The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

The Philosophy Department has just announced their lineup for their annual conference! The conference is free and open to the public, and will be taking place April 12th and April 13th in the Villanova Room of the Connelly Center. Click here to learn more .They are asking that you indicate whether you plan to attend to help them manage attendance.

Presenters, faculty, and friends gathered after another successful Elizabeth Cady Stanton conference to hear testimonials from alumni and a senior Gender and Women's Studies major - and to applaud some well-deserving essay winners!

Poet Diane Gilliam Fisher, PhD, will be on campus tomorrow,  Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 7:00 p.m., to give a reading at Falvey Library as part of the 15th Annual Villanova Literary Festival . Dr. Fisher’s most recent book,  Kettle Bottom , tells the story of the West Virginia coal mine wars of 1920-1921 through the individual perspectives and voice of characters affected by those events. The reading is the second in this year’s Literary Festival, sponsored by the Department of English. Along with Dr. Fisher, the festival will bring major writers from all over the country to Villanova’s campus, including Junot Díaz , a recent recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction . Keep an eye on the Department of English blog and homepage for future announcements regarding festival events. This event will be held in the Speakers’ Corner of the Library , and will be followed by a book sale and signing. Click here to read more about Dr. Fisher and the upcoming event. Graphic ...

Don't be surprised if you see a new face in the library this semester. Alexander (Alex) Williams, a Drexel University iSchool graduate student, is serving a six-month internship with Falvey's  Academic Integration and Information and Research Assistance teams. Alex is an alum of our Graduate English Program, earning his degree with us in 2011. Now, he is focusing on information services although he is also interested in competitive intelligence. He expects to graduate from Drexel in 2013. Alex earned his bachelor’s degree in English literature and religious studies from Stonehill College , Easton, Mass. While a student at Stonehill, Alex worked as a circulation aide in the library, an early indication of his future interests. Click here to read more of Alex's story.

Don't be surprised if you see a new face in the library this semester. Alexander (Alex) Williams, a Drexel University  iSchool  graduate student, is serving a six-month internship with Falvey's  Academic Integration  and  Information and Research Assistance  teams. Alex is an alum of our Graduate English Program, earning his degree with us in 2011. Now, he is focusing on information services although he is also interested in competitive intelligence. He expects to graduate from Drexel in 2013. Alex earned his bachelor’s degree in English literature and religious studies from  Stonehill College , Easton, Mass. While a student at Stonehill, Alex worked as a circulation aide in the library, an early indication of his future interests. Click here  to read more of Alex's story.

Congratulations to Dr. Dailey, whose book, The English Martyr from Reformation to Revolution , was published by the University of Notre Dame Press in December, 2012.

Congratulations to Dr. Ormsby-Lennon, whose book Hey Presto!: Swift and the Quacks has been selected by Choice magazine as a 2012 Outstanding Academic Title in the “Humanities, English and American” category. Check it out here!

You can start where everyone starts on the internet these days, at  Wikipedia . If you think you are ready to jump in and get your feet wet, check out this  article by Lisa Spiro , who discusses just how to get started.

A great article by Tom Scheinfeldt, " Stuff Digital Humanists Like ," defines Digital Humanities by its values. Unfortunately, defining Digital Humanities isn't that simple, and  A Short Guide to the Digital_Humanities  has sparked significant controversies over the definition. The full book of  Digital_Humanities  is also a great resource to get you started. To read an interesting contrast of the two sides of the definition debate, check out this  blog post.

To give you an idea of what can come of Digital Humanities, here are some projects that might pique your interest: NINES Catalog of Digital Scholarly Editions NEH ODH Other interesting DH-related projects include: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries , which stands as an example of transmedia storytelling and the future of texts.  See also Cathy Davidson's blog article about  Nick Sousanis' dissertation  about comic books written in comic book format.  These days you can do word analysis across multiple texts using  Google nGrams.