Katie Darby Mullins has essay published at Barrelhouse

Posted: March 1, 2024

Professor Katie Mullins had an essay come out called "Song and Dance Man" through Barrelhouse Books. This piece is an exploration of her early adolescent obsession with Andy Kaufman and anti-comedy which seems inexplicably linked to the back brace she had to wear through middle school. The essay spans her years of chronic pain with no diagnosis, her eventual stroke, and how jokes that aren't funny, because of her life experience, always seemed to make her laugh. 

UE's Andiron Lecture Series to Feature Guest Speaker

Posted: March 21, 2023

The next installment of the Andiron Lecture Series at the University of Evansville (UE) is set for Wednesday. Assistant Professor of English, Sara Petrosillo, will be giving a lecture to launch her new book entitled Hawking Women: Falconry, Gender, and Control in Medieval Literary Culture. The book was recently published by the Ohio State University Press.

The Andiron Lecture Series, established by UE in 1982, presents research, commentary, and reflection from diverse fields of study and will display Petrosillo's knowledge ranging from feminist theories to medieval manuscript studies.

Petrosillo's lecture will show how cultural literacy in the art of falconry mapped, for medieval readers, onto poetry and challenged patriarchal control. According to Petrosillo, medieval women could teach a lesson on resistance in a culture of training and control, especially when it comes to resisting and reshaping depictions of female bodies. Across medieval art and language, references to ladies with falcons seemed to convey a clear and misogynous message: women are like wild hawks in need of taming. What happens when women, who occupy a subordinate position in the human hierarchy, spend time with hawks and even reclaim hawks as their personal symbols?

In answering this question, Petrosillo's presentation will span centuries and cultures, beginning with an illustrated overview of medieval falconry and concluding with a connection to the modern treatment of women.

The lecture, sponsored by the University of Evansville William L. Ridgway College of Arts and Sciences and Evansville Partners in Women's Reproductive Health, will take place at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22, in the Schroeder School of Business Building, Harkness Hall, (room number 162). The lectures are free and open to the greater Evansville community.

Baines gives paper at Louisville Conference

Posted: February 27, 2023

Robert Baines, Associate Professor of English, gave a paper at the Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture at the University of Louisville on Friday, February 24. His paper, titled “How Far is Too Far?: Ulysses, Finnegans Wake, and the Boundaries of Modernism,” was part of an International James Joyce Foundation panel that also included Thomas Gurke and Josephine A. McQuail.

Baines Publishes Essay in Collection

Posted: September 29, 2021

Robert Baines, associate professor of English, has an essay in the new collection "Modernism, Theory, and Responsible Reading," edited by Stephen Ross and published by Bloomsbury. Baines' essay is titled "The Positive of the Negative: Joycean Post-Structuralism as Felskian Critique."

Tiffany Griffith Publishes Book, “An Introduction to College Writing”

Posted: September 13, 2021

Griffith Publishes Textbook

Posted: July 29, 2021

Tiffany Griffith, Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing and Director of Composition, has edited a composition textbook that will be available this fall from Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. The book, An Introduction to College Writing, covers writing basics such as reading and writing critically, the writing process, paragraph development, and essay structure.

Congratulations to English Honor Society Inductees

Posted: May 3, 2021

The University of Evansville chapter of the International English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta held an Induction Ceremony on April 30th to welcome 9 new members. Congratulations to Isaac Bates, Blake Froedge, Rebecca Harwood, Hollie Hoffman, Lindsey Phillips, Delaney Rasche, Chris Straeffer, Jane Tafolla, and Charlie Watts on their academic excellence in the field of literary studies!

Student Awards Announced at English Department Literary Conference

Posted: April 29, 2021

On Saturday, April 17, the English Department's 9th Annual Chutney Literary Conference showcased award-winning student essays and contributions to the study of literature. Awards were granted in three categories:

Virginia Lowell Writing Awards
3rd place: Cecilia Thon, "How does Shakespeare Examine Gender Roles in Othello?"
2nd place: Charlie Watts, "The Voiceless Lovers Left Behind: The Silent Perspectives of Calypso and Penelope"
1st place: Sam Wallisch, "Who is the Hero of Coriolanus?"

George Klinger Memorial Prize for Excellence in Writing Academic Essays:
Victoria Martin, "The Stories We Tell: Developing the Craft of Narrative"

Larry Caldwell Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Department of English:
Katherine Fox

Congratulations to the award winners and to all presenters at the conference!

English Dept. Literary Conference is TONIGHT!

Posted: April 16, 2021

The English Department presents its ninth annual Student Literary Conference this weekend. It begins with the Hemminger-Brown Lecture at the Melvin M. Peterson Literary Forum tonight at 7, and continues with student panels tomorrow morning. Tonight's lecture will be delivered by scholar Michael Kim Roos: "Written in My Soul: The Anatomy of Bob Dylan's 'Tangled Up in Blue.'"

Cirino interviews Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout for Podcast

Posted: April 15, 2021

Dr. Mark Cirino interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout for his Hemingway Society-sponsored podcast, One True Podcast. During the interview, Strout discusses her writing process, the theme of loneliness, and analyzes Hemingway's short story, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." Strout is the author of -- among other works -- Olive Kitteridge and My Name Is Lucy Barton.

The podcast is available here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/347030/8326634

Cirino Interviews Ken Burns and Lynn Novick for Hemingway Podcast

Posted: April 9, 2021

Mark Cirino interviewed legendary documentarians Ken Burns and Lynn Novick on the most recent episode of One True Podcast, the podcast sponsored by the Hemingway Society. Burns and Novick discussed their new three-part Hemingway documentary and their challenge to separate the artist from the myth that burdened him. Dr. Cirino is Professor and Chair of English and holds the Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in English.

The Burns/Novick interview is available at: https://www.hemingwaysociety.org/node/923

Dr. Sara Petrosillo Named Exemplary Teacher of the Year

Posted: March 9, 2021

Congratulations to Dr. Sara Petrosillo! She was recently presented the Exemplary Teacher Award, which is awarded annually to a UE faculty member.

Sara Petrosillo received her BA in English and Italian Literature from Colby College, and her PhD in English from the University of California, Davis. Her scholarship focuses on medieval literature and feminism and she has published articles on medieval poetry and drama in the Journal for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Exemplaria: Medieval, Early Modern, Theory, Medieval Feminist Forum, and in a 2018 essay collection, Animal Languages in the Middle Ages: Representations of Interspecies Communication (Palgrave-Macmillan). She is currently working on a book about the cultural influence of falconry on medieval reading practices, Hawking Women: Falconry, Gender, and the Poetics of Control in Medieval Literary Culture. She teaches the first half of the British literature survey, first year seminars, world classics, and early English literature.

Cirino and Vandagriff Announce Forthcoming Book

Posted: November 18, 2020

Tiffany Griffith Presents at Conference

Posted: March 10, 2020

Dr. Tiffany Griffith presented a paper on role-playing in first-year seminar and writing programs at the 51st Annual Northeast Modern Language Association Convention in Boston.

Nikolidakis Wins Short Story Contest

Posted: February 27, 2020

Congratulations to Creative Writing's Dr. Nik... whose short story, "With Mercy to the Stars," took first place in the Lamar York Prize at The Chattahoochee Review.

Judge Anthony Varallo had this to say about the story: "A wonderful and surprising coming-of-age story about two Greek teenage girls, an unwanted pregnancy, and a dancing bear named Callisto. I was totally drawn in from the first page, happy to be in the company of a young narrator who is just starting to glimpse the limitations of the adulthood that awaits her, as confining as the cage that houses her father’s prized bear. The story forces the narrator to make a choice that will have ramifications for her, her best friend, and her family—and fully initiate her into the world of choice and consequence. A powerful story that is a pleasure to read from the opening sentence to the harrowing last line."

