News from the Division of Languages and Literature

Writer in Residence Francine Prose writes about how little honesty mattered in the U.S. election. "If all politicians lie, all that matters is what they lie about."

Joseph O'Neill reads his short story “Pardon Edward Snowden,” from the December 12, 2016, issue of the magazine.

Chris Claremont became an industry icon by emphasizing the importance of character development, storytelling, and melodrama in his long career at Marvel Comics.

Peter Filkins reflects on this year’s election season with three poems in The Common, a prominent literary magazine based at Amherst College.

Author Porochista Khakpour talks about supporting Bard students and amplifying her activism after the election.

Distinguished Writer in Residence Francine Prose discusses her new novel, Mister Monkey, on Weekend Edition.

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.”

"Conventional narratives tend to demonize attackers, but Mahajan’s novel instead investigates them to reveal very human desires and frustrations, from the mundane to the political."

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.

Bard writer in residence Wyatt Mason looks at the Chicago-based artist who, for more than 40 years, has made it his mission to paint black figures into the canon.

If you missed Alan Cumming in conversation with WAMC's Joe Donahue at the Fisher Center on October 16, you can listen to the whole event on the Book Show.

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.

"Tender and artful ... a sophisticated satire, a gently spiritual celebration of life, a dark and thoroughly grim depiction of despair, a screwball comedy, a screwball tragedy."

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.

In this essay from The Artists' and Writers' Cookbook, photographer An-My Lê remembers her grandmother making substitution pho after the family moved from Vietnam to Paris.

Libraries in the United States have been quietly waging a war in defense of free speech and privacy since the September 11 attacks, writes Francine Prose.

Professor Sante observes the indignation around Dylan's Nobel win, arguing that the writer deserves the award for using the power of words to change the time he inhabited.

Brian Conn's story "The Guest" appears in the third volume of Undertow's Weird Fiction series, their "biggest and most ambitious volume to date."

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.

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. 

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.

Beloved satirical writer David Sedaris is best experienced in person: "his tone and delivery at once dry, understated, gently caustic and bemused by the world’s absurdities."

Bard writer in residence Francine Prose reviews The Loser, David Lang’s "beautiful and startlingly original opera."

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.

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.

Norman Manea has been named the winner of the 2016 Literary Award in Romance Languages from the Guadalajara International Book Fair. He is the first Romanian author to receive the honor.

Bard writer in residence Teju Cole examines the visual narrative of the iconic images of protestors in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Bard writer in residence Francine Prose discusses why she teaches the short fiction of Mavis Gallant at every opportunity.

MFA writing professor Hoa Nguyen's poems "Ode to Second Chances (Late February)" and "O Prosperity" are featured in Hyperallergic's monthly poetry series.

With entrancing prose, Teju Cole's "bold, honest" collection of essays invites readers into pressing contemporary issues of race identity, social media, and the literary community.

Professor Mason traces the development of the audiobook from 1926 when Rilke envisioned author-poets reading their own poetry on the newfangled phonograph.

Writer and artist Rikki Ducornet, recipient of the Bard College Arts and Letters award, constructs a series of paper scrolls in response to Margie McDonald's whimsical sculptures.

In honor of Marcel Proust’s 145th birthday, six contemporary writers urge readers in this frenetic cultural moment to take the time to enter into Proust’s world.

Professor Luc Sante meditates on the disappearance of junk shops, their cultural identity, and the possibility of transcendence amid the junk.

A young Neil Gaiman spent his shillings on Batman comics, and they made him want to write stories of his own. Excerpt from Gaiman's new collection, The View from the Cheap Seats.

"Over the course of the fifth century BCE, tragedy evolved into an ideal literary vehicle for exploring, and often questioning, the political, social, and civic values of Athens itself."

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is one of the most commonly taught texts in schools. Prose explores the novel's strange origins, complex structure, and timeless themes.

Artist Kate Stone '09 and writer Hannah Schneider '09 met at Bard; now they've created a "poignant and witty" collection of illustrated short stories.

"[A]n adult reading experience may be a 'dip' compared with the child’s 'soak,' writes Francine Prose, Bard writer in residence.

Writer in Residence Wyatt Mason profiles choreographer, dancer, and Bard partner Bill T. Jones, who is making some of the most personal work of his career at age 64.

Bard Writer in Residence Francine Prose travels with three generations of family to one of her favorite places on earth and wonders: Can you ever go back again?

Chris Claremont has written more X-Men comics than anyone else, and his work has had a major impact on the franchise and the superhero genre generally.

Professor Manea was welcomed warmly to his native Romania this week for an event celebrating the author as a national literary treasure ahead of his 80th birthday.

"I found myself going back to my childhood at Bard," writes Ducornet. "That campus had provided me so many amazing experiences."

Professor Manea talks about the joy of reconnecting with friends in Bucharest, Romanian political life, the Islamic State, and his work in progress.

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.

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.

Distinguished Writer in Residence Teju Cole reflects on the ethical implications of displaying found photographs of African Americans in the age of digital photo tagging.

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.

Acclaimed Somali writer and Bard professor Nuruddin Farah discusses his novel Maps as part of the World Service’s Identity Season​.