New English@Minnesota

"As the holiday season approaches and the Twin Cities strings up its lights," notes Professor and Chair Ellen Messer-Davidow, "English has plenty of dazzle to contribute to the festivities." For news about faculty, student, and alumnae/i accomplishments and awards, check out the winter 2011 alumni magazine, English@Minnesota. Professors Nabil Matar, Maria Damon, and Peter Campion are featured, along with lots more!

Roth-Reinhardt Defense

PhD candidate Anne Roth-Reinhardt will defend her dissertation in Lind Hall 207A on Friday, December 16th at 9 a.m. The dissertation is entitled "Material Remnants: Clothing as Text in Historical American Fiction, 1789-1860." All are welcome to the public portion of the defense, which will include a brief presentation followed by a question and answer session.

Baxter Book a New York Times Notable

Charles Baxter's acclaimed collection Gryphon: New and Selected Stories was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2011 by the New York Times. Baxter is Edelstein-Keller Professor in Creative Writing. Congratulations!

Campion Judges Major New Poetry Prize

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Peter Campion will be the first judge of Milkweed Editions' major new prize for poetry, the Lindquist & Vennum Prize. The prize awards $10,000 and publication for an unpublished manuscript from the Upper Midwest. The Lindquist & Vennum Foundation, sponsor of the award, was established by the Lindquist & Vennum law firm of Minneapolis. Submissions are open through the end of January.

Philippon Awarded Fulbright in Europe

Associate Professor Dan Philippon will be a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Turin and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy from March through June 2012. Meanwhile he is serving this semester as a Senior Fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich, Germany. Congratulations!

Writer's Block with Guante Nov 15

The Writer's Block Workshop Series, sponsored by FUSE and Voices Merging, presents Guante, hip hop artist, two-time National Poetry Slam champion, social justice activist and educator. Eat a free dinner and get writing advice and exercises on Tuesday, November 15 from 5:30-7:30 pm in Coffman 324.

Charles Baxter Hosts Hunger Relief Benefit

For the fourth year, novelist and Edelstein-Keller Professor of Creative Writing Charles Baxter hosts the Creative Writing Program's Hunger Relief Benefit reading. The event features Creative Writing faculty, including Baxter, poets Peter Campion and Maria Damon, poet/flash fiction writer Ray Gonzalez, and novelist Julie Schumacher. Baxter is the author of Gryphon: New and Selected Stories (Pantheon, 2011) and The Soul Thief (2008), among other fictional works. His nonfiction includes The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot (2007), which won a Minnesota Book Award. The event is free with a suggested donation of $5.00. Proceeds will benefit Second Harvest Heartland, the Midwest's largest food bank. Sponsored by the Edelstein-Keller Visiting Writers Series.