Professor Katie Darby Mullins has Pushcart nominated essay come out at Barrelhouse

Posted: December 5, 2019

Professor Katie Darby Mullins had an essay, “Unboxing,” come out in the latest issue of Barrelhouse. It has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by the editors.

Professor Katie Mullins has two essays and a poem come out this week

Posted: October 30, 2019

Outside of having nearly weekly articles coming out at UnderwaterSunshine.com, where she is the executive writer, Katie Mullins had two personal essays picked up— one at “Entropy” contrasting her disorder with Art Alexakis of Everclear’s recent record about his MS and one about her stroke at “Hobart”— and a poem about Dr. Phil driving her to the back doctor.

Baines attends Modernism conference

Posted: October 23, 2019

Robert Baines, assistant professor of English, attended the 2019 Modernist Studies Association conference in Toronto. The conference took place between October 17th and October 20th. Baines gave a paper titled "'A handcaughtscheaf of synthetic shammyrag’: Balkelly, Paddrock, and the Synthesis of Finnegans Wake.” He also participated in the "Modernism and Theory" seminar, for which he wrote a paper titled, "'Theory' and Textual Scholarship in Joyce Studies and Beyond."

October 2 Andiron Lecture by Sara Petrosillo - Weaponizing Mary: How Sexism Met Racism in a Pre-modern World

Posted: September 3, 2019

Sara Petrosillo is an assistant professor of English at the University of Evansville. She holds a PhD in medieval literature from the University of California, Davis and a BA in English and Italian literature from Colby College. Her research and teaching interests include: medieval and early modern literature, feminist theories, medieval manuscript studies, poetics, and critical animal studies. She is currently working on a book, Hawking Women: Falconry, Gender, and the Poetics of Control in Medieval Literary Culture, and she has published essays in medieval, early modern, and theory journals and in a book on animals in medieval literature. Her Andiron lecture on medieval antisemitism and the literary genre, “Miracles of the Virgin,” derives from her interest in examining racial and gender biases in discourses from premodern to modern culture.

The most iconic woman in the Middle Ages graced love poems, the stage, stained glass windows, and even personal wax seals. Medieval depictions of the Virgin Mary offer an extraordinary picture of female power. Women from every social class viewed Mary as an exceptional saint but also—and crucially— as someone who shared something with all of them: she was a woman. Yet, at the height of her popularity in devotional literature, Mary became a violent tool in the hands of authors and audience: the persecutor of non-Christians in the literary genre “The Miracles of the Virgin.” How did a figure of motherhood and female power become such a dangerously powerful weapon? This widely popular genre demonstrates how sexism met racism in a premodern world. Tracing the racist weaponization of a female icon sheds light on our own society’s trouble with detecting the roots of oppression, especially when those roots are entangled in popular culture.

The lecture begins at 4:00 p.m.
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Eykamp Hall (Room 252), Ridgway University Center
A social gathering with beverages begins at 3:45 p.m.

For further information, call Annette Parks at 812-488-1070
or the William L. Ridgway College of Arts and Sciences at 812-488-2589

Faculty Honored at Celebration of Teaching Excellence

Posted: May 8, 2019

The First Annual Celebration of Teaching Excellence was held on Monday, May 6, and honored faculty teaching accomplishments and activities in pedagogical development during the academic year. This was the first year that the Eykamp Center for Teaching Excellence offered two certificates for faculty members who met requirements of engagement and participation in ECTE sponsored events.

Faculty members earning the 2018-2019 New Faculty Engagement Certificate were:
Alison Jones, Lecturer/Transition to Teaching Coordinator, School of Education
Julie Merkle, Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Biology
Sara Petrosillo, Assistant Professor of English, Department of English

Faculty members earning the 2018-2019 Teaching Development Certificate were:
Heather Fenton, Assistant Professor of Management, Schroeder School of Business Administration
Lisa Marie Hale, Assistant Professor of Education, School of Education
Jessie Lofton, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering
Mary Lombardo-Graves, Assistant Professor of Special Education, School of Education
Diana Rodríguez Quevedo, Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures

Finally, the inaugural Leadership in Teaching Excellence Award was presented to Diana Rodríguez Quevedo, Associate Professor of Spanish, for her commitment to her personal teaching development, supporting the growth of others, and strengthening teaching excellence across the campus community.

Congratulations and thank you to all of our faculty colleagues for their commitment to teaching excellence at the University of Evansville!

The Celebration of Teaching Excellence was hosted by the Eykamp Center for Teaching Excellence and made possible with the generous support of Rita and Richard Eykamp.

In Service of Mercy: Evansville Nurses Serving in WWI

Posted: April 23, 2019

Amber D. Gowen, University of Evansville alumna and archivist for Vanderburgh County, will present her research on the service of nurses from Evansville during WWI, both on the home front and on the frontlines in France. This event is Tuesday, April 30, in Room 100 in the Koch Center for Engineering and Science. It is free and open to the public.

The presentation is sponsored by Gender and Women’s Studies at UE.

For more information, please contact UE professor of history Annette Parks at ap3@evansville.edu.

Baines gives paper at Dublin Joyce Conference

Posted: April 15, 2019

Robert Baines, University of Evansville assistant professor of English, gave a paper at the "Finnegans Wake at 80" conference at Trinity College Dublin on April 11. The conference marked the anniversary of the publication of James Joyce's final novel. Baines' paper was titled "A Portrait of the Ondt as a Young Man."

UE Coffee Hour Senior Reading Planned for Friday, April 12

Posted: April 10, 2019

The University of Evansville’s Coffee Hour Senior Reading is Friday, April 12, at 4:00 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery. This is free and open to the public. During this event, UE seniors majoring in creative writing will read from their poetry and prose. Faculty members will announce the winners of the Virginia Grabill Writing Awards.

UE alumnus Josh Woods to read from his new books at Coffee Hour

Posted: March 19, 2019

University of Evansville alumnus Josh Woods will be reading from his new books at the Department of Creative Writing Coffee Hour on Friday, March 22, at 4:00 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery. This event is free and open to the public.

Woods is author of the short-story collection O Monstrous World! and the novel The Black Palace. He has edited three anthologies of fiction and has published genre and literary short stories in numerous journals, magazines, and collections, in addition to having published creative nonfiction and craft essays. He is the host of The Monster Professor, a podcast that explores the role of monsters in literature, myth, film, folklore, history, and culture (on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and YouTube).

His awards include Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Member of the Year, Press 53 Open Awards for Genre Fiction, and multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize, among others. He is currently an associate professor of English in Illinois.

For more information, email pb28@evansville.edu.

Kurt Vonnegut and Hoosier Quality of Place to be topic of UE Lecture

Posted: March 19, 2019

The University of Evansville’s annual Chutney Literary Conference is set for April 5-6 on UE’s campus. UE students will be presenting critical papers, and will have the opportunity to win awards for their efforts.

The conference starts with the Melvin M. Peterson Literary Forum’s Hemminger-Brown Lecture on Friday, April 5. The lecture will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Room 162 (Harkness Hall), Schroeder School of Business Building. The guest speaker will be Edward P. Comentale, professor of English, associate vice provost for arts and humanities, and director of the Arts and Humanities Council at Indiana University Bloomington. His topic will be “Kurt Vonnegut and Hoosier ‘Quality of Place.’”

