Wednesday, 29 September1999
READING MATTERS Vol V, No 6
Congratulations
to
Peter Nazareth, who has recently returned from Singapore where he was one of some two dozen distinguished writers and critics from Australia, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Argentina, the United Kingdom, and the United States featured at the Singapore Writers' Festival 1999. Usually known as Writers Week, this event was elevated to the status of festival this year to identify it as one of the millennium projects sponsored and funded by the government of Singapore. During the week long festival Peter participated in a number of forums, spoke at several secondary schools and colleges, was interviewed for or the subject of features in several magazines and newspapers (the photo is of Peter dancing for an article in The Straits Times, titled "Learning About Life? Ask Elvis"), and gave one of his legendary presentations on "Legendary Elvis." The festival culminated in the Golden Point Awards Presentation Ceremony and Peter also served as chief adjudicator for the Golden Point Short Story competition, English section, an award presented by guest-of-honor David Lim, Singapore's Minister of State for Information and the Arts and Minister of State for Defence. Former IWP visitor Kirpal Singh was one of the organizers of this festival and a number of other former IWP visitors participated in it.
and
to 
Kathleen Diffley,
whose anthology project, To Live and Die: Civil War Stories in the Popular Wartime Press, is the focus of the lead story in the new issue of
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|
and to
Carl Klaus, whose Taking Retirement: A Beginnner's Diary continues to attract attention and praise
This From Booklist
Klaus, the founder of the University of Iowa's nonfiction writing program, has published two previous journals. Faced with the prospect of retirement, the seasoned diarist called once again upon the familiar format to record the everyday activities and personal ponderings that occurred during this most significant transitional period in his life. Detailing the practicalities of retiring as well as the range of emotions brought forth by the process of separating from the university environment, Klaus' book, with its insight, candor, and rare command of the journal form, will pique the interest of anyone contemplating the possibility of retiring. It ought to be required reading for those readers who know retirement is looming on the not-too-distant horizon. Alice Joyce
Copyright© 1999, American Library Association. All rights reserved
(Excerpts from Taking Retirement got
a big front page spread in the Opinion Section of the September 19
Des Moines Sunday Register
and
to
Tom Lutz, whose Crying is one of the books plugged in the Briefly Mentioned reviews in this week's New Yorker.
and
to
Tom Dean, a 1991 English PhD who has been appointed Program Assistant for the U of I Honors Program.
Meeting Matters
English Department faculty meeting on Thursday, October 7, at 3:45 in the Gerber Lounge.
This meeting will discuss Huston's Report of the Task Force on Teaching and begin considering its recommendations. The Report is currently being amended in light of executive committee suggestions and to respond to the Provost's new procedural guidelines for promotion and tenure. A hard copy of the amended report, of the proposed Teaching Statement for the Department of English and of the proposed new Course Evaluation Form should be in your mailboxes this Friday. Please e-mail any specific thoughts or questions about or objections to these documents to Huston or to me before next Thursday's meeting so we can try to figure the best way to proceed with the discussion.
Web links to the Report and to the Teaching Statement are below (both documents are drafts).
English Department Teaching Statement
More Meeting Matters
Fall area committee meetings have been scheduled for the purpose of planning our course offerings for the 2000-2001 academic year. These meetings are your annual opportunity to propose new courses, discuss the viability of existing courses, and to make recommendations on the assignment of courses to individual faculty members.
Please plan to attend all meetings in your areas of interest. Since about 1/3 of us teach between the hours of 3:30 and 6:00, it's inevitable that some meetings will conflict with some teaching times. If you are unable to attend a meeting in one of your areas of interest, please give proposals or other input to John Harper, who will convey the information to the area committee leaders.
Meetings are scheduled as follows:
Monday, Oct. 11 - THEORY AND CRITICISM, 4:00PM, Gerber LoungeTuesday, Oct.12 - 20TH CENTURY LITERATURES, 3:45PM, Gerber Lounge
Wednesday, Oct. 13 - MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN, 3:30PM, Gerber Lounge
Monday, Oct.18 - 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY LITERATURES, 3:30PM, Gerber Lounge
Tuesday, Oct. 19 - AMERICAN LITERATURE, 3:45PM, Gerber Lounge
Tuesday, Oct. 19 - NONFICTION WRITING, 3:30PM, 331EPB
If you have not yet returned your course preference list and/or course proposals for 2000-2001 to Sharry, please note that they are due this week.
