News from the Division of Languages and Literature

For the first time, the Museum of Modern Art and the Performa art biennial have co-commissioned a work: There Are Certain Facts That Cannot Be Disputed, by Bard alumna Juliana Huxtable.

Inspired by the short biographies in the Library of America's 19th-century American poetry collections, Luc Sante offers "a tribute ... this collective portrait, like an overlay of photographic transparencies."

On Monday, November 9, Brian Evenson—the celebrated and controversial author of Altmann’s Tongue, The Wavering Knife, The Open Curtain, Last Days, Windeye, and other books—will read from his work at Bard College. “There is not a more intense, prolific, or apocalyptic writer of fiction in America than Brian Evenson,” says writer George Saunders. Evenson 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 and will be followed by a Q&A. It is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.

Author Alexandra Kleeman has been selected to receive the annual Bard Fiction Prize for 2016. The prize, established in 2001 by Bard College to encourage and support promising young fiction writers, consists of a $30,000 cash award and appointment as writer in residence for one semester. Kleeman is receiving the prize for her debut novel You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine (Harper 2015).  

On November 5, celebrated poet Jennifer Moxley will read from her award-winning work at Bard College. The reading is presented by the John Ashbery Poetry Series. The Iowa Review writes that Moxley’s “poems make room for thinking, for dreams, and for silence as they manage and contextualize space both public and private ... [They seem] to ask: Can we take the detritus of living and make song of it? What would that song be like? Would it be song? How do we begin to make it? What would stand in its way?” Introduced by Ann Lauterbach, David and Ruth Schwab Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard, and followed by a Q&A, this event takes place at 6:00 p.m. in Bard Hall. It is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are required.

Join a public conversation on November 7 between Neil Gaiman, Bard professor in the arts, and Armistead Maupin, the best-selling writer and activist, as they discuss their heroes Charles Dickens and Christopher Isherwood, the craft of storytelling, and many other subjects. The program takes place on Saturday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater of Bard's Fisher Center. Maupin is the author of 11 novels, including the nine-volume Tales of the City series, which Salon calls “perhaps the most sublime piece of popular literature America has ever produced.”

Widely acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates, recipient of the National Humanities Medal and National Book Award, will read from "Walking Wounded," a new, unpublished story commissioned especially for its world premiere at this event on Monday, October 26. Booklist wrote, in praise of her short-story collection Lovely, Dark, Deep, "Oates, one of few writers who achieves excellence in both the novel and the short story, has more than two dozen story collections to her name and she continues to inject new, ambushing power into the form. Oates’s stories seethe and blaze." Oates 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 3:00 p.m. in Olin Hall. It is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.

"Austrian and Curato turn the simple wedding of two worms into a three-ring circus that slyly turns the whole controversy over same-sex versus heterosexual marriage on its head."

Novelist and Bard literature professor Bradford Morrow and acclaimed guitarist Alex Skolnick present A Bestiary, a live collaborative performance of Morrow’s lyrical prose pieces about animals real and imaginary—from snake to mongoose, unicorn to whale, elephant to glugfish. Set to Skolnick’s original compositions, ranging from jazz to rock to country to world music, this reading of A Bestiary unites the written word with guitar virtuosity in unexpected, magical ways.  Now comic, now tragic, A Bestiary explores the animal kingdom as well as the human condition it mirrors.

On Thursday, October 8, poet Anna Moschovakis, a founding editor of Ugly Duckling Presse and winner of the Academy of American Poets’ James Laughlin Award, will give a reading at Bard College. Author of I Have Not Been Able to Get Through to Everyone, You and Three Others Are Approaching a Lake, and the forthcoming They and We Will Get into Trouble for This, Moschovakis will be introduced by Ann Lauterbach, David and Ruth Schwab Professor of Languages and Literature. This event, presented by the John Ashbery Poetry Series, takes place in Bard Hall at 6:00 p.m. It 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.

Bryan Doerries's Outside the Wire theater company presents performance projects at schools, hospitals, and prisons around the world that engage audiences in difficult conversations.

Professor Joseph Luzzi turned to Dante Aligheri’s The Divine Comedy in the wake of a tragic loss.

On Monday, October 5, Bard College will present a talk by financial journalist and editor Carol Loomis to inaugurate the John J. Curran ’75 Lectures in Journalism series. Loomis is the former senior editor-at-large of Fortune magazine, and the coiner of the term “hedge fund.” The editor of Warren Buffett's annual shareholder letter, she has been recognized by the New York Times for her success in battling gender stereotypes within the financial-services industry, having started her career in the 1950s as one of only two female reporters at Fortune. The Reformed Broker calls Loomis “a lion of financial journalism,” while ValueWalk celebrates her as “without doubt, the greatest business writer of all time.”

