Graduate Reception

The English Department Reception for MA & MFA Graduate Students

Date:          Thursday, September 22, 2011

Time:          5:30-7 PM

Place:         Spector Lounge

The Co-Chairs of the English Department invite you join us in kicking off the new semester!  We will share some pizza, beer, and wine as we introduce ourselves and get to know one another. This is a great time for all to learn about faculty specialties and for faculty to meet and check in with our returning and new graduate students.  English Graduate Alumni are invited to attend.

MFA Blog

The English Department's Creative-Writing MFA Program now has its own blog. Go there for all the latest about MFA-related events and the doings of MFA students and alumni.

Voices of the Rainbow: Fall 2011 Reading Schedule

The following are readings scheduled for the upcoming semester.

Eduardo Chirinos
Tuesday Sept. 27 noon
Library Learning Center, Room 124

Eduardo Chirinos, a native of Peru, is the author of several volumes of poetry. He will be reading from his work and discussing it with his translator, Gary Racz, from LIU’s Foreign Languages Department. Co-sponsored with the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program (LACS).

Paola Corso & Sandra Maria Esteves
Wednesday Oct. 5, 11 a.m.
Health Sciences Building, Room 119

Paolo Corso, was born in Pittsburgh of Italian American ancestry. She is the author of the poetry collections, Death by Renaissance and A Proper Burial, the short story collection Giovanna’s 86 Circles, and the novel Catina’s Haircut.

Sandra Maria Esteves, known as the “Godmother of Nuyorican Poetry,” is a celebrated poet and visual artist who has published several collections of verse.

Heidi Durrow & Dahlma Llanos Figueroa
Thursday Oct. 13, noon
Library Learning Center, Room 124

Heidi Durrow, of African American and Danish ancestry, is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, winner of numerous awards including the Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Change.

Dahlma Llanos Figueroa was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City. She is author of the historical novel Daughters of the Stone, a finalist for the PEN/Robert Bigham Fellowship.

Tina Chang
Monday Nov. 14 noon
Humanities Building, Room 210

[This event was originally scheduled for Monday Nov. 7, but it had to be rescheduled due to illness.]

Tina Chang, is author of the poetry collections Half-Lit Houses and Of Gods and Strangers. Raised in New York City, Tina is the current Brooklyn Poet Laureate.

ALL READINGS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Long Island University: Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues in Brooklyn.

For more information contact Louis Parascandola or Maria McGarrity at 718 488-1050.

Funding provided by the Provost’s Office.

Lewis Warsh Reading

Greenlight Bookstore & Melville House Press present Poetry After 9/11: Ten Years Later

Greenlight Bookstore
686 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY

Wednesday, September 7, 7:30 PM

Featuring poets Miranda Beeson, Star Black, Patricia Spears Jones, Carter Ratcliff, Dennis Nurske, Lewis Warsh.

Introduction by publishers Dennis Johnson and Valerie Merians.

Ten years ago this fall, Brooklyn publisher Melville House Press was born out of a desire to collect the poetry that arose everywhere after 9/11 — on telephone poles, on firehouse walls, in the bus shelters, and on the internet, in places like MHP founder Dennis Johnson's blog Moby Lives.

This 10th anniversary edition of the anthology Poetry After 9/11 contains poems by forty-five of some of the most important poets of the day, as well as some of the literary world’s most dynamic young voices, all writing in New York City in the year immediately following the World Trade Center attacks. Greenlight is honored to mark the 10th anniversary of Melville House, and ten years since the events of 9/11 changed our city and our literature, with a reading by the poets featured in the anthology, introduced by the press's pioneering founders.

Eric Blake: School Principal Making Tough Decisions

Eric Blake, an alum of the English Department's master's-degree program, and also an adjunct professor in the Department, is the principal of Science, Technology and Research Early College School, in Brooklyn.

An article in today's New York Times discusses various ways principals are coping with recent budget cuts. Blake is one of five principals mentioned in the article.

He recently had to let an English teacher go, and in order to fill the gap, he will be teaching English himself this year--in addition to being principal. "I believe in leading by example," he says.

Hang in there, Eric.

English 169: Spanish Caribbean Literature (Fall 2011)

Update: course was cancelled.

