UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

English

Alan Shapiro Reading, Nov. 12

shapiro copyPoet and memoirist Alan Shapiro will read from his work on Tuesday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. His talk, part of the English department’s Readings and Lecture Series, is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public.

As the author of eleven collections of poetry, Shapiro has explored family, loss, domesticity, and the daily aspects of people’s lives in free verse and traditional poetic forms. His most recent book of poems is Night of the Republic (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012). His poetry frequently appears in The New Yorker. In his memoirs, The Last Happy Occasion and Vigil (1997), Shapiro has written about the death of his sister and the role that poetry has played in his life. He is also the author of a collection of essays on poetry, In Praise of the Impure: Poetry and the Ethical Imagination: Essays, 1980–1991.

For more information, contact the English department at 7228 or english@up.edu.

Lucy Corin Reading, Oct. 29

_1aLucy Corin150Author Lucy Corin will read from her work on Tuesday, October 29, at 7:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. The reading, sponsored by the English Department as part of its Readings & Lectures series, is free and open to the public. Corin is the author of the short story collection The Entire Predicament and the novel Everyday Psychokillers: A History for Girls. Her latest collection, One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses, was released this year. She is currently directing the Creative Writing Program at the University of California, Davis. For more information, contact the English department at 7228 or english@up.edu.

Fall 2013 Schoenfeldt Lecture

_1aDuncan150The Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series will welcome acclaimed novelist and essayist David James Duncan on Thursday, October 24, at 7 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Duncan is the author The River Why and The Brothers K, a New York Times Notable Book in 1992. He is also the author of three collections of essays; River Teeth, My Story As Told By Water, and God Laughs and Plays: Churchless Sermons in Response to the Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right. He received an honorary doctorate from the University in 2004 for the “power, passion, and poetry of his work.” This event also marks the second time Duncan has been a Schoenfeldt speaker at the University.

The Schoenfeldt Writers Series was founded in 1988 by the late Rev. Art Schoenfeldt, C.S.C., and his late sister, University regent Sue Fields, with the assistance of retired UP English professor Louis Masson. Among its guests have been Barry Lopez, Peter Matthiessen, Ian Frazier, William Stafford, Ursula K. Le Guin. For more information contact Brian Doyle, marketing and communications, at 8225 or bdoyle@up.edu.

Lou Masson Reading September 25

1aLouis Masson150.JPGLouis Masson, Tyson Distinguished Emeritus Professor of English, will appear as part of the English department’s Readings and Lectures Series on Wednesday, September 25, at 7:45 p.m., in Mago Hunt recital hall. His reading is free and open to all. Masson is the author of three collections of essays, most recently Across the Quad (Corby Books, 2013). His other collections include Reflections: Essays on Place and Family and The Play of Light: Observations and Epiphanies in the Everyday World. Masson has been a regular contributor to Portland Magazine and has published poems and essays in a number of other publications. He retired from the University in 2011 after teaching here for 40 years.

For more information, contact the English department at 7264 or english@up.edu.

John Orr Lecture, New Location

John Orr will present a lecture, “Scenes of Reading, Sites of Contest: Listening to Henry Adams’s Marginalia,” as part of the Communi­cation Studies Colloquium Series, on Wednesday, March 27, from noon to 1 p.m., in Shiley Hall room 206 (moved from Buckley Center room 102). His talk is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public. Light snacks will be served and attendees are invited to bring their lunches. For more information contact C. Vail Fletcher, communication studies, at 503-943-7351 or fletcher@up.edu.

Lois Leveen Lecture, Reading

Author Lois Leveen will give a talk and read from her work on Thursday, March 21. The talk, at 4 p.m. in Shiley 319 and sponsored by the English and history departments, is titled “Telling Secrets: Mary Bowser, Race, Gender, and the Fictions of History,” and will explore what it means to teach—and learn—African American history through fiction. At 7:30 p.m. in Buckley Center room 163, Leveen will read from her 2012 novel The Secrets of Mary Bowser as part of the English department’s Readings and Lectures Series. For more information contact Molly Hiro, English, at 8031 or hiro@up.edu.

Life After The English Major

The English department is sponsoring a panel for English (or any humanities) majors on Friday, February 1, at 3:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 207. “Life after an English Major” will feature four UP alumni from the past 7 years who have landed in various careers (editing, digital media, public policy, social work) in the region. The panelists will share their post-grad experiences and answer students’ questions about navigating the working world with a major in humanities. The panel is free and open to all; please let your students know. For more information contact Molly Hiro, English, at 8031 or hiro@up.edu.

William Stafford Birthday Party

The English department’s annual William Stafford Birthday Poetry Celebration will take place on Thursday, January 24, at 7:30 p.m., in Buckley Center room 163. The celebration is free and open to faculty, staff, students, and the public. The party commemorates the 98th birthday of Oregon’s late Poet Laureate, who died in 1993. Guests and poets will include Friends of William Stafford representative William Howe, Oregonian poetry editor Kirsten Rian, Judith Arcana, Erin Ergenbright, Sara Guest, and UP’s Lars Erik Larson and Herman Asarnow. For more information contact Asarnow at asarnow@up.edu or 7244.