David Brin has been named the first annual National Endowment for the Humanities/Hannah Arendt Center Distinguished Visiting Fellow. Brin, an American scientist, award-winning author of science fiction, and leading commentator on the world’s most pressing technological trends, is in residence at the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College from Monday, October 5, to Sunday, October 25. As part of Brin’s fellowship, he will mentor selected Bard students on their fiction and nonfiction writing. Brin will also offer a number of lectures and discussions during his residency at Bard. This new annual fellowship has been made possible through an NEH Challenge Grant.

On Thursday, September 24, at 8 p.m., the New York State Writers Institute will celebrate Bard's provocative, innovative literary journal Conjunctions with a reading by Bradford Morrow (Conjunctions editor, Bard literature professor, and Bard Center Fellow) and contributing editors Ann Lauterbach (Bard’s David and Ruth Schwab Professor of Languages and Literature) and Peter Straub. The reading will take place at the Recital Hall at the Performing Arts Center on the University at Albany’s uptown campus, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York.

On Monday, September 28, Bard alumna Allie Cashel ’13 will read from a memoir of her experience with chronic Lyme disease, Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme Disease in an Age of Denial. The reading is presented by the Written Arts and Biology Programs. A living portrait of chronic Lyme disease and its patients’ struggles for recognition and treatment, Suffering the Silence, originally Allie Cashel’s Senior Project, is now a full-length memoir that details Cashel’s own experience with chronic Lyme and shares the stories of a number of other patients from around the world. Introduced by Mary Caponegro ’78, Bard literature professor, and followed by a Q&A, this event takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Weis Cinema in the Bertelsmann Campus Center.

On Tuesday, September 22, at 7 p.m., Norman Rush, the National Book Award winner and author of Whites, Mating, Mortals, and Subtle Bodies, will read from his work at Bard College. "Rush’s characters want to fall in love, to laugh and enjoy themselves. Their quirks, opinions, compulsions . . . keep us engrossed—along with the clarity and precision of Rush's sentences, the freshness of his observations," wrote Francine Prose in her review of Subtle Bodies in The New York Review of Books.

Benjamin Barron '15, who cofounded the new fashion and culture publication ALL-IN with fellow alum Allison Littrell '14, tells us why he's not crazy and why print is more important than ever.

"I had found that birds were the perfect antidote to gloomy thoughts about the passage of time," writes Rogers, "and to the low-level but constant fury about how messed up the world is."

Spahr's new collection of verse and prose asks, "what it means to remain a disillusioned opponent of capitalism, a not-quite-despondent environmental observer and an anxious parent today."

"The Brink is so funny, so inventive—and so fearless in what it has to say about geopolitics," writes Bard writer in residence Francine Prose.

"There are certain photographs that seem to have been pulled out of the world of dreams." Teju Cole goes to São Paulo in search of René Burri's "Men on a Rooftop."

The association of prominent literary writers and editors interviews Ian Buruma, winner of a recent PEN Award for his essay collection Theater of Cruelty: Art, Film, and the Shadows of War.

Distinguished Writer in Residence Francine Prose addresses the nebulous nature of the literary canon and argues for "enlarging the guest list."

From the first airplane flight to the very new Dronestagram page, Teju Cole, New York Times Magazine photography critic, describes the progression of the drone’s-eye view.

Poet and translator of German literature Peter Filkins talks about the third novel in H.G. Adler’s trilogy about surviving the Holocaust.

Danny Heitman praises More Scenes from the Rural Life, the second essay collection published by Professor Klinkenborg from his small farm in upstate New York.

Teju Cole’s Known and Strange Things, a collection of 40-plus essays spanning art, literature, and politics, will be published by Random House in 2016.

Mendelsohn finds traces of the modern fascination with robots in the works of Homer and Aristotle as he discusses the films Her and Ex Machina.

Berrigan’s innovative rectangular poems are now available online at Bomb magazine.

Professor Luzzi recommends readers attempt Dante’s Divine Comedy this summer.

Rising senior Julie Jarema has won one of five $2,500 stipends from We Need Diverse Books to intern at Simon and Schuster in New York City this summer.

When Professor Luzzi's pregnant wife Katherine was in a fatal car accident, he became a widower and a father in the same day. He turned to Dante for refuge in his grief.

The musical adaptation of Fun Home, the best-selling graphic memoir by Simon's Rock alumna Alison Bechdel, who received her A.A. degree in 1979, has won the Tony Award for best new musical.

