Mafia by Malcom Gladwell and Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy

Sonia Singh recommends  Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood because it's a great balance between a classic Hallmark romcom and true feminism in both the protagonist and her love interest.

Mickey Wilcox enjoyed Edith Hamilton's Mythology. It provided a great catalog of Greek and Roman myths. In many cases, the author pulled from different sources for each myth, which made each account thorough while maintaining an entertaining narrative. A wonderful read for those just getting into myth, or for the already well-versed.

Bianca Brucker's favorite summer book is The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand. It is the perfect beach read. The book is full of entertaining gossip and is definitely a page-turner. All of the characters are very distinct and amusing and the setting is a luxurious hotel on the beautiful Massachusetts Island, Nantucket. After finishing this book, she definitely wanted to plan her own trip to Nantucket.

Ella O'Shea says Family of Liars by E. Lockhart was really good. One of her favorite books from when she was younger was We Were Liars, so when she heard there was a prequel, she bought it right away. 

Camille Ferace enjoyed Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh, which she read at the end of last semester and cannot stop talking about!

MT Barry says that her favorite summer book was The Fault in our Stars by John Green. She had been wanting to read it for a few years, and after she finally got her hands on a copy this summer, it did not disappoint! The creativity, complexity and prose expressed throughout was definitely eye-opening and consistently wowed me. She recommends it to anyone looking for an introspective, humorous at times, and witty read!

Emily Hanlon's favorite summer read was Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez. 

Katie Lewis's favorite summer read was The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.