UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series

Schoenfeldt Writer Luis Alberto Urrea, Nov. 7

Luis Alberto UrreaAuthor Luis Alberto Urrea joins our campus as the fall 2019 Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writer on Thursday, November 7, in Buckley Center Auditorium at 7 p.m.  He will also join us from 4-5 p.m. that day in BC 120 for an informal Q & A session, so bring your questions!

A member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, Urrea is the critically acclaimed, best-selling author of 17 books, and has won numerous awards for his poetry, essays, and fiction (The Hummingbird’s Daughter, The Water Museum, Into the Beautiful North).  The Devil’s Highway, Urrea’s 2004 non-fiction account of a group of Mexican immigrants lost in the Arizona desert, won the Lannan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His latest novel, The House of Broken Angels, set in San Diego, is a tragic-comic meditation by one sprawling family on the borderlands between life and death. He is a distinguished professor of creative writing at the U. of Illinois-Chicago.

The events are free and open to the public.  For details and questions contact English chair Lars Erik Larson at larson@up.edu.

ReadUP 2019-2020: Order Books Now

All students, faculty, and staff are invited to participate in UP’s sixth annual ReadUP program. This year’s selection is The Leavers by Lisa Ko, who will speak on February 10, 2020 as part of this year’s annual Schoenfeldt Writers Series.

The Leavers, Ko’s 2017 debut novel, was a National Book Award finalist, winner of the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Fiction, and was named a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, Bustle, Electric Literature, and others. According to a review in The Atlantic, “For topicality, Lisa Ko’s novel The Leavers, about an undocumented mother who suddenly disappears and the young American-born son she leaves behind, could hardly be better timed.”

ReadUP is the University’s annual celebration of literature in which the entire local campus community — students, faculty, and staff — are invited to read “one book together.” Free copies of each year’s selection are distributed by the Clark Library and in residence halls, and book discussion groups are formed in the residence halls and at faculty/staff brown bag lunches. The campaign culminates with a public lecture and discussion by the book’s author, as part of the Schoenfeldt Distinguished Visiting Writers Series. The author’s visit to the UP campus — and the efforts to get each year’s riveting selection into the hands, heads and hearts of UP students, faculty and staff — is sponsored by the Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series, the Office of the Provost, Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life & American Culture, Clark Library, Office of Residence Life, the Office of University Relations, and the Office of Marketing and Communications.

To order your free copy, please click here. Orders will be taken starting Monday, October 21 through Friday, November 1. Starting Monday, November 11, students living in residence halls will pick up their books from their hall directors and for everyone else, books can be picked up from the Clark Library, any time between 7:30 a.m. and 10 p.m., at the main circulation desk.

 

Creative Writers Coming to UP this Fall

Faculty, staff, and students are invited to learn about the poets, novelists, essayists, and biographers coming to campus for free readings this semester, according to Lars Larson, English: Pulitzer-winner Marilynne Robinson (this week!), five-time Oregon Book Award winner Tracy Daugherty, Lakota poet and musician Trevino L. Brings Plenty, and the fall Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writer Luis Alberto Urrea.

In anticipation of Urrea’s November 7 visit, the Schoenfeld series is offering his latest novel for free: House of Broken Angels, a humorous and heartfelt exploration of life and identity told through a sprawling San Diego family gathering in the borderlands between a birthday and a funeral. Email Schoenfeldt@up.edu to reserve your free copy. For details email Larson at larson@up.edu.

Fall 2018 Schoenfeldt Author Omar El Akkad Visiting Campus Nov. 1

Author Omar El Akkad will visit the University campus to discuss his book, American War, on Thursday, November 1, at 7 p.m., in Buckley Center Auditorium. El Akkad is the Fall 2018 Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writer, and his talk will be free and open to all. A book signing will follow.

In addition to the 7 p.m. lecture that is open to the Portland community, a discussion with the author will be held for UP community members on Thursday afternoon from 4-5 p.m. in the Bauccio Commons Terrace Room.

El Akkad’s talks draw on his breadth of experience as a journalist at home and abroad to give his audience rare insights into the most important topics of our time, from terrorism to populist movements to racial tensions in America.  El Akkad is a recipient of Canada’s National Newspaper Award for investigative reporting and the Goff Penny Memorial Prize for Young Canadian Journalists, as well as three National Magazine Award honorable mentions. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

The Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series was founded in 1988 by Rev. Arthur Schoenfeldt, C.S.C., of the University’s Holy Cross community, and his sister, University regent Suzanne Schoenfeldt Fields, in honor of their parents. Twice each year, Schoenfeldt guest writers offer a public reading and also visit students and faculty during their time on The Bluff.

For more information contact schoenfeldt@up.edu or x8264.

Schoenfeldt, ReadUP Author Rebecca Skloot Lecture, Feb. 26

The entire University community is invited to take part in the culmination of the fourth annual ReadUP event, according to Thomas Greene, provost. This year features The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot, who will speak on February 26 as a guest of the Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series. Her lecture will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Buckley Center Auditorium.

This New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. Though best-known for The Immortal Life, Rebecca Skloot has written more than 200 feature articles, personal essays, book reviews, and news stories for The New York Times Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine, Discover, and other publications. She served as co-editor of The Best American Science Writing 2011 and has worked as a correspondent for NPR’s Radiolab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW. Her 2010 book was a number one New York Times bestseller and was featured on more than 60 critics’ “best of the year” lists. It was the 2011 winner of the National Academies Communication Award for best creative work that helps the public understanding of topics in science, engineering or medicine.

The “One Book Together” series is a campus-wide common reading program aimed at bringing students, faculty, and staff together. More information regarding book discussions and other highlights can be found at up.edu/readup.

Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writer Martin Flanagan, Nov. 5

flanaganRenowned Australian writer Martin Flanagan will speak and read from his work as the fall 2015 guest of the Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series. His talk will take place on Thursday, November 5, at 7 p.m., in the Bauccio Commons Boardroom, and is free and open to the public.

Flanagan is the author of 13 books of fiction, nonfiction, and poems, including The Call, an imaginative reconstruction of the life of Tom Wills, the founder of Australian football, which was adapted into a play in 2004. Martin’s other books include collections of his newspaper essays, several books about his beloved “footy,” an autobiographical novel (Going Away), and a masterful inquiry into sport and violence and Australian character called The Game in Time of War. He is also the author, with his late father Arch Flanagan, of The Line, based on Arch’s experiences on the infamous Burma Railway, when he was enslaved by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War.

Widely considered Australia’s finest journalist, Flanagan was born into a large family in Tasmania (one of his brothers is the novelist Richard Flanagan, winner of the 2014 Booker Award) and graduated in law from the University of Tasmania in 1975. He and his family live in Melbourne, where he writes for The Age newspaper on sport, politics, Australian culture, and the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. His most recent work, The Short Long Book, is about Aboriginal footballer Michael Long.

The Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series was founded in 1988 by Rev. Arthur Schoenfeldt, C.S.C., of the University’s Holy Cross community, and his sister, University regent Suzanne Schoenfeldt Fields, in honor of their parents. Twice each year (usually in February and October), Schoenfeldt guest writers offer a public reading and also visit students and faculty during their time on The Bluff, especially in literature, science, and journalism classes.

For more information contact Brian Doyle at 8225 or bdoyle@up.edu.