Minnesota Book Award Finalists

English faculty Charles Baxter and Patricia Hampl are finalists for 2008 Minnesota Book Awards: Baxter in the General Nonfiction category for The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot (Graywolf), and Hampl in Memoir and Creative Nonfiction for The Florist's Daughter (Harcourt). Other finalists include Eireann Lorsung (MFA '06) for Music for Landing Planes By (Poetry), William Reichard (PhD '97) for This Brightness (Poetry), and Joni Tevis (Edelstein-Keller Discovery Fellow 2003-2005) for The Wet Collection (Memoir and Creative Nonfiction). Winners will be announced April 12, 2008.

Paula Rabinowitz Is CLA Dean's Medalist

English professor and chair Paula Rabinowitz will be honored February 13 as the 2008 CLA Dean's Medalist. Rabinowitz will present the address "Chairs: Frida's Hair/Vincent's Ears" at the program, which begins at 3 pm, in Cowles Auditorium. The CLA Dean's Medal was created by an anonymous donor to reward a faculty member's excellence in scholarship or creative activity. Rabinowitz is Samuel Russell Chair in the Humanities.

Carol Bly Memorial Service

Carol Bly, St. Paul essayist, fiction writer, teacher, and inspiration to many, died December 21 of cancer at age 77. Bly served as a Department of English Minnesota Writer of Distinction in 1998-1999: She taught Topics in Advanced Creative Writing: The Literary Essay, did a public reading at the Weisman Museum, and served as a thesis advisor. Among Bly's many celebrated books are: Beyond the Writers' Workshop: New Ways to Write Creative Nonfiction (Anchor Books), My Lord Bag of Rice: New and Collected Stories (Milkweed Editions), and Letters from the Country (University of Minnesota Press). Bly will be honored from 2 to 5 pm on Feb. 10 at Hamline University's Sundin Music Hall, 1536 Hewitt Ave., St. Paul. A program will begin at 3 pm.

Scholarships for Continuing English Majors

APPLY BY FEBRUARY 15, 2008.
Application forms are now available for the 2008-09 CLA Continuing Student Scholarships. There are nearly 20 types of scholarships offered through CLA with over 100 scholarships expected to be awarded. Scholarships range from $400 to $5,000 for the 2008-09 academic year. Some are specifically for English majors! Information about all CLA Continuing Student Scholarships can be found at http://scholarships.cla.umn.edu/continuing_students/. Warning: Careful Reading Required!

Applications and supporting materials must be submitted to the Undergraduate Programs office in 113 Johnston Hall no later than 4 p.m. on Feb. 15th, 2008.

PhD Candidates in Rain Taxi

Two graduate students are published in the Winter 2007-08 Rain Taxi Review of Books: Nick Hengen reviews Jean-Paul Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism in the print edition, and Ryan Cox interviews legendary Canadian poet Steve McCaffery in the on-line issue.