Sep 29 Jonathan Lethem will read from his new novel Motherless Brooklyn at Prairie Lights at 8:00 pm. Lethem is one of the most celebrated of a new era of "slipstream" authors who work the territory between mainstream and science fiction writing. Apart from being a fine detective story, Motherless Brooklyn features a first-person narrator who must struggle with Tourette's Syndrome as he struggles to solve the mystery of his boss's murder. Lethem is a superb stylist as well as a dynamite storyteller. He's an exciting writer well worth your attention (unsolicited editorial comment from Landon).
Oct 1 Freya Manfred will read from her Frederick Manfred: A Daughter Remembers at Prairie Lights at 8:00 pm
Oct 5 Pulitzer Prize and Bollingen Prize winning poet and former Writers' Workshop faculty member Donald Justice will give a reading of his work at 8:00 pm in Shambaugh Auditorium, UI Main Library
Oct 7 The Office of Affirmative Action invites you to the first annual Honoring Diversity: The 1999 Catalyst Awards Reception, October 7, 1999, 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. North Room, Iowa Memorial Union. The Catalyst Award is an annual award designed to honor creative initiatives by UI faculty, staff, units or departments to promote an inclusive, diverse community. The 1999 Catalyst Award recipients, Ms. Billie Townsend (Individual Recipient) and the Department of Mathematics (Departmental Recipient), will be honored at the event.
Oct 13-14 Houston Baker visit and lecture Oct 13 8pm in Buchanan Auditorium. The title of his presentation is: "Turning South Again: Re-Thinking Modernism/Re-Reading Booker T."
Oct 15 The Center for the Book will sponsor a lecture by Robert Darnton on Friday night, October 15, at 8PM in Tippie Aud, with a reception to follow in the Anderson Galeria in PBAB. His Saturday AM discussion may have a different topic, perhaps concerning e-texts, and will be open to all those interested.
Nov 12-13 Barry Moser will be on campus as an Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor, his visit to coincide the publication of the Pennyroyal Caxton Bible that he has designed and illustrated. Barry Moser is considered the foremost wood engraver in the United States and one of our finest book designers and illustrators. When the Pennyroyal Caxton Press Bible, which he has been working on for twelve years, reaches completion, it will be the first Bible illustrated by a siingle author since Gustave Dore's famous Bible published as the Civil War was coming to a close. A recent interview with Barry Moser can be read at http://www.staff.interport.net/~hdu/moser.htm a site describing connections between painting and writing and Moser's work can be seen at http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~estes/illumine.html and information about the Pennyroyal Caxton Bible can be found at http://www.pennyroyal-caxton.com/
(From 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on Friday, November 12, Mr. Moser is available for scheduling two or three sessions with students, either within regularly scheduled courses or as separate sessions. On Saturday afternoon, November 13, Mr. Moser will give a hands on demonstration of new engraving techniques for faculty and students. Please contact me (Brooks) if you would like to try to arrange time with Mr. Moser with one of your classes or with your students on November 12.)
Nov 12 Barry Moser Ida Beam Public Lecture: "Tanakh and Testament: A Reprobate Tinkers with Holy Writ" 8:00pm Shambaugh Auditorium, Main Library
Oct 1 Proposals for Faculty and Global Scholars due in chair's office
Oct 1 Application Deadline for NEH 2000 Summer Stipends. NEH Summer Stipends support two months of full-time work on projects that will make a significant contribution to the humanities. For more information about this and other NEH programs please see http://www.neh.gov
Oct 11 Central Investment Fund for Research Enhancement (CIFRE) applications due by 5:00 in the Office of the Vice President, 201 Gilmore Hall
Oct 15 Columbia University Society of Fellows in the Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowships 2000-2001 applications due
Oct 15 End of trial period for UI Library subscription to Women Writers Online Project
Oct 29 Council on Teaching Instructional Improvement Award proposals due by 4:00 pm in 111 Jessup
Dec 1 Obermann Center Summer 2000 Interdisciplinary Research Grants proposals due