Comentale is the author of Modernism, Cultural Production, and the British Avant-Garde and Sweet Air: Modernism, Regionalism, and American Popular Song. He co-edits a scholarly book series on fan cultures for Indiana University Press, through which he has published The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies and The Year’s Work at the Zombie Research Center.

The conference ends on Saturday, April 6, with student panels planned for 9:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m., and noon in Rooms 271 and 272 in the Schroeder School of Business Building. The Grabill and Klinger Writing Prizes will also be awarded at this time.

For more information on UE’s annual Chutney Literary Conference, call 812-488-2963.

Baer publishes "Formal Salutations: New & Selected Poems"

Posted: March 11, 2019

William Baer, University of Evansville creative writing professor emeritus, has published a new collection, Formal Salutations: New & Selected Poems.

The book has been published by Measure Press, and is available on Amazon. 

Formal Salutations is Baer’s twenty-fifth book, and includes work praised by Richard Wilbur, Anthony Hecht, Maxine Kumin, X.J. Kennedy, and others.

Author Brooks Rexroat to speak at UE’s Coffee Hour

Posted: February 20, 2019

The University of Evansville’s Department of Creative Writing welcomes author Brooks Rexroat as the featured speaker for the UE Coffee Hour on Friday, February 22. The lecture will begin at 4:00 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery. This event is free and open to the public.

After earning an MFA in Creative Prose from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Rexroat embarked on a journey in higher education that has included teaching opportunities at open enrollment community colleges, regional public universities, and rigorous private liberal arts colleges. He is now based at Brescia University in Owensboro, Kentucky.

Rexroat was a 2016-17 Fulbright US Teaching and Research Scholar at Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University in Siberia, Russia, and a 2014 Bread Loaf Bakeless Camargo Fellow in Cassis, France. In 2010, he was named a Southern Illinois University Department of Irish and Irish Immigration Studies Research Fellow in Galway, Ireland.

For more information, please email pb28@evansville.edu.

Medieval Valentines

Posted: February 4, 2019

Petrosillo presents paper at MLA convention in Chicago

Posted: January 16, 2019

Sara Petrosillo, University of Evansville assistant professor of English, presented her research on medieval poetry and animals titled, "Species, Gender, and Falconry: Sexual Dimorphism as Poetic Form" at a science and literature session at the Modern Language Association convention in Chicago on January 3. 

Petrosillo's presentation included original manuscript research conducted at the Vatican and University of Bologna, as well as observations from teaching literature about hawks and falconry in her fall 2018 FYS.

Petrosillo publishes journal article

Posted: October 16, 2018

Sara Petrosillo, University of Evansville assistant professor of English, recently published the article, "Flying, Hunting, Reading: Rethinking Falcon-Woman Comparisons" in a special issue on "Species and Gender" in the peer-reviewed journal Medieval Feminist Forum, vol. 54, no. 1, 2018, pp. 9-33.

Petrosillo gives paper at Medieval Studies conference

Posted: October 11, 2018

Sara Petrosillo, University of Evansville assistant professor of English, presented research on manuscripts at the 2018 Medieval Association of the Midwest Conference "Exploring Space in the Middle Ages."

The conference took place from October 4-6 Purdue University. Petrosillo's paper was titled, "Manuscript Space: Narrative Diminishment in Yonec and the Harley 978 Hawking Treatise."

Author Kelly Sundberg to Speak at UE’s Creative Writing Coffee Hour

Posted: September 17, 2018

Baines gives lecture in New Harmony

Posted: August 10, 2018

Robert Baines, assistant professor of English, gave a lecture at the Working Men's Institute Museum and Library in New Harmony on August 7. The lecture was organized by the Friends of the Working Men's Institute and was titled "Finnegans Wake: How to Read."

Baines gives paper at Antwerp Joyce Conference

Posted: June 20, 2018

Robert Baines, assistant professor of English, gave a paper on June 12 at the XXVI International James Joyce Symposium at the University of Antwerp. The paper was titled “‘This oldworld epistola’: Vico and the Letter in Finnegans Wake I.5.” On the same day, Baines also chaired a panel titled “The Feminine Voice in Late Ulysses and the Wake.” 

Grabill and Klinger Awards for Academic Writing

Posted: April 26, 2018

The Department of English at the University of Evansville has announced the winners of its annual Virginia Lowell Grabill and George Klinger academic writing awards.

The Third-place Grabill Award went to Kathryn Wolfinger for her essay “How Does King Lear Explore the Relationship Between Madness and Language?”

The Second-Place Grabill Award went to Ian (Charlie) Ericson for his essay “How Does Becket Depict Consciousness in Malone Dies?"

The First-place Grabill Award went to Andrew Harper for his essay “Milton and an Undetermined God.”

The George Klinger Award for Best Academic Essay went to Jade Shelby for her essay “Race Relations in Hope Leslie: How to Crush 19th Century Prejudice.”

All awards were made possible by generous legacies from Professor George Klinger and Professor Virginia Grabill and were presented at the English Department’s annual student literary conference, affectionately nicknamed “Chutney.”

Creative writing student has story accepted for publication

Posted: April 24, 2018

University of Evansville creative writing student Sarah Pfleiderer has had a short story accepted for publication by Luna Station Quarterly, a magazine that aspires to publish the "vast and varied talents of women-identified speculative fiction writers." Her story will appear in the June 1 issue. 

Cirino hired as consultant on film

Posted: March 26, 2018

Mark Cirino has been hired as literature consultant on the forthcoming cinematic adaptation of Across the River and into the Trees, starring Pierce Brosnan and Isabella Rossellini. Cirino is an associate professor of English and the Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in English at the University of Evansville.

The film, directed by Martin Campbell, is a dramatization of Ernest Hemingway's 1950 novel.

Cirino will assist the cast and crew in their attempts to film the only Hemingway novel that has never been made into a movie. Filming begins in Venice, Italy, on April 23.

Paul Bone publishes poem

Posted: March 19, 2018

Creative writing professor Paul Bone recently published a poem, "And the Elder Shall Serve the Younger," in the winter issue of The Hopkins Review. You can read the poem online. 

Baer publishes "New Jersey Noir"

Posted: February 28, 2018

William Baer, creative writing professor emeritus, has published his first mystery novel, New Jersey Noir. Published by Able Muse Press and available on Amazon, Baer’s twenty-second book has been described in reviews as “taut,” “complex,” “fast moving as a bullet,” and “gut-wrenching.”

Baines gives lecture in New York

Posted: February 19, 2018

Robert Baines, assistant professor of English, gave a lecture to the James Joyce Society on Friday, February 16 at Glucksman Ireland House on the NYU campus. The lecture was titled "'Vico Influenced Joyce': Reappraising an Ideal History."

UE Professor Lisa Nikolidakis Receives 2017 Exemplary Teacher Award

Posted: December 14, 2017

Cirino and Oaks co-write article for Hemingway Review

Posted: December 12, 2017

An article written by Mark Cirino and Amanda Oaks has been published in the current Hemingway Review. Their article, “Wise Blood: Menstruation, Fertility, and the ‘Disappointment’ in Hemingway’s Across the River and into the Trees," analyzes a crucial gap in the text that has presented a critical conundrum since the novel’s publication in 1950.

Cirino and Oaks conceived of this article during her ENGL 399 class as a UE student. Oaks is currently pursuing her MFA at Chatham University. Cirino is associate professor and Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in English at the University of Evansville.

Paul Bone publishes poem

Posted: November 15, 2017

Creative Writing Professor Paul Bone published a poem last week in Poets Reading the News, an online journal devoted exclusively to poems about current events. You can read the poem here: www.poetsreadingthenews.com/2017/11/paul-bone-as-i-step-over-a-puddle-japan-poetry/.

