News

John Crowley, the World Fantasy Award–winning author of Little, Big and the Ægypt series, will read from his fiction at Bard College on Monday, November 14. The New York Times Book Review writes, “John Crowley is an abundantly gifted writer, a scholar whose passion for history is matched by his ability to write a graceful sentence.”
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2853

Who or what is an alien? Someone or something whose profound otherness stirs in us terror, even dread, or perhaps a healthy—sometimes dangerous—curiosity? Exploring these straightforward yet complex questions, Conjunctions:67, Other Aliens—the latest issue of the innovative literary magazine published by Bard College—collects works of literary science and speculative fiction that explore the vast precincts of unfamiliarity, of keen difference, of weirdness and not belonging.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2851

Author Karan Mahajan has been selected to receive the Bard Fiction Prize for his novel The Association of Small Bombs. A finalist for the 2016 National Book Award, Mahajan’s masterful narrative tells the story of two Delhi families ripped apart by a small bombing in a marketplace. Woven around the story of the Khuranas and the Ahmeds is the gripping tale of Shockie, a Kashmiri bomb maker who has forsaken his own life for the independence of his homeland. Mahajan’s residency at Bard College is for the Fall 2017 semester, during which time he will continue his writing, meet informally with students, and give a public reading.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2848

After five years of preparation, the Sussman Rare Book Collection will open in the Stevenson Library on October 29 with such treasures as a 1556 copy of the Magna Carta.
http://hudsonvalleyone.com/2016/10/13/woodstock-attorney-donates-extraordinary-book-collection-to-bard/

On Monday, October 17, celebrated avant-garde fiction writer and literary critic Can Xue will read from her recent work at Bard College. English translations of her fiction include Blue Light in the Sky and Other Stories, Five Spice Street, Vertical Motion, The Last Lover (winner of the Best Translated Book Award), and the forthcoming Frontier. She will be introduced by novelist and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow. The reading, presented as part of Morrow’s Innovative Contemporary Fiction Reading Series and cosponsored by the Bard Program in Written Arts, takes place at 4 p.m. in Weis Cinema at the Bertelsmann Campus Center and will be followed by a Q&A. It is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2844

Legendary performer Alan Cumming will talk with WAMC’s Joe Donahue about his new collection of photographs accompanied by autobiographical essays, You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams: My Life in Stories and Pictures, in which the actor, singer, writer, and man-about-town shares wildly entertaining real-life stories of louche late-night parties, backstage anecdotes, life in LA and New York, cross-country road trips with his beloved dog, Honey, and poignant memories of his life, loves, family, fellow actors, and friends. The event takes place on Sunday, October 16 at 3 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater. 
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2842

Dinaw Mengestu, professor of written arts and director of the Written Arts Program, has been named to the board of trustees of PEN America. The organization, which works at the intersection of literature and human rights, sought to broaden its leadership and address new challenges to expression with five new appointments to its board. Professor Mengestu is an award-winning Ethiopian-American author of three novels, most recently All Our Names. He joined the Bard faculty this fall.
https://pen.org/press-release/2016-new-trustees

On Monday, September 26, Andrew Ervin reads from his celebrated first novel, Burning Down George Orwell’s House. Ervin will be introduced by novelist and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow. The reading, presented as part of Morrow’s Innovative Contemporary Fiction Reading Series, takes place at 2:30 p.m. in Weis Cinema, Bertelsmann Campus Center, and will be followed by a Q&A. The event is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2835

Book objects from the collection of Mindell Dubansky are on view at the Stevenson Library through Sunday, October 30, with an opening reception on Monday, September 12. All over the world, for hundreds of years, people have been making, collecting and presenting book-objects that reflect their devotion and respect for books and each other. There are countless examples; they include cameras, radios, banks, toys, memorials, desk accessories, musical instruments, magic tricks, furniture and jewelry.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2831

Unlike blood kinship, friendships are forged with people we choose, and continue to choose. People who become, in essence, a free-will kind of family which, like our blood family, can be a strong source of happiness and, sometimes, of grand miseries. Friendships are as mercurial as they are essential. Conjunctions:66, Affinity—the latest issue of the innovative literary magazine published by Bard College—investigates the phenomenon of friendship in its many forms, collecting innovative, provocative fiction, poetry, and essays by writers of every ilk. Edited by Conjunctions editor, novelist, and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow, Affinity includes a never-before-published poem by Robert Duncan in his original handwriting, as well as new work from Rick Moody and Darcey Steinke, Robert Coover, Paul Lisicky, John Ashbery, and Joyce Carol Oates, among other leading contemporary writers. The issue is dedicated to poet and longtime Conjunctions contributor C. D. Wright.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2802

Professor Rosenberg is the last surviving member of the Varian Fry group, which helped rescue hundreds of artists and intellectuals from the Nazis in World War II.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/nyregion/justus-rosenberg-the-professor-has-a-past.html

On Thursday, April 21, Bard College will host a celebratory reading in honor of the work of Ann Lauterbach, David and Ruth Schwab Professor of Languages and Literature, member of the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts faculty, and the renowned author of Under the Sign; Or to Begin Again (National Book Award nominee); Hum; If in Time: Selected Poems 1975–2000; The Night Sky: Writings on the Poetics of Experience; and other books. Poet John Ashbery, Charles P. Stevenson Professor Emeritus of Languages and Literature, writes, “Ann Lauterbach’s poetry goes straight to the elastic, infinite core of time.” Celebrating Lauterbach’s work will be poets Jibade-Khalil Huffman ’03, Simone White, Michael Ives, Camille Guthrie, and Anselm Berrigan, who will briefly discuss their artistic relationship to Lauterbach’s influential oeuvre. The evening will culminate with Lauterbach reading her own work.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2780

Bard College and Simon's Rock faculty member, poet, and translator of German literature Peter Filkins has recently had two of his works reviewed. His translation of H.G. Adler's novel The Wall was reviewed in the London Review of Books, and his edition of a collection of Adler's essays, Orthodoxie des Herzens, was reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement.