Click the image to see a larger version of Professor Maria McGarrity's flyer for ENG 169, Spanish Caribbean Literature (Fall 2011).

English 180: Graphic Literature (Fall 2011)

In March, we posted descriptions of advanced undergraduate courses being offered in Summer 2011 and Fall 2011. See here.

In that brochure, Professor Patrick Horrigan's English 180, Graphic Literature, is described as follows:

English 180 Genre Studies (Course ID# 6275)
Topic: Graphic Literature
Professor Patrick Horrigan
Thursdays, 6:00 – 8:30 PM

For English majors, this course will satisfy an English elective requirement in the Literature concentration. It can also satisfy a literature requirement in either the Creative Writing concentration or the Writing & Rhetoric concentration. This course may be applied toward the English minor.

Some of the most entertaining and powerful stories today are being told through the medium of comics—the artful blending of words and pictures on the page. Comic books aren’t just for kids anymore. In fact, books of “graphic literature,” as they are sometimes called, include everything from the adventures of Batman to the memoirs of Holocaust survivors. They might be funny or terrifying, action-packed or deeply psychological, explosively colorful or cool black and white. They might take place in the past, present, or future, on planet Earth or someplace you’ve never heard of before.

This course will sample the rich body of graphic literature since the mid-twentieth-century with an emphasis on work from the last two decades. Our goal will be to experience the pleasures and challenges of a medium that combines text and image. We’ll get a sense of the literature’s characteristic themes and ways of seeing the world, and we’ll develop an understanding of what makes the medium of comics distinct from other verbal and visual media, including film.

Books for discussion may include Herge, The Adventures of Tintin: King Ottokar’s Sceptre; Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns; Art Spiegelman, Maus; Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth; Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis; Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic; Gene Luen Yang, American Born Chinese; R. Sikoryak, Masterpiece Comics; and Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics.

Throughout the semester, students will write a series of short essays as well as a longer piece that may take the form of a research paper or a creative project.

Professor Horrigan has produced a great flyer to advertise the course.

Click image to see larger version.

Shakespeare Discussion: Othello

Professor Sealy Gilles (Co-Chair, English Department) is hosting a discussion of Othello .

This event is sort of a continuation of the series of video screenings and discussions that took place during the Spring 2011 semester as a part of Professor Gilles's ENG 643.

According to Professor Gilles, "A goodly proportion of the Shakespeare Seminar wanted to continue meeting to discuss plays. We sometimes watch clips, usually not. Anyone is welcome to come as long as they have read the text. No credit, no fee, no homework (other than reading)."

When & Where
Wednesday, June 29, 2011, from 6:15 until you need to leave.
Spector Lounge, Humanities Building, Fourth Floor

All are welcome.

Feel free to bring a sandwich or snack.

Our Condolences to the Spielberg Family

We were saddened to hear the news that Elaine Spielberg passed away on June 19. To quote her husband Peter, "Our Elaine went gentle into that deep night, and her love shall not be lost."

Professor Spielberg taught as an adjunct professor in the Writing Program for many, many years following a long career as a NYC public high school English teacher. Most recently, it was her recommendation of the LIU Brooklyn campus to NYCAAPSE coordinator Barbara Rothenberg that led to the "Our Mutual Estate" conference we co-sponsored this past spring.

Elaine "retired" from teaching at LIU at the end of the Spring 2010 semester, and we all missed her over the academic year just concluded. We will miss her even more now.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for contributions to UNICEF. Given that summer is upon us, the co-chairs and I suggest making individual contributions to UNICEF and noting your LIU connection. If you would like to make a contribution in Elaine's name, UNICEF Tribute Cards can be sent by calling 1-800-345-8799 or by e-mail at www.unicedf.org.

Peter has said he would welcome cards as well from Elaine's colleagues. They may be sent to Peter Spielberg, 321 West 24th St., Apt. 13F, NY, NY 10011.

UPDATE January 25, 2012: Mr. Spielberg sent us this nice thank-you note (dated February 6, 2011), which has been posted on the wall by the photocopy machine since we received it.

Flash Fiction Reading

Join us for a reading by students from Barbara Henning's English 528 class (Summer I).


Open mic to follow.

Free food & drinks!

Thursday, June 23, 2011
6:00 PMSpector Lounge
Fourth Floor, Humanities Building