Professor Mullins Discusses Poetry with VP Mike Austin

Posted: October 12, 2017

Recently, Professor Mullins and Mike Austin had a lengthy, engaging discussion about poetry and literature, which can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu15svhjfFU&feature=youtu.be

Creative writing alumnus publishes poetry chapbook

Posted: October 4, 2017

University of Evansville creative writing alumnus Elisabeth Meyer has published a chapbook of formal poetry, The Word B-i-r-d, with No Chair Press. Meyer thanked UE creative writing faculty and former faculty members Rob Griffith, William Baer, and Mike Carson in the book. Her collection can be found on No Chair Press's website and Amazon.com.

Sari Baum receives 2017 Gumbert Award in Creative Writing

Posted: September 20, 2017

University of Evansville senior Sari Baum is this year’s recipient of the Gumbert Award in Creative Writing. The award was established at UE to “recognize outstanding artistic excellence or achievement” in the arts.

It is based on merit alone, and the University’s Department of Creative Writing as a whole chooses each year’s winner. This process of nominating recipients - based on the quality of their creative work itself - means that her writing has made a strong impression on her professors.

In her sophomore year, Baum placed first in The Virginia Lowell Grabill Awards for Creative Nonfiction, and in 2016 she was named runner-up of the prestigious Norton Writer’s Prize for her essay Bánat is Hungarian for Grief.

Baum is one of the editors in chief of The Evansville Review, and after graduation she hopes to continue her studies in graduate school.

Professor Katie Mullins has story picked up at Iron Horse

Posted: September 20, 2017

University of Evansville assistant professor of creative writing Katie Mullins' story "Bring Eliza Home" was recently selected for publication by Iron Horse Literary Review. The story will be out for Christmas, and is based on a true story out of Evansville.

UE professor Paul Bone awarded residency

Posted: September 8, 2017

Creative writing professor Paul Bone has been awarded a writer-in-residence stay at Rivendell Writers' Colony, located in Sewanee, Tennessee, on property adjacent to the University of the South on the Cumberland Plateau.

Rivendell was established to give writers space and time to focus on writing free from distractions, as well as augment the literary tradition at the University of the South. During the month of May 2018, Bone will continue work on a book of poems in progress.

University of Evansville announces Coffee Hour Lecture Series for 2017-18

Posted: September 5, 2017

The University of Evansville’s 2017-18 annual Coffee Hour Lecture series begins Thursday, October 5, with the Wahnita DeLong Reading. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public. Elizabeth A.A. Wilson will be the speaker for the October 5 lecture, which will begin at 4:00 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery.

An ordained New Thought minister who is completing her PhD in divinity, Wilson is a speaker and author of several books, including a comic fantasy novel, Ascension Denied, and, co-written with bestselling author Scott Ciencin, a mystery novel, The Humbug Murders. She wrote the narrative development for the acclaimed Nintendo fantasy game Mystic Searches and starred in The New 8 Bit Heroes, an award-winning documentary about making Mystic Searches.

Other lectures in the series include:

Thursday, October 26

4:00 p.m.

Vectren Lecture Hall, Room 100, Koch Center for Engineering and Science

Robert Griffith, chair of the creative writing program at UE, will be the speaker. His most recent book is The Devil in the Milk. Griffith’s book, The Moon from Every Window, was nominated for the 2013 Poets’ Prize, and his book A Matinee in Plato's Cave won the 2009 Best Book of Indiana Award. His work has appeared in PN Review, Poetry, The North American Review, Poems & Plays, The Oxford American, and other publications. He is editor of the journal Measure and director of the University of Evansville Press.

Senior Reading

4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, April 11

Eykamp Hall, Room 252, Ridgway University Center

Graduating creative writing majors read their poetry and prose.

For more information, call 812-488-2963.

Professor Katie Mullins nominated for Best of the Net

Posted: August 30, 2017

Katie Darby Mullins, University of Evansville assistant professor of creative writing, has had a story, "How to Become a Tiger," nominated for a Best of the Net award by The Rumpus.

The Rumpus is an internet site that features essays, reviews, interviews, music, film, short fiction, poetry, and comics.

Cirino publishes article in Huffington Post

Posted: August 3, 2017

Associate professor of English and the Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in English Mark Cirino co-wrote an article that was published in the Huffington Post. Cirino's article discusses a newly published Hemingway vignette called Torcello Piece.

This Hemingway sketch is in Cirino's new book, Hemingway and Italy: 21st-Century Perspectives, published last month by the University Press of Florida. Torcello is a small village north of Venice where Hemingway stayed in the late 1940s, and Torcello Piece is the writer's ode to the place he loved.

You can read Cirino’s article on the Huffington Post website.

UE creative writing professor publishes poems

Posted: July 6, 2017

Paul Bone, associate professor of creative writing, recently published a poem titled "Poem" in the American Journal of Poetry. You can read Bone's poem on the American Journal of Poetry's website.

Bone's poem is an homage to American poet Brigit Pegeen Kelly, who died in 2016, and a direct response to her poem, "Song." You can read her poem "song" on the Poets.org website.

Creative writing professor Paul Bone publishes poems

Posted: June 27, 2017

Paul Bone, University of Evansville associate professor of creative writing, recently published two poems - "The Truest of Our Offerings" and "Gun Cabinet" - in the online literary journal Ducts. You can read the poems on the Ducts' website.

Baines gives paper at Toronto conference

Posted: June 27, 2017

Robert Baines, assistant professor of English, gave a paper at the 2017 North American James Joyce Conference. The conference was June 21-25 at the University of Toronto. Baines’s paper was titled, “When the Lévy-Bruhls: The threefold Anthropologist of Finnegans Wake I.6.”

Cirino's "Hidden Hemingway" wins second gold medal

Posted: June 6, 2017

The Eric Hoffer Book Award has announced that Mark Cirino’s Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park has won the 2017 gold medal in the reference category.

Cirino, an associate professor of English and the Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in English, co-wrote Hidden Hemingway with Robert K. Elder and Aaron Vetch.

Earlier this year, Hidden Hemingway won the gold medal in the reference category by the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Professor Mark Cirino's article appears in Huffington Post

Posted: May 18, 2017

University of Evansville associate professor of English and Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in English Mark Cirino has co-written an article that appeared in the Huffington Post. The article was written in honor of the 100th anniversary of Ernest Hemingway's high school graduation.

Cirino co-wrote the article to accompany rare and evocative images from Hemingway's high school years. Many of these photographs appeared in Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park, a book Cirino also co-wrote.

Read the article, Hemingway’s High School Graduation: 100 Years Later, on the Huffington Post website.

Klinger and Grabill writing awards announced

Posted: April 27, 2017

The University of Evansville Department of English has announced the winners of the Virginia Lowell Grabill Awards for academic writing and the George Klinger Prize for best academic essay.

The Third-Place Grabill Award went to Samantha Petitjean. The Second-place Grabill Award went to Taylor Gates. The First-place Grabill Award went to Sydney Blessinger. The George Klinger Prize was presented to Lydia Crain.

English department literary conference on Friday and Saturday

Posted: April 20, 2017

The Department of English at the University of Evansville invites all members of the campus community to its sixth annual literary conference on April 21 and 22.

On Friday night, acclaimed author Jacqueline Briggs Martin will appear at the Melvin M. Peterson Literary Forum to give the Hemminger-Brown Lecture, entitled “Gathering Stories Along the Way,” Her lecture will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Harkness Hall (Room 162), Schroeder School of Business Building.