"Death camps in civilization" in the Times Literary Supplement | PDF

"The crematorium is a zoo" in the London Review of Books | PDF

On Thursday, April 14, celebrated poet and art critic Roberto Tejada will read from his work at Bard College. The reading is presented by the John Ashbery Poetry Series. Poet Alan Gilbert says, “Tejada’s work is with dismantling borders and upsetting classifications. The result is a layered poetry that finds its form in dense stanzas composed of lines that frequently veer toward a kind of fractured prose.” Introduced by Ann Lauterbach, David and Ruth Schwab Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard, this event takes place at 6:00 p.m. in the Bard Chapel of the Holy Innocents. It is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2794

On Monday, April 18, award-winning author Eli Gottlieb will read from Best Boy, his new novel about autism, memory, and redemption. The New Yorker finds Best Boy “arresting ... The book’s empathy is bracing.” Celebrated writer Cynthia Ozick says, “I’ve fallen in love with Best Boy, touched by its delicacy and fearless truths.” A short documentary film featuring Gottlieb’s brother, the model for the protagonist of Best Boy, will be screened at the start of the reading. Gottlieb will be introduced by novelist and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow. The reading, presented as part of Morrow’s Innovative Contemporary Fiction Reading Series, takes place at 2:30 p.m. in Weis Cinema, Bertelsmann Campus Center, and will be followed by a Q&A. The event is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2795

Cole Heinowitz talks about translating the poetry of Mario Santiago Papasquiaro in the new collection of his work, Beauty Is Our Spiritual Guernica.
https://paulbmurufas.wordpress.com/2016/03/25/beauty-is-our-spirtual-guernica-by-mario-santiago-papasquiaro/

Bard College announces the appointment of esteemed writer Dinaw Mengestu as professor of written arts and director of the Written Arts Program. Mengestu, who joins the faculty in fall 2016, will teach fiction workshops, among other courses, through the Division of Languages and Literature. In his role as director, Mengestu will provide leadership in the Written Arts Program, whose core faculty comprises distinguished writers of poetry, fiction, drama, and nonfiction—including Mary Caponegro, Teju Cole, Robert Kelly, Porochista Khakpour, Ann Lauterbach, Joseph O’Neill, Luc Sante, and Mona Simpson, among many others.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2782

On Monday, April 4, Rick Moody—the celebrated author of Garden State, The Ice Storm, The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven, Purple America, The Black Veil: A Memoir with Digressions, and other books—reads from his new novel, Hotels of North America. The Wall Street Journal writes, “Rick Moody is one of the most prodigiously talented writers in America.” Moody will be introduced by novelist and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow. The reading, presented as part of Morrow’s Innovative Contemporary Fiction Reading Series, takes place at 2:30 p.m. in Weis Cinema, Bertelsmann Campus Center, and will be followed by a Q&A. The event is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2776

On Thursday, March 31, celebrated poet Michael Ives, visiting assistant professor of the humanities at Bard, will read from his work. The reading is presented by the John Ashbery Poetry Series. A jazz musician, an innovator in the field of text in performance, and recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize and Lillian Fairchild Award, Ives is also the founding member and composer of the sound/text performance trio F’loom and the author of Wavetable (Dr. Cicero Books) and The External Combustion Engine (Futurepoem). 
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2775

Derek Furr, Master of Arts in Teaching Program director and associate professor of literature, discusses Semitones, a collection of poetry and short fiction.
http://southernlitreview.com/authors/allen-mendenhall-interviews-derek-furr-author-of-semitones.htm

On Thursday, February 25, award-winning author Luc Sante, visiting professor of writing and photography at Bard College, will read from his most recent book, The Other Paris. Presented by Bard’s Written Arts Program, the reading takes place at 7:00 p.m. in Bard Hall, and is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required. Books will be available for sale and signing from Oblong Books & Music. 
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2760

Alexandra Kleeman, Bard Fiction Prize winner and writer in residence at Bard College, will read from her work on Monday, February 15. Free and open to the public, the reading begins at 7 p.m. in the László Z. Bitó ’60 Auditorium in Bard’s Reem-Kayden Center. Kleeman received the 2016 Bard Fiction Prize for her debut novel You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine (Harper 2015). The Bard Fiction Prize committee writes: "Alexandra Kleeman’s You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine wraps a nightmare inside absurdity. It is a novel of alienation, paranoia, anxiety, and dread that puts a smile on your face."
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2759

Bard College professor Robert Kelly has been appointed Dutchess County’s first poet laureate. Kelly will read two poems at the State of the County Address, which County Executive Marc Molinaro is scheduled to deliver on Wednesday, January 27 at 5:30 p.m. at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie.
http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=2758

Eight Bard alumni/ae are involved in the production of Bieber Bathos Elegy, created by Felix Bernstein '13, which will premiere at the Whitney Museum in New York City on January 15. This hybrid work by New York–based artist, poet, and writer Bernstein combines musical performance, poetry, cabaret drag, and opera to explore the concept of bathos—the failure to achieve pathos—and illuminate issues of identity and persona through the character of Justin Bieber. The work is directed by Gabe Rubin '14 with assistant director Clara Lipfert MFA '18, composed by Rron Karahoda '13, with production design by George Dupont '14 and sound design by Cammisa Buerhaus MFA '18, and features musical performances by Leila Bordreuil '13 and Lazar Bozic '14.
http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/FelixBernstein