The roads are a bit harder to navigate, the lines at the grocery store are a bit longer, and the campus sidewalks bustle with activity — it’s the start of the fall semester at Kansas State University, and we’re looking forward to a number of great events in the weeks ahead.
Here are a few to add to your calendar:
~ During her visit to K-State’s campus this week, poet Mary Pinard will offer a public reading of her work on Wednesday August 22 at 5:30pm in the Ekdahl Room in Regnier Hall. Pinard teaches poetry and literature at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. Her visit is co-sponsored by the Department of English, the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Community Planning, and the College of Architecture, Planning, and Design.
~ Friday August 24 brings our annual Welcome Back Reading at 3:30pm in Union Big 12 Room. After a busy first week of the semester, we pause to savor a tasting menu of creative work from our faculty in Creative Writing.
~ Year 2 of the renewed Driptorch Creative Performance Series begins on Friday September 7 at 8:00pm at Arrow Coffee. Enjoy poems and stories by Mercedes Lucero of Lawrence, KS; Jordan Stempleman of Kansas City, MO; and K-State CreWE ambassador Maddie Pospisil (MA ’19).
~ Dive into the theory and practice of cultural studies with our 2018 Cultural Studies Mini-Seminar. Sponsored by the Cultural Studies Track, the first of three mini-seminars on “Globalization” will take place on Friday September 14, 3:30-5:00pm, in 017 English/Counseling Services Building. Readings will include Arjun Appadurai’s Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Contact Tanya Gonzalez, Track Head for Cultural Studies, at tgonzale@ksu.edu for more information.
~ Celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women under the guidance of two international Alcott experts, our very own Greg Eiselein and Anne Phillips. Anne and Greg have lined up public lectures from two preeminent scholars of Alcott. On Friday September 21 at 4:00pm in the Union Flinthills Room, Beverly Lyon Clark will speak on “The Littlest Woman? Picturing Alcott’s Artistic Amy,” and on Friday October 5 at 4:00pm at the Alumni Center, Anne Boyd Rioux will share her new book, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters. You can also take a deep dive into Little Women, chapter by chapter, on their weekly blog Little Women at 150, where a wide range of Alcott readers share insights on, in Greg and Anne’s words, “this essential American novel.”
~ K-State scholarly and creative expertise will be on tap for our Fall 2018 Colloquia Series when Professor Tanya Gonzalez shares her current research on Wednesday October 3 at 3:30pm in Union 227 and when University Distinguished Professor Elizabeth Dodd shares her recent work on Wednesday Oct 24 at 3:30pm in Union Wildcat Chamber (formerly Union Little Theatre).
~ Our Visiting Writers Series brings three authors to campus this fall. First up is fiction writer Angela Flournoy on Friday October 26 at 3:30pm in Union Wildcat Theatre, followed by a joint reading by Dustin Parsons (creative non-fiction) and Aimee Nezhukumatathil (poetry) on Friday November 2 at 3:30pm in the same location.
Keep up to date on all events at our online calendar, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for photos and recaps — and check back here each week for highlights of research and creative activity from our faculty and students, perspectives from our alumni, glimpses into the department’s past, and plans for its future.
— Karin Westman, Department Head
K-State English 