On Saturday morning, students will present their conference papers, with panels starting at 9:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m., and noon in Rooms 271 and 272 in the Schroeder School of Business Building. Following the final panel, the department will award its Grabill and Klinger writing prizes.

Winners of the Virginia Lowell Grabill Award announced

Posted: April 19, 2017

Each year, the University of Evansville’s Department of Creative Writing has the pleasure of announcing the student winners of The Virginia Lowell Grabill Award for excellence in undergraduate creative writing.

The winners and finalists for 2016 and recipients of a cash prize are as follows:

Nonfiction:

First place: “Steel” by Sarah Butler

Second place: “Tornadoes” by Taylor Gates

Third place: “Sister, Sister’ by Brittney Kaleri

Poetry:

First place: “How to Pray in St Kinga’s Salt Cathedral” by Rachel Moore

Second Place: “Uncovered” by Sarah Butler

Third Place: “Lavender” by Sarah Butler

Fiction:

First place: “Neighbors” by Neil Brookhouse

Second Place: “A Good Friend” by Lea Arnold

Third Place: “What Witches Want” by Brittney Kaleri

Sari Baum places In Norton Writer's Prize

Posted: April 19, 2017

University of Evansville junior Sari Baum was the recent runner-up in the competitive 2016 Norton Writer's Prize, a national competition that is awarded annually for an outstanding essay written by an undergraduate

Baum’s essay “Bánat is Hungarian for Grief” skillfully weaves scenes about her Hungarian roots with the familial curse of dementia. Baum uses beautiful scenes to render heartbreak and show us her great-grandmother’s struggle, resulting in a narratively complex essay.

Recent graduate headed to MFA

Posted: April 19, 2017

The University of Evansville’s Department of Creative Writing would like to congratulate 2016 graduate Joy Grace Chen on her acceptance to The Ohio State University's MFA program. She will begin her studies in creative nonfiction in Fall 2017.

Nikolidakis signs with literary agent

Posted: April 19, 2017

Assistant professor of creative writing Lisa Nikolidakis has signed with literary agent Rayhané Sanders of Massie & McQuilkin for representation of her book projects in fiction and nonfiction. Massie & McQuilkin represents some of the finest names in literature today, such as Roxane Gay, Lidia Yuknavitch, Annie Dillard, Dan Chaon, and many others.

“I am thrilled to be in such good company,” said Nikolidakis, “and eager to bring my books to shelves near you.”

Cirino's "Hidden Hemingway" wins Gold Medal

Posted: April 18, 2017

Mark Cirino's recent book, Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park, was awarded the Gold Medal in the Reference category of the 2017 Independent Publishers Book Awards.

Cirino, associate professor and Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in English, co-wrote Hidden Hemingway with Robert K. Elder and Aaron Vetch. Kent State University Press published the book in 2017. 

UE announces Wahnita DeLong Reading with emeriti professors

Posted: March 14, 2017

The University of Evansville’s Creative Writing Coffee Hour Wahnita DeLong Reading is planned for Wednesday, March 22 at 4:00 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery. UE professors emeriti Bill Baer and Margaret McMullan will be the speakers. This event is free and open to the public.

Baer, a recent Guggenheim fellow, is the author of 20 books. His poetry collection “Bocage” and Other Sonnets was the recipient of the X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize. His other books include The Ballad Rode into Town; Psalter; and The Unfortunates, recipient of the T.S. Eliot Award. A former Fulbright and recipient of a N.E.A. Creative Writing Fellowship, Baer was founding editor of The Formalist and founding director of the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award. He is the author of the short fiction collections Times Square and Other Stories and One-and-Twenty Tales, and his plays have been performed at more than 30 American theaters.

McMullan is the author of seven award-winning novels, the story collection Aftermath Lounge, and editor of the anthology Every Father’s Daughter. Her work has appeared in such publications as The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Chicago Tribune. She is a National Author Winner of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, and received an NEA fellowship and a Fulbright to research and teach in Hungary for her new memoir Where the Angels Lived: One Family’s Story of Exile, Loss, and Return. She currently serves as a faculty mentor at the Stony Brook Southampton Low-Residency MFA Program.

Baines gives paper at Rome conference

Posted: February 3, 2017

Robert Baines, assistant professor of English, gave a paper at the 10th James Joyce Italian Foundation Conference. The conference took place at the University of Roma Tre in Rome on February 2 and 3. Baines's paper was titled "The Doublin Bruno: Reuniting the Nolan in Finnegans Wake I.6."

Pouliot and Hochwender co-author essay

Posted: February 1, 2017

Amber Pouliot, British Studies professor at Harlaxton, and Kristina Hochwender, associate professor of English at UE, recently co-authored an essay. The essay was about Hochwender’s use of a digital humanities project developed from a conference co-organized by Pouliot in 2015, called Placing the Author.

In addition to the conference, Pouliot and her co-organizers curated the Postcard Project, which invited literary tourists to post digital postcards of sites associated with nineteenth-century authors. During the spring 2016 term at Harlaxton, Hochwender asked her students to take part in the Postcard Project and to produce their own digital postcards as a reflective learning exercise. The essay has just been posted to the Journal of Victorian Culture Online.

Baines publishes article in Dublin James Joyce Journal

Posted: December 14, 2016

Robert Baines, assistant professor of English, published an article in the most recent edition of the Dublin James Joyce Journal. This edition of the journal was a special edition devoted entirely to Joyce's last novel, Finnegans Wake. Baines's article was titled "Time and Space: The Opposition of Professor Jones in Finnegans Wake I.6."

Katie Darby Mullins nominated for Pushcart Prize

Posted: December 2, 2016

Assistant professor of creative writing Katie Darby Mullins has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for her story "Please Clap," which appeared in the Foliate Oak Literary Journal.

Poet George David Clark appearing at Coffee Hour on October 17

Posted: October 12, 2016

Poet George David Clark will be the speaker for the Creative Writing Coffee Hour on Monday, October 17. All the lectures in the Creative Coffee Hour series begin at 4:00 p.m. in UE’s Melvin Peterson Gallery, and are free and open to the public.

Clark teaches creative writing at Washington & Jefferson College and is the editor of the journal 32 Poems. His current book, Reveille, won the Miller Williams Prize, and his more recent poems can be found in Agni, The Cincinnati Review, The Gettysburg Review, Image, The New Criterion, University of Evansville's Measure, and others.

UE Creative Writing Alumni Successful Defends Dissertation

Posted: September 28, 2016

Warmest congratulations to Susan Elliot Brown who successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Southern Mississippi. Susan writes, "Thank you to my past professors and mentors from SLU and UE. Without your help, I wouldn't have pursued this degree. Thanks...Paul Bone, Rob Griffith, Margaret McMullan, and William Baer at UE. Y'all are the best." Go forth and conquer, Dr. Brown!

Creative Writing Coffee Hour to feature Joseph Harrison

Posted: September 19, 2016

The first Creative Writing Coffee Hour will take place on Wednesday, September 14, at 4:00 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery. Joseph Harrison will be the guest speaker. The Creative Writing Coffee Hours are free and open to the public.
 

Harrison’s most recent volume of poetry, Shakespeare’s Horse, was published by The Waywiser Press in 2015. His other books are Identity Theft (Waywiser, 2008), Someone Else’s Name (Waywiser, 2003), and The Fly in the Ointment (1994; 20th anniversary edition: Syllabic Press, 2014). Harrison’s poems have been widely published in journals and anthologies.

