Farewell, Professor Asarnow

 by Kate Stringer On Friday, a classroom of students and their professor left Paradise. Sappy, but let me explain. We were reading Milton’s Paradise Lost in Renaissance Literature with professor Herman Asarnow. Many of us were melancholy because it was the last English class in our four year stint at UP. But as evidenced by…

Three Poems Published…Congrats to Aurora Meyers!

by Catherine Tangen I was a bit intimidated when I first went to meet UP junior (Environmental studies major and English minor) Aurora Meyers, on a typical rainy Portland day. She had been published, and I was interviewing someone for the first time. But when we started talking she instantly set me at ease with…

Graduate School in English: A report from Year One

A guest post by Joyce King, UP English alum from 2012.  Joyce is in her first year in an M.A. program in English at Saint Louis University.  Those of you pondering graduate school will learn a lot from Joyce’s experience… I cannot claim to understand how to be a graduate student, and talking about my…

STD Spring Induction Report

by Hannah Wilkes Last fall, University of Portland’s English honor society, Sigma Tau Delta (also known by the somewhat unfortunate acronym STD!), inducted seventeen students as its very first members.  This spring—just last Thursday—the second official induction ceremony was held, welcoming seven new students into STD.  In order to join STD, students must be English majors…

Aspiring toward “the Good Life”: an Interview with Journalist and UP Alum Brigid Schulte

by Kate Stringer UP English major (class of ’84) and Washington Post journalist Brigid Schulte will be speaking in the Bauccio Commons Wednesday, April 9, 7:30, about her new book Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time. Driving between interviews for her book, Schulte spoke with us about her relationship with…

The Wait Is Almost Over: Writers Is Coming

by Dorian Pacheco Are you ready? UP’s very own literary magazine will launch April 8th at 5:30 in the Campus Bookstore. This year’s edition features a plethora of people, from first-years to veteran Writers contributors from all majors. Here’s Editor in Chief Hannah Robinson on what we can expect from this year’s edition: “I think…

Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature: a Preview

by Ana Fonseca  This coming Saturday, April 5th, UP’s English Department will host the eleventh annual Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature.  For the majority of us English majors on campus, NUCL is such an integral part of our department that it’s hard to remember that this undergraduate conference is not only relatively rare, but also…

Spring Writing Competitions

Let these competitions inspire you to write something new, or send off something you’ve already written…and maybe you’ll end up with a [cash] prize for your efforts!  2014 Rattle Poetry Prize: Rattle is a literary magazine that is dedicated to promoting a community of active poets. They publish through several mediums including an in-print magazine…

“A Poet of Passion and Love”: UP alum Lilah Hegnauer returns for Poetry Reading

Poet Lilah Hegnauer will read on campus Monday March 31, in BC 163.  Hegnauer isn’t just any poet, however—she’s a UP alumna whose first book of poetry began as her senior thesis!  This post offers insights about her writing from Hegnauer herself, as well as from her former professor and mentor, our own Dr. Herman…