News from the Division of Languages and Literature

Professor Manea talks about his newly translated first novel, Captives, his complicated relationship with Romania, and why America is "the world’s best hotel."

World Literature Today has named Professor Joseph Luzzi's My Two Italies in its Nota Bene section—books to "note well."

Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, Mass., sponsors the annual Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, a series of events celebrating Women’s History Month in March. Held on campus and at venues throughout Berkshire County, this year's festival features more than 50 events including readings, lectures, workshops, performances, and film screenings. Read More

"Teju Cole is the author of two works of fiction that radically expand our understanding of diaspora and dislocation in the twenty-first century," writes Jonathon Sturgeon.

Laura van den Berg's debut novel Find Me is earning deserved comparisons to acclaimed writers Margaret Atwood and Kazuo Ishiguro.

On Monday, March 2, Lily Tuck, the National Book Award–winning author of The News from Paraguay, Siam, I Married You for Happiness, and other books of fiction and biography, will read from her work at Bard College. “Tuck is a genius with moments … Her ability to capture beauty will remind readers of Marguerite Yourcenar and Marguerite Duras” (Los Angeles Book Review). Tuck 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 at the Bertelsmann Campus Center. It is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.

A retired cop, a most-wanted list, and a young Andy Warhol all have roles to play in this short story by Luc Sante.

Author Laura van den Berg, writer in residence at Bard College, reads from her recent work on Monday, February 23. The free program begins at 7 p.m. in the László Z. Bitó ’60 Auditorium in Bard’s Reem-Kayden Center. Van den Berg received the 2015 Bard Fiction Prize for her book The Isle of Youth. In this collection of stories, van den Berg explores the lives of women mired in secrecy and deception. The characters are at once vulnerable and dangerous, bighearted and ruthless—grappling with the choices they have made and searching for the clues to unlock their inner worlds.

"At what point," wonders Prose, "did we start expecting films to tell the truth about the past? And won’t we be in trouble if we do?"

Professor Maria Sachiko Cecire directs Performing Dido, a short film about two gender-bending productions of the classic story staged in the hall of Christ Church, Oxford in 2013.

The Italian Studies Program at Bard College presents Francesco Ciabattoni to give a talk on "Dante's Musical Design in the Commedia." The lecture examines the premise that Dante's journey through the Christian netherworld is not without its own soundtrack. From the cacophonous, failed attempts at presenting sacred music in Hell, the pilgrim goes on to listen to Purgatory's expiatory performances of Gregorian chants; and from the music of pure innocence in the Garden of Eden, Dante ascends to the complex and bedazzling beauty of polyphony in Paradise. Ciabattoni will explain the musicological and theological underpinnings of Dante's chosen musical settings. The event takes place on Thursday, March 5, at 5 p.m. in Weis Cinema of the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard College.

Joseph O'Neill and Mona Simpson are among 19 nominees for the world's richest short story prize, the £30,000 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award.