In 2005 he received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2009 Harrison was awarded a Fellowship in Poetry by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He is senior American editor for The Waywiser Press, and lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

UE English Department reaches 1000 followers on Twitter

Posted: September 14, 2016

The University of Evansville’s English department recently reached the social media landmark of 1,000 Twitter followers. The department is currently one of the most popular college-level English departments on Twitter

Robert Baines, assistant professor of English and Twitterer-in-chief, said that he is “very happy about this. The achievements of our majors are continually extraordinary and it is great to be able to communicate those achievements to such a large audience. I hope that our social media presence continues to grow.”

You can follow the English department on Twitter at @ueenglish.

Katie Darby Mullins publishes poem

Posted: September 12, 2016

Assistant professor of creative writing Katie Darby Mullins has a new poem, My Illinois Life, coming out in the next issue of Gravel. 

UE Coffee Hour Lecture Series for 2016–2017 Announced

Posted: September 6, 2016

The University of Evansville’s 2016-2017 annual Coffee Hour Lecture series begins Wednesday, September 14. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public, and are at 4 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery at the University.

Wednesday, September 14: Poet Joseph Harrison

Joseph Harrison’s most recent volume of poetry, Shakespeare’s Horse, was published by Waywiser in 2015. His previous books were Identity Theft (Waywiser, 2008), Someone Else’s Name (Waywiser, 2003), and The Fly in the Ointment (1994; 20th anniversary edition: Syllabic Press, 2014). Mr. Harrison’s poems have been widely published in journals and anthologies. In 2005 he received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2009 he was awarded a Fellowship in Poetry by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He is Senior American Editor for Waywiser Press. He lives in Baltimore

Monday, October 17: Poet George David Clark

George David Clark's Reveille (Arkansas, 2015), won the Miller Williams Prize, and his more recent poems can be found in Agni, The Cincinnati Review, The Gettysburg Review, Image, The New Criterion, University of Evansville's Measure, and others. He edits the journal 32 Poems and lives with his wife and their three young children in Western Pennsylvania where he teaches creative writing at Washington & Jefferson College.

Wednesday, March 22: The Wahnita Delong Reading featuring writers and professors emeritus Margaret McMullen and William Baer

Margaret McMullan is the author of seven award-winning novels, the story collection Aftermath Lounge, and editor of the anthology, Every Father’s Daughter, which Parade magazine named a “a best Father’s Day Gift and A Sizzling Summer Read.” Her work has appeared in The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Southern Accents, The Millions, Teachers & Writers Magazine, StorySouth, National Geographic for Kids, TriQuarterly, Michigan Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glamour, and The Sun among other journals and anthologies. Margaret is a National Author Winner of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award, and she received an NEA fellowship and a Fulbright to research and teach in Hungary for her new memoir Where the Angels Lived: One Family’s Story of Exile, Loss, and Return. She taught at the University of Evansville for 25 years, serving as English Department chair, and she helped form the Department of Creative Writing. She was formerly the Melvin Peterson Endowed Chair in Literature and Creative Writing until she retired in 2015 to write full time. She currently serves as a faculty mentor at the Stony Brook Southampton Low-Residency MFA Program. Margaret, her husband Pat O’Connor, and their dog Samantha currently live in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

William Baer, a recent Guggenheim fellow, is the author of twenty books, including six collections of poetry, most recently “Bocage” and Other Sonnets (recipient of the X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize) and Love Sonnets from Kelsay Press. His other books include Luís de Camões: Selected Sonnets; The Ballad Rode into Town; Psalter, and The Unfortunates (recipient of the T.S. Eliot Award). A former Fulbright (Portugal) and the recipient of a N.E.A. Creative Writing Fellowship, he was the founding editor of The Formalist and the founding director of the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award. He’s also the author of two collections of short fiction, Times Square and Other Stories and One-and-Twenty Tales, and his plays have been performed at more than thirty American theaters.

Wednesday, April 12: Senior Reading

Each spring during the Senior Reading, graduating creative writing majors read from their poetry and prose, and the Department of Creative Writing announces winners of the Virginia Grabill Writing Awards.

Katie Darby Mullins has short stories and poems forthcoming

Posted: August 23, 2016

Katie Darby Mullins, assistant professor of creative writing, has three stories coming out in the next few months. How to Become a Tiger will appear in The Rumpus, and Possede in The MacGuffin. The Head will be reprinted in Nebo. She also has five poems coming out at the San Diego Reader, spread out through September and October.

Paul Bone publishes poems

Posted: August 18, 2016

Paul Bone, associate professor of creative writing, recently published three poems in the online newspaper The San Diego Reader. His poems - APGAR, Daughter, and Present Infinitive - can be found on The San Diego Reader website. 

Lisa Nikolidakis’ Work Selected for Best American Essays 2016

Posted: June 13, 2016

Assistant Professor Dr. Lisa Nikolidakis’s essay “Family Traditions” was selected by Jonathan Franzen for the 2016 edition of Best American Essays. The essay first appeared in Southern Indiana Review in 2015.

Student Joy Grace Chen Wins National Writing Award

Posted: June 13, 2016

Please join the Creative Writing faculty in congratulating 2016 graduate Joy Grace Chen on winning the competitive Norton Writer's Prize, a national competition that is awarded annually for an outstanding essay written by an undergraduate. Chen's essay “Fermentation” took first place, and the judges admired her "use of form, tone, attention to sensory language, dialogue, and pacing." One judge wrote, “Each vignette adds to the author’s ability to finally see the truth of her parents’ world—and her own truth—for what they are.” Read Joy Grace’s essay.

Katie Darby Mullins Publishes Short Story with BOAAT Press

Posted: May 9, 2016

University of Evansville assistant professor of creative writing Katie Darby Mullins has had several stories and poems published in the last few months. The most recent was "The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Joe Sinclair and His Daughter," which was published through BOAAT Press.

Department of English selects Grabill and Klinger writing award winners

Posted: April 13, 2016

At its annual Chutney literary conference, the Department of English presented the 2016 Virginia Lowell Grabill and George Klinger Writing Awards.

The third-place Grabill Award went to Sydney Blessinger for her paper, “A Dynamic Eve: Milton’s Female Perception in Paradise Lost.”

The second-place Grabill Award went to Alex Gallo for her paper, “The Role of Nature in King Lear.”

The first-place Grabill Award went to Danielle Gillespie for her paper, “The Mabinogion in Modern Literary Fantasy.”

The George Klinger Award for an outstanding academic research paper went to Peter Orkiszewski for his essay, “A Feminist Account of Caryll Churchill’s Vinegar Tom.”

Baines gives paper at Notre Dame conference

Posted: April 7, 2016

Robert Baines, assistant professor of English, gave a paper at the recent annual national American Conference for Irish Studies at Notre Dame University. The national ACIS conference is America's largest Irish studies conference. Baines's paper was titled "'Let us be tolerant of antipathies': Opposing opposition in Finnegans Wake I.6." 

UE Creative Writing Coffee Hour Senior Reading Set for April 20

Posted: April 5, 2016

This month’s University of Evansville’s Creative Writing Coffee Hour Lecture will feature the Senior Reading, during which graduating UE creative writing majors read their poetry and prose. Winners of the Virginia Grabill Writing Awards will also be announced. The event is planned for Wednesday, April 20, at 4:00 p.m. in UE’s Melvin Peterson Gallery. It is free and open to the public

For more information, call 812-488-2963.

English Professor Publishes Book: Reading Hemingway's Across the River and into the Trees

Posted: March 21, 2016

Mark Cirino, professor of English at the University of Evansville, has published a new book, Reading Hemingway’s Across the River and into the Trees, as part of Kent State University Press’s “Reading Hemingway” series.

