Mysteries shape Joanna Scott’s newest novel
Careers for Women, a new novel by English professor Joanna Scott, had its beginnings in her attic where she rediscovered a paper bag full of newspaper clippings that she’d collected in the wake of September 11, 2001.
Remembering John Ashbery
John Ashbery was memorialized as one of America’s premiere poets upon his passing earlier this month. English professor James Longenbach reflects on a long friendship with Ashbery and his impact on poetry and literature.
Creating communal spaces through public art
As part of the Take Five Scholars Program, Madison Carter ’18 is researching how public art—such as murals, sculptures, even performance art—influences social interactions in the city of Rochester.
This summer, the English literature and environmental studies major is interning with Richard Margolis, a well-known area photographer who documents art, architecture, and landmarks, and then compiles them into searchable databases. Carter is contributing to the descriptions of each piece of public art, researching the stories associated with their creation, and contacting the artists themselves for their input. She is also identifying additional works of public art to include in the database. (University photo / J. Adam Fenster)
Jennifer Grotz will direct Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences
Poet Jennifer Grotz, a professor of English, has been named the next director of the Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences. She is the first woman to serve as director of the oldest American conference for writers.
New faculty books examine sustainability, time, and more
Each academic year, Rochester faculty members publish books that advance scholarship and investigate questions of broad interest. New Reads offers a selection of some of their most recent work.
Meet the director: 5 questions for Aishwarya Krishnamoorthy ’17
This spring’s production of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child marks the first time that a student has directed a play for the International Theatre Program.
Reading poetry, with intensity and pleasure
Professor James Longenbach’s next books—Earthling and Lyric Knowledge—will soon be released. This National Poetry Month, Longenbach reminds us, “the best poems ever written constitute our future.”
An immortal hand: Romantic-era poet William Blake has left fingerprints all over pop culture
The works of Romantic era poet and artist William Blake pervade modern writing, music, film and TV. The William Blake Archive, newly redesigned, has digitized nearly 7,000 images from Blake’s creations, making them more accessible than ever to scholars and fans.
The future of the past
Trained as a scholar of medieval literature, Gregory Heyworth has become a “textual scientist.” He recovers the words and images of cultural heritage objects that have been lost, through damage and erasure, to time. To rescue them, he and collaborators on the aptly named Lazarus Project use a transportable multispectral imaging lab—the only one in the world—to make the undecipherable, and even the invisible, legible again.
Opening a Window: a poet reflects on a monastic retreat
Poet Jennifer Grotz, just named a 2017 Guggenheim Fellow for poetry, reflects on place, inspiration, and the ‘vocabulary’ she found in a baroque French monastery.