The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

  Dr. Tsering Wangmo braved the weather this past weekend in order to facilitate a packed poetry workshop at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. Professor Wangmo's workshop was part of a series, titled "I See You Face to Face," named in honor of Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," referencing that Whitman once worked at the Brooklyn Apprentices' Library, which ultimately became the Brooklyn Museum. The  series of workshops  takes place in art galleries within the museum, allowing poets to draw from the art they see around them in crafting their verse.  Dr. Wangmo's workshop took place in the Rubin Museum Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room. According to the Brooklyn Museum's  website , "The Rubin Museum Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room presents more than 100 artworks and ritual objects as they would be displayed in an elaborate Tibetan Buddhist household shrine—a space used for devotional prayer, offerings, and rituals. Scroll paintings (thangk...

Villanova’s Ellipsis Literary Magazine is seeking submissions! Everyone is encouraged to submit: undergraduates and graduates as well as professors and staff within the Villanova community. They accept a wide host of traditional and non-traditional media from writing, poetry, and art to embroidery, text messages, memes, and anything else with aesthetic value, humor, personal meaning, or, perhaps, a touch of the bizarre.  Simply submit your work to ellipsis@villlanova.edu, and they'll consider it for this year’s edition. Their deadline for submissions is March 20th. 

BIPOC Writing Hangouts are Back!   The monthly BIPOC writing hangouts are for Villanova community members—students, staff, faculty, and alumni—who identify as people of color. You do not need to have any creative writing experience! Pizza, prompts, and company will be provided at our hangouts hosted by BIPOC faculty in the English Department. This semester, we will meet on February 21, March 20, and April 17. Come join us! If you would like more information, you can email Kimberly Takahata at   kimberly.takahata@villanova.edu . The first meeting of the semester will take place on Wednesday, February 21 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. in SAC 402, the English department conference room.

Professor Tsering Wangmo Dhompa will be giving a poetry reading as part of an online event series hosted by The Nation tonight. Besides her work teaching here at Villanova, Professor Wangmo Dhompa is the author of many books of poetry, most recently Revolute . She has also written a non-fiction book, Coming Home to Tibet , which was published by Penguin India. More information about the free online reading can be found here . You can also hear Professor Wangmo Dhompa reading excerpts of her poetry in an episode of our departmental podcast from last year, here .

For any of you interested in science writing, including writing science fiction, check out the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop . Launch Pad “is an education/public outreach effort” whose “primary goal is to teach writers, editors, and creative professionals about modern science, specifically astronomy, and in turn reach their large and diverse audiences.” The workshop, which takes place July 22-28, 2019 , at the University of Wyoming in Laramie , is free, and Launch Pad can sometimes offer travel assistance. The lecturers include Christian Ready, who was an undergraduate at Villanova and whose mother, Cecilia Ready, teaches in our department as an adjunct faculty member. Applications are open until March 15; click the link above to learn more!

The Stories We Tell : A writing workshop for survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence and trafficking Every survivor story has power and purpose. During “The Stories We Tell,” a two-day writing workshop, survivors will read and discuss testimonial writing, reflect on how to share their own stories, and engage in a series of innovative writing exercises. With a focus on memoir, fiction, non-fiction and poetry, “The Stories We Tell” was created to support those who seek to use writing as a vehicle for personal or political change. October 27-28 2018 10am-5pm (Saturday) • 11am-5pm (Sunday) Brought to you by The Voices and Faces Project (co-founders, Anne K. Ream and R. Clifton Spargo) in partnership with Villanova University. Applications are required: Email janet@voicesandfaces.org. Applications will be excepted until FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12TH !