This book is a line-by-line annotation and commentary on Hemingway’s 1950 novel, the first scholarly book ever devoted to Hemingway’s inscrutable and maligned novel.

Cirino was a Global Scholar in 2012-13, which allowed him to travel to Venice to research the novel. Several recent UE graduates contributed to the preparation of Cirino’s book as part of ENGL 399, Independent Study in Literature: Jenelle Clausen, Rachel Cochran, Nick Holder, Kevin Kay, Amanda Oaks, Natalie Updike, Samantha Urban, and Susan Vandagriff.

For more information on the book on click Amazon and kentstateuniversitypress.com.

Cirino co-authors book about Hemingway's childhood

Posted: March 17, 2016

Mark Cirino, associate professor of English, has co-authored a book, Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Oak Park Archive, which will be published next year by Kent State University Press. This book, written with journalist Robert K. Elder, investigates the materials of Hemingway's childhood, particularly the relics of Hemingway's childhood home and the Hemingway Museum in Oak Park, Illinois. 

Cirino publishes new book

Posted: March 1, 2016

UE Coffee Hour Lecture Series for 2015 – 2016 Announced

Posted: September 2, 2015

The University of Evansville’s 2015-2016 annual Coffee Hour Lecture series begins Wednesday, September 16. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public, and are at 4 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery at the University.

The speaker in September will be Richard Newman, author of the poetry collections All the Wasted Beauty of the World, Domestic Fugues, and Borrowed Towns. His poems have appeared in such periodicals and anthologies as Best American Poetry, Boulevard, Crab Orchard Review, Measure, New Letters, and The Sun. His work has been featured on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac, Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry, Poetry Daily, and Verse Daily.

Other lectures planned for this series are:

Melvin M. Peterson Literary Hour
Wednesday, October 14
Katie Darby Mullins, UE assistant professor of creative writing, is the featured speaker. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and is editing a rock 'n roll crossover edition of the metrical poetry journal Measure. She has been published or has work forthcoming in journals such as Hawaii Pacific Review, Harpur Palate, Broad River Review, Big Lucks, and The Evansville Review. She was a semifinalist in the Ropewalk Press Fiction Chapbook competition and in the Casey Shay Press poetry chapbook competition. She is lead writer and founder of the music blog Katie Darby Recommends.

Wahnita DeLong Reading
Wednesday, February 24
Writer Steve Yates is the featured speaker. He has been granted Literary Arts fellowships from the Mississippi Arts Commission for fiction and creative nonfiction. He has received an individual artist’s grant from the Arkansas Arts Council for his fiction. Portions of his novel, Morkan’s Quarry, appeared in Missouri Review, Ontario Review, and South Carolina Review. A novella-length excerpt was a finalist for the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society William Faulkner/Wisdom Award for the Best Novella. Excerpts from the sequel, The Teeth of the Souls, appeared in Missouri Review, Elder Mountain: A Journal of Ozarks Studies, and in Kansas Quarterly/Arkansas Review.

Wednesday, March 16
Poet Corinna McClanahan Schroeder is the featured speaker. Author of the poetry collection Inked, and winner of the 2014 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, her poetry appears in such journals as Shenandoah, The Gettysburg Review, Tampa Review, Poet Lore, and Blackbird.  The recipient of an AWP Intro Journals Award in poetry, she has a MFA degree from the University of Mississippi and is a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California, where she holds a Wallis Annenberg Endowed Fellowship.

Senior Reading
Wednesday, April 20
Each spring during the Senior Reading, graduating creative writing majors read from their poetry and prose, and the Department of Creative Writing announces winners of the Virginia Grabill Writing Awards.

For more information, call 812-488-2963.

Bill Baer's Second Collection of Short Stories Published

Posted: April 20, 2015

Professor of Creative Writing William Baer’s second collection of short fiction, Times Square and Other Stories, has just been published by Able Muse Press in San Jose, California.  Last month, his collection of twenty-one shorter stories entitled One-and-Twenty Tales was published by Mockingbird Press. Times Square and Other Stories consists of nine longer stories, including stories previously published in The Iowa Review, The Kansas Quarterly, The Chariton Review, The Dalhousie Review, and other literary journals.  One of the stories in the collection, "The Plagiarist," earned Dr. Baer a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

UE Coffee Hour Lecture Series Planned for 2014-2015

Posted: September 10, 2014

The University of Evansville’s 2014-15 annual Creative Writing Coffee Hour Lecture series begins Thursday, September 18. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public, and will be at 4:00 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery at the University.

The speaker for the first Coffee Hour will be poet Erica Dawson. Her poetry collection, Big Eyed Afraid, won the 2006 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize. Her second book of poetry, The Small Blades Hurt, was published in January 2014. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies. Dawson is an assistant professor of English and writing at the University of Tampa.

Other lectures planned for this series include:

¨October 16: Novelist Ben H. Winters, an instructor at Butler University. Winters’s latest novel, Countdown City, was an NPR Best Book of 2013 and nominee for the Philip K. Dick Award. His earlier novel, The Last Policeman, won the 2012 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. It was also named one of the Best Books of 112 by Amazon.com and Slate.

¨October 23: Catherine Tufariello, poet-in-residence at Christ College, the honors college of Valparaiso University. Tufariello is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Annunciations and Free Time. Her full-length collection, Keeping My Name, received 2006 Poets’ Prize and was a Booklist Editors Choice.

¨April 16: Margaret McMullan, professor of creative writing and the Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing at UE. McMullan is the author of several award-winning adult and young adult novels. She has received an NEA Fellowship in Literature, a Fulbright at the University of Pecs in Hungary, and the Eugene and Marilyn Glick National Authors Award.

¨April 17 Wahnita DeLong Reading: Bruce McPherson, founding editor and publisher of McPherson & Company, an independent literary and arts press. In 2010, he published Jaimy Gordon’s novel, Lord of Misrule. Among McPherson & Company’s forthcoming books is an anthology of essays, Every Father’s Daughter, edited by Margaret McMullan.

¨April 23 Senior Reading: UE graduating creative writing majors will read from their poetry and prose. The University’s Department of Creative Writing will also announce winners of the Virginia Grabill Writing Awards.

For more information on these events, call 812-488-2963.

Creative Writing Majors Published in New Anthology

Posted: August 26, 2014

UE creative writing majors Jane Friedman ‘98, Johanna Gohmann ’98, and Jessica Russell-Pope ’13, have all had essays included in a new anthology, Every Father’s Daughter, to be published in the spring of 2015 by McPherson & Company, New York.

UE Professor of Creative Writing Margaret McMullan and Columbia University Professor Phillip Lopate edited and wrote introductions for Every Father’s Daughter, a collection of personal essays about fathers written by contemporary women writers such as Nobel laureate Alice Munro and Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley. Other contributors include Joyce Maynard, Ann Hood, Lee Smith, Jill McCorkle, Antonya Nelson, Bobbie Ann Mason, Jayne Anne Phillips, Alexandra Styron, and Maxine Hong Kingston.

UE creative writing major Jessica Russell-Pope ’13 also served as copyeditor for the manuscript during her senior year Independent Study with Professor McMullan.

Professor McMullan and Professor Lopate taught together in 1993, when Professor Lopate came to UE as a visiting writer. Professor Lopate currently directs the MFA program in Creative Nonfiction at Columbia University in New York. Professor McMullan is the Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing.

In April, Professors McMullan and Lopate will host a panel event at the AWP in Minneapolis, MN with readings from anthology contributors Joyce Maynard, Ann Hood, Jayne Anne Phillips and Jill McCorkle.

