MacSlams Goes to CUPSI

Spencer Brownstein ’18

April 4th marked the first night of the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI), an international slam poetry tournament for college students sponsored by the Association of College Unions – International (ACUI). This year, the tournament is hosted by Temple University in Philadelphia. As we speak, teams from all across the country, Canada, and the UK are going toe-to-toe, wielding poems and slamming in the name of glory! Of course, Macalester is not missing this party. …Read more about CUPSI


Honors Projects

Alex Harrington ’19

As the school year heads to a close, seven senior English majors look forward to their Honors Projects defenses, the culmination of a year’s work. The Honors Project is a yearlong, intensive alternative to a Capstone. Like the Capstone, Honors Projects can be an extensive essay in literary criticism or a work of creative writing. In case you’re interested in the Honors experience, The Words has the inside scoop on this year’s Honors Projects. …Read more about Honors Projects


Big Questions: Is it possible to write a story without it being political?

Watch Professor Marlon James’s Big Questions interview with President Rosenberg on Novels as Political Statements.


The English Department Welcomes Sierra Lomuto

Zeena Fuleihan ’18

Sierra Lomuto headshot

The English Department is overjoyed to announce that Sierra Lomuto will be joining our faculty as a Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD) Postdoctoral Fellow of English this coming Fall 2018, and will become an Assistant Professor in 2020. Professor Lomuto focuses on medieval literature and takes a specific look at the development of race and orientalism from pre-colonial times. …Read more about Professor Lomuto


Work in progress: Race and the Victorians Digital Project

Laura Berglund ’20

Screen shot of digital project web page

Queen Victoria, Oscar Wilde, fancy clothes, and travel narratives; these were some of the concepts that arose on the first day of Race and the Victorians, a topics course that explores the conceptualizations of race that shaped popular thought in nineteenth century England. This course is unique in that our final project, a digital scholarly edition of T.N. Mukharji’s 1889 travel narrative A Visit to Europe, involves collaboration with Michigan State University and the University of Detroit Mercy. …Read more about the digital project


The Spoken Words: An Interview with Matt Burgess

 

Listen to highlights from The Words’s interview with Professor Matt Burgess about his new position as Assistant Professor of Creative Writing — Prose by clicking on the image above. The full version is also available on our SoundCloud


Speaking with a Scholar: “Shakespeare’s Lyric Stage” and a Conversation with Seth Lerer

Isabel Taylor ’21

Seth Lerer headshot

The English Department recently had the honor of hosting Seth Lerer, a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of California – San Diego. Professor Lerer gave a guest talk at the most recent first thursday workshop, made an appearance at Treat Night the day before, and even visited Professor Penelope Geng’s Shakespeare classes. Fittingly, the topic of Professor Lerer’s first thursday talk was “Shakespeare’s Lyric Stage: Music, Myth and Metamorphosis in the Late Plays.” …Read more about Seth Lerer’s visit


Wordplay

Alex Harrington ’19

Lily Hannaher

This month we are pleased to feature the creative work of Lily Hannaher ’19. Lily is a junior Media and Cultural Studies Major and English Minor, who focuses her English studies on Creative Writing. Lily is a Chinese adoptee from Fargo, North Dakota. Someday, she hopes to publish a novel or make indie films that get racial representation on-screen. …Read Lily’s story


Newsletter Staff
Senior Editor
Zeena Fuleihan ’18
Associate Editors
Spencer Brownstein ’18
Alex Harrington ’19
Laura Berglund ’20