Ilse Schweitzer reviews Dinah Hazell's The Plants of Middle Earth

As its inaugural review, the new journal medievally speaking published Ilse Schweitzer's review of Dinah Hazell's The Plants of Middle Earth. READ HERE.

Utz publishes essay on Medievalism and Temporality

Richard Utz recently published "Medievalitas Fugit: Medievalism and Temporality" in volume XVIII, entitled Defining Medievalism(s), of the journal Studies in Medievalism (Cambridge: Boydell & Brewer), pp. 31-43. The essay argues for a demonstrated awareness of one's own and one's subject's correlation with temporality as an admission ticket for successful and publishable work on the reception of medieval culture in postmedieval times.

“Poets in Print” Reading Series at the KBAC

Cindy St. John and Rob Schlegel
Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010, 7:00 p.m.

Poets Cindy St. John and Rob Schlegel present readings from their work on Saturday, January 16, 2010. Broadsides featuring the poet's work will be created by KBAC artists. The broadsides and other works by the poets will be available during the event for sale and signing.

Cindy St. John, alumni of the MFA program at WMU, is the author of two chapbooks, City Poems (Effing Press 2009) and People Who Are in Love Will Read This Book Differently (Dancing Girl Press 2009). Her poems have appeared in journals such as The Southern Review, The Florida Review and Cimarron Review. She lives in Austin, TX.

Rob Schlegel was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and has lived in California, Montana, and Iowa. His first book, The Lesser Fields, was selected for the 2009 Colorado Prize for Poetry and published by the Center for Literary Publishing.

This event is free and refreshments are served. Doors open at 6:30. Reading begins at 7.

Kalamazoo Book Arts Center
Suite 103A, Park Trades Center
326 W. Kalamazoo Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49007

Joslin's monograph elicits first review

Katherine Joslin's Edith Wharton and the Making of Fashion was recently reviewed in The Magazine Antiques.

Salisbury @ MLA

Eve Salisbury has recently been elected to the MLA’s Division on Middle English Language and Literature, Excluding Chaucer and is scheduled to preside over a session at the upcoming conference in Philadelphia. Called “Family Matters,” the session includes the following papers:

• “Strange Bedfellows: Miscegenation and Power in Medieval Romance,” Katherine McLoone, University of California, Los Angeles
• “Two Trojan Empires: Kinship and Community Formation in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” Randy P. Schiff, University of Buffalo, State University of New York
• “Necessary Lies and Open Secrets: The Middle English Melusine and the Problems of Maternal Influence,” Angela Florschuetz, Trinity University
• “Family Men: Masculinity and the Blood Feud in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur,” Laurie Anne Finke, Kenyon College; Martin B. Shichtman, Eastern Michigan University

MCEA CFP

The Michigan College English Association's Conference is on Friday, October 15, 2010.  The theme is "Turning Points."  The MCEA conference will take place at Henry Ford Community College in the Mazara Building at 5101 Evergreen Rd., Dearborn, MI 48128.  The Michigan College English Association invites proposals for individual papers and for complete or open panels.  We welcome proposals from experienced academics as well as from young scholars and graduate students.  We encourage a variety of papers, including pedagogical and scholarly essays.  We also welcome poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction from creative writers.  We will award a prize for the best scholarly paper and for the best creative writing by a graduate student.  Proposals are due by Friday, September 24, 2010.  Early submissions are welcome.  Please submit proposals to Ed Demerly, Program Chair, via email at edemerly@aol.com   Please specify your needs for audio-visual equipment and the best time of day for your presentation.

Michigan College English Association Conference

The Michigan College English Association's Conference is on Friday, October 15, 2010. The theme is "Turning Points." The MCEA conference will take place at Henry Ford Community College in the Mazara Building at 5101 Evergreen Rd., Dearborn, MI 48128. The Michigan College English Association invites proposals for individual papers and for complete or open panels. We welcome proposals from experienced academics as well as from young scholars and graduate students. We encourage a variety of papers, including pedagogical and scholarly essays. We also welcome poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction from creative writers. We will award a prize for the best scholarly paper and for the best creative writing by a graduate student. Proposals are due by Friday, September 24, 2010. Early submissions are welcome. Please submit proposals to Ed Demerly, Program Chair, via email at edemerly@aol.com Please specify your needs for audio-visual equipment and the best time of day for your presentation.

Janet Heller's Poem Published

Janet Heller's poem "Two Compulsives Live Together" was just published in Home Planet News, No. 63, p. 18.

James Daniels & Andras Visky Read Dec. 7!

The Ambassador Poetry Project

The second issue of The Ambassador Poetry Project is now available online at www.AmbassadorPoetry.com. Visit the website to discover a variety of voices from Michigan and Ontario!

This issue includes selections from poets such as Judith A Goren, Therese Becker, Linda Leedy Schneider, Matthew Falk, and sound poetry from Penn Kemp. Also included is visual work by Grand Blanc High School student Rob Chron.

Teaching Writing: A Mini-Conference

Come join the first-year writing program teaching staff for an end-of-semester professional development event, highlighting the challenges and opportunities in teaching ENGL 1050 and 1000 at WMU. The opening presentation, "Righting Writing," will be by Dr. Thomas Kent, Dean of the WMU College of Arts and Sciences. There will be poster presentations on "Two to Too Much Grammar" Teaching Grammar in a Composition Classroom," "Special Topics a Go-Go: Composition as a Platform for Issues of Sustainability," "Completing the Circuit: Technology in Composition Instruction," Escaping the Ivory Tower: Putting Genre Studies to Use," "Finding Your Place: Bringing Place-Based Pedagogy to English 1000," and "Language ART." The event will take place on the 10th floor of Sprau Tower, from 6-7:30pm, on Tuesday, December 8.

Update: Sedgwick Conference ("Spanking and Poetry") in NYC—Deadline Extended

http://sedgwickconference.wordpress.com/

In Memoriam: Emerita Nancy Cutbirth Small

Dr. Nancy Cutbirth Small passed away after a long illness on Friday, 27 November 2009. Nancy joined the Department of English in 1971 and retired as Associate Professor with emerita status at the end of 1995. Her career was distinguished above all by the nurturing care that she lavished on her students, by her teaching of numerous courses in Renaissance Literature (particularly poetry), by her editing of The Anthony Powell Newsletter, and by her labors in conjunction with her future husband Tom in organizing what were then annual Shakespeare Festivals sponsored by the Department.

Following retirement Nancy pursued her passions for peace and the natural world. She was an early opponent of the war in Iraq, an early and active member of the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, and a founder of the Kalamazoo chapter of Wild Ones, an organization that advocates for natural landscapes. She lectured widely and wrote numerous letters and essays advocating for the preservation of natural spaces and all critters that live in, on, or above them. In a sense she never stopped teaching, as those who gardened with her, or received plants from her hands, or sought her advice on what to plant and where and why would testify.   T. H. Seiler

See also the Obituary in the Kalamazoo Gazette.