Creative Writing Coffee Hour Welcomes George Singleton

Posted: September 18, 2012

On Thursday, September 20, the University of Evansville’s Department of Creative Writing will feature fiction writer and teacher George Singleton in its Coffee Hour series, which brings celebrated writers to campus for afternoon readings of their published works.

Each Coffee Hour begins at 4:00 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery at the corner of Lincoln and Weinbach avenues. Coffee and cookies will be served, and the authors will be available afterward for conversation and book signings. Coffee Hours are free and open to the public.

George Singleton is the author of five collections of short stories: These People Are Us, The Half-Mammals of Dixie, Why Dogs Chase Cars, Drowning in Gruel, and Stray Decorum. He has also published two novels, Novel and Work Shirts for Madmen, and a book of writing advice titled Pep Talks, Warnings, and Screeds. He has published more than 150 short stories in magazines and journals such as Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Zoetrope Georgia Review, Southern Review, Epoch, Oxford American, and Kenyon Review.

A past Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, Singleton has also received the Hillsdale Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He teaches fiction writing at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville, South Carolina.

For more information on the Coffee Hour series, please visit the Department of Creative Writing's website.

Student Writers of Indiana Awarded Indiana Arts Commission Grant

Posted: July 12, 2012

Student Writers of Indiana, a program in the University of Evansville’s Department of Creative Writing, has received a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission.

Student Writers of Indiana (SWIP) sends talented UE students to local middle and high schools to provide needed education in the art of creative writing to underserved students. The Indiana Arts Commission grant, totaling $2,960.09, will support the cost of producing anthologies of students’ work, space rentals, postage, training, and classroom supplies.

“Studies show that arts education has a dramatic impact on the learning experience in general, especially for underserved students,” said Margaret McMullan, professor of creative writing and Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing, who co-directs SWIP. “This program not only impacts local youth and UE students, but also inspires teachers and community leaders to further support the arts.”

“Creative writing addresses multiple Indiana Department of Education academic standards by offering enjoyable ways for students to improve their vocabulary, critical analysis skills, and reading comprehension,” adds Rob Griffith, associate professor of creative writing and co-director of SWIP. “Only 35 percent of secondary schools nationwide offer creative writing courses, so there is a great need for programs like SWIP.”   

In its first year, SWIP served approximately 1,200 students at 10 schools, trained 19 teaching fellows, and developed a strong base for ongoing leadership. In future years, the program will reach out to students across Indiana with an annual statewide creative writing competition, culminating with a conference. An annual anthology will showcase students’ best poems and short-short stories, and anthologies will be distributed to schools and libraries statewide.

SWIP was established in Fall 2011 with a $21,000 grant from the Ball Brothers Foundation Venture Fund. The program is housed in UE’s Department of Creative Writing, which offers one of the few Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing programs in the nation. Currently, 90 students from around the nation are enrolled as majors.

The University of Evansville wishes to thank the Indiana Arts Commission for its generous support of Student Writers of Indiana. The IAC’s Regional Initiative Grant program is supported by the Vanderburgh Community Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Members of UE Community Honored by Arts Council

Posted: June 27, 2012

This morning, several members of the University of Evansville family received recognition for their significant contributions to the arts in a seven-county region of Indiana.

Winners of the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana’s annual Arts Awards were announced at a news conference at the council’s Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery. The recipients will be honored at an awards banquet at Casino Aztar on September 6.

Those with UE ties who won awards are:

Melvin M. Peterson H’91, Mayor’s Arts Award. Peterson received the year’s most prestigious award, which recognizes long-standing support and a lifelong interest in the arts in and around Evansville. Since moving here from San Francisco 23 years ago, Peterson has been named an honorary trustee at UE for his significant impact at the University. UE’s newest art gallery, the Melvin Peterson Gallery, bears his name, and in 2002 the Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing was established. Peterson has also served as a docent at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science and been a supporter of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and the EVSC Foundation. One of Peterson’s nominators called him “an acknowledged, inspiring, and resourceful leader, a friend of students and a model for others in our community.”

R. Scott Lank, Educator of the Year. Lank, professor of acting and director of playwriting in UE’s Department of Theatre, may be best known in the Evansville community for the many UE theatre productions he has directed. However, his students recognize and praise his work inside the classroom, too, which has helped them launch careers in playwriting and acting. A 2012 graduate writes: “He has a truly significant impact on his students’ lives.  At the end of each of his classes, we leave wanting to keep working, desiring to grow more, aching for a chance to apply what we have learned in class to our work onstage.” 

William Baer, Artist of the Year (two recipients chosen). Nominator Margaret McMullan, UE professor of creative writing, has worked with Baer for 23 years and says she knows no other writer who is quite so fearless in crossing into new writing genres. Baer has written plays, screenplays, novels, essays, poems, and musicals — all while teaching in UE’s Department of Creative Writing, mentoring students outside of class, and running the University of Evansville Press.

Elizabeth Robertson, Artist of the Year (two recipients chosen). Robertson, UE consortium instructor of music for oboe and English horn, has served as principal oboe of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra since 1995 and is also a member of the Harlaxton Woodwind Quintet. Nominators call her a performing artist of the highest caliber who shows superb technique and musical expressiveness with every passage she plays. Also a disciplined and focused teacher, Robertson lays out clear expectations for her students and works tirelessly to help them achieve their goals. 

Jo Frohbieter-Mueller ’56, Arts Advocate of the Year. As a lifelong resident of Vanderburgh County, most of Frohbieter-Mueller’s activities have revolved around the arts: She is an artist, collector of art, published writer, musician, and research biologist. She plays fife in the Civil War Band and can often be found at classes and recitals, art exhibits, and board meetings. Truly a Renaissance woman, Frohbieter-Mueller says that art makes her happy. Her nominators say that those around her are made happy, too, by her support and enthusiasm.

UE English Professor Publishes New Book on Ernest Hemingway

Posted: June 20, 2012

Mark Cirino, assistant professor of English at the University of Evansville, has published a new book, Ernest Hemingway: Thought in Action, from the University of Wisconsin Press.

The book offers a new look at Hemingway, revealing a concern with consciousness similar to his predecessors and contemporaries William Faulkner, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, and Marcel Proust.

Ernest Hemingway’s groundbreaking prose style and examination of timeless themes made him one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century. Yet in Ernest Hemingway: Thought in Action, Cirino observes, “Literary criticism has accused Hemingway of many things but thinking too deeply is not one of them.”

Although much has been written about the author’s love of action — hunting, fishing, drinking, bullfighting, boxing, travel, and the moveable feast — Cirino looks at Hemingway’s focus on the modern mind and interest in consciousness. Hemingway, Cirino demonstrates, probes the ways his characters’ minds respond when placed in urgent situations or when damaged by past traumas.

In Cirino’s analysis of Hemingway’s work through this lens — including such celebrated classics as A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea, and “Big Two-Hearted River” as well as lesser-known works including Islands in the Stream and “Because I Think Deeper” — an entirely different Hemingway hero emerges: intelligent, introspective, and ruminative.

“Cirino … collapses the distinction between thought and action that has traditionally typecast Hemingway as an anti-intellectual dolt — the ‘he-man’ of American literature,” said Kirk Curnutt, author of Coffee with Hemingway.

Cirino is the coeditor of Ernest Hemingway: Geography of Memory and the general editor of Kent State University Press’s “Reading Hemingway” series. He is also the author of two novels, Name the Baby and Arizona Blues.

Ernest Hemingway: Thought in Action is available from the University of Wisconsin Press.