Associate Professor of Italian Joseph Luzzi used Dante's epic poem "The Divine Comedy" to get him through the grief of his wife's sudden death, as described in his new memoir.

Professor Farah discusses his new novel, Hiding in Plain Sight, the heartbreaking loss of his sister in a terrorist attack, and misconceptions about his native Somalia.

Bard Fiction Prize winner Laura van den Berg talks about writers who have influenced her, age bias in publishing, and her debut novel, Find Me.

Joseph Luzzi writes about the day he became both a father and widower, and the challenges of raising his daughter while being leveled by loss. 

The Denver Post interviews Neil Gaiman, who works at a "lonely" craft. 

Arthur Holland Michel reviews the book Sudden Justice: America's Secret Drone Wars by Chris Woods. 

Translating the Holocaust: H.G. Adler As Writer and Scholar,” is happening on Monday, May 4, 2015 at 4 p.m. in Bard Hall, Bard College Campus. The event offers a unique opportunity to examine the scholarly and artistic endeavors of a thinker who is just becoming known in English. Adler was among the earliest scholars to write extensively on the Shoah and was a pioneer of Holocaust Studies. Jeremy Adler, the author’s son and professor of German at Kings College London, will present the keynote address. Bill T. Jones, award winning choreographer and dancer, will give remarks. The editor and translators of some of Adler’s work will speak. Also featured is a live performance of Viktor Ullmann's song settings of Adler’s poetry. The event is sponsored by The Hannah Arendt Center, The Bard Translation Initiative, Jewish Studies, German Studies, and Human Rights Project. 

Erica Kaufman and Michael Nicoloff will give a reading at La Commune Cafe and Bookstore in Oakland on May 2 for the Hybrid Moments series. 

Teju Cole discusses the current work of Lee Friedlander who at the age of 80, still roams the city streets making photographs that are distinct in their “scrupulous inclusiveness.” 

The Jewish Museum will present "H.G. Adler: A Survivor's Dual Reverie," an author talk featuring Daniel Mendelsohn, Peter Filkins, Ruth Franklin, and H.G. Adler's son Jeremy Adler, on Thursday, May 7 at 7pm, as part of the PEN World Voices Festival.

On Saturday, April 18, at 2 p.m., the Mid-Hudson Heritage Center at 317 Main Street will celebrate Bard College’s innovative literary journal Conjunctions with a special reading. Greg Hrbek (Destroy All Monsters), Michael Ives (The External Combustion Machine), Paul La Farge (Luminous Airplanes), and Christina Mengert (As We Are Sung) will read from their work published in Conjunctions’ biannual print journal and in the weekly online magazine. Conjunctions is an internationally distributed journal of fiction, poetry, and narrative nonfiction published by Bard College and edited by Bard Center Fellow and Professor of Literature Bradford Morrow. This event is free and open to the public. No tickets are required, but seating is first come, first served. For more information, contact us at [email protected].

 Celia Bland who is the international coordinator for the Institute for Writing and Thinking at Bard College has won the first prize at the Raynes Poetry Competition

Celebrated author Rabih Alameddine will read from his work, An Unnecessary Woman, a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award. Alameddine is also the author of the story collection The Perv, and the novels Koolaids; I, the Divine; and The Hakawati. Alameddine divides his time between San Francisco and Beirut and was a 2002 Guggenheim Fellow. The reading, presented by the Written Arts and Middle Eastern Studies Programs and by the Difference and Media Project, takes place at 1 p.m. in Weis Cinema in the Bertelsmann Campus Center. The reading will be followed by a Q&A and book signing. It is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations required. 

On Monday, April 20, Jay Cantor, winner of a 1989 MacArthur Fellowship, will read from his new book, Forgiving the Angel: Four Stories for Franz Kafka, at Bard College. In its review of the book, the New York Times writes, "Forgiving the Angel links disparate time, places and characters in an ingeniously unified and admirably purposeful fiction. [In its] formal circularity, ethical ambiguity and scrupulous undecidability, Cantor’s fiction is a worthy homage to Kafka. It is also an original work that pulls our mind through the kind of biographical and historical contraption that Kafka would probably never have put together, would probably not, as a Jew in Czechoslovakia, have survived to put together."

Cole considers approaches to conflict photography and asks, "What, then, are we to do with a thrilling photograph that is at the same time an image of pain?"

Hannah Arendt Center senior fellow Wyatt Mason examines Rush’s National Book Award–winning novel in the third installment of this online book club.