News from the Division of Languages and Literature

Benjamin Hale, writer in residence at Bard College, was highlighted in an article in Chronogram about his new nonfiction book, Cave Mountain: A Disappearance and a Reckoning in the Ozarks, which covers his cousin’s 2001 disappearance in the Arkansas wilderness at the age of 6. “At first glance, Cave Mountain reads like true crime,” writes Brian K. Mahoney. “A child disappears. A massive search ensues. The wilderness becomes a stage for suspense and survival. Yet Hale’s narrative quickly veers into stranger territory,” as Hale uncovers a darker history surrounding the mountain where his cousin was lost, which had been the site of a cult-related murder of a child decades before. Hale considered adapting the story into a fictional work before concluding that “the story really only works as nonfiction,” he told Chronogram. “It’s so weird it wouldn’t be believable as a novel.”

Hale will discuss the book in conversation with Ryan Chapman at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck on March 12 at 6 pm.

Peter Filkins, professor emeritus at Bard College, has been awarded the inaugural Freudenheim Translation Prize, presented by the Jewish Literary Foundation in partnership with the Times Literary Supplement. This new international award, which is the largest offered by the foundation, celebrates excellence in translated fiction and nonfiction, highlighting the power of Jewish literature to engage diverse audiences. Filkins, who was also formerly Richard B. Fisher Professor of Literature at Bard College at Simon’s Rock and visiting professor of literature at Bard, is recognized for his translation of The Book Against Death by Elias Canetti, published in the U.K. by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2024. In the judges’ citation, chair Boyd Tonkin praised Peter’s “masterly translation,” noting how his thoughtful and deeply attentive rendering brings Canetti’s reflections on life and death vividly into English. 

The Literature Program at Bard emphasizes cultural, linguistic, and geographic diversity, challenging national, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries.

Valeria Luiselli, Sadie Samuelson Levy Professor in Languages and Literature at Bard College, was interviewed in the New Yorker about her story “Predictions and Presentiments,” which appeared in the magazine and is drawn from her upcoming book, Beginning Middle End. The story explores family relationships, stages of life, and the relationship between memory and identity. The audio version will incorporate sounds that Luiselli recorded in Sicily, where both the piece and the novel take place. “Over the past year, we’ve collected field recordings from Sicily and the Aeolians: sea sounds, underwater currents, winds, volcanoes, fire, dust storms, rainstorms, church bells, fish markets,”  Luiselli said. “They are not meant to illustrate or enhance the narrative. Rather, they constitute a kind of emotional undercurrent.” 

The Written Arts Program at Bard encourages students to experiment with their writing in a context sensitive to intellectual, historical, and social realities. Students are encouraged to consider writing as an act of critical and creative engagement, a way of interrogating and translating the world.

M. Gessen, distinguished visiting writer at Bard College and New York Times Opinion columnist, appeared on the Ezra Klein Show podcast to speak about the Trump administration’s operation in Venezuela, the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, and the broader messages that these displays of force are meant to send. Gessen also discussed how totalitarian leaders will wage war internally by designating an enemy within the country, and expanding who is included in that designation in order to escalate, as well as the swiftness with which this is now unfolding in the US. “It’s comparable to the speed at which countries that experienced an actual violent revolution have transformed that I have studied but not lived through,” Gessen told Klein. “We can use some of the tools from, particularly from the electoral autocracies in Eastern Europe to understand some of what’s happened here. But I don’t have any tools for understanding the rate at which this country is being transformed.”

Beginning February 3, Bard College is offering its first Spanish-speaking Clemente Course, a free college-level introduction to the humanities. Focusing on Spanish and Latin American literature, this class, conducted entirely in Spanish, invites students to explore the power of the written word and the joy of reading. Students attend at no cost, with tuition and books provided, and those who successfully complete the semester-long course will earn 3 college credits from Bard College transferable to any higher educational institution upon completion. 

This class will run every Tuesday from February 3 through May 26, from 6–8 pm, at 7 Grand Street, Kingston, NY, 12401. John Burns, associate professor of Spanish at Bard College, will be leading the course. Burns is an educator, poet, translator, and the author, among other works, of Contemporary Hispanic Poets: Cultural Production in the Global, Digital Age (Cambria Press, 2015). Applicants should write to professor Burns ([email protected]) to express their interest.

The Clemente Course in the Humanities provides a transformative educational experience for adults facing economic hardship and adverse circumstances. The free humanities courses empower students to further their education and careers, become effective advocates for themselves and their families, and engage actively in the cultural and political lives of their communities.

Adam Shatz, visiting professor of the humanities at Bard College, has been awarded the 2026 Grace Dudley Prize for Arts Writing bestowed by the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, in recognition of outstanding achievement in critical writing on the fine and performing arts or on cultural history. Shatz is also the US editor of the London Review of Books and a contributor to the New York Times magazine, the New York Review of Books, the New Yorker, and other publications. The Robert B. Silvers Foundation is an organization that aims to support writers working in the fields of long-form literary and arts criticism, intellectual essays, political analysis, and social reportage. 

Karen Raizen, director of Italian Studies and assistant professor of Italian and music at Bard College, appeared on Tutto Italiano “Everything Italian” hosted by Radio Kingston. Raizen discusses her involvement with the Ulster County Italian American Foundation (UCIAF) and organizing an upcoming UCIAF New Italian Cinema Showcase this spring, in collaboration with Bard College, Marist University, and Vassar college. The showcase, screening at Upstate Films in Saugerties and Rhinebeck from April 24–26, focuses on “new Italian cinema, because I think everybody knows old Italian cinema and is excited about it,” Kaizen says. “But there’s a lot happening in Italy that’s really exciting right now … What does it mean to be Italian today? That’s all changed and is still changing, and who is giving this new version of Italy life?”

Italian Studies at Bard College focuses on the acquisition of fluency in speaking, reading, and translating Italian. Students can improve their understanding of Italian culture by focusing on language and translation, literature, art, film, music, and Italian cultural studies, which encompasses transnational history, human rights and media.