Latest News

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Helicon West, will meet at 6:00 PM Thursday, May 28^th, at the True Aggie Café, 117 North Main, Logan. All creative writers are invited to share up to 7 minutes of their work with an appreciative audience. Fliers by Chadd Van Zanten and reminder-announcements by Whitney Olsen will be forthcoming. Let the summer muses alight! More

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Brandon Schrand, who graduated from Utah State University with a master's degree in American Studies in 2003, will be in residence at the Yaddo artists' community in Saratoga Springs, New York from June 17-July 14. There he will work on his book in progress, Works Cited. Schrand has won numerous awards since leaving Utah State, including a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers award for his memoir, Enders Hotel. More

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Melinda Rich, a Utah State University American Studies master's student, has been awarded $1000 from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies. Rich will use the money to continue her work on the project “"To Drink from Places": Uncovering a Rich Way of Life at the Grand Canyon's North Rim." The mission of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies is to promote the study of the Intermountain West by sponsoring research, publication, teaching, and public programs in a variety of academic disciplines including history, geography, sociology, anthropology, politics, economics, literature, art, folklore, range science, forestry, and popular culture. More

Sunday, May 17, 2009

The department of English at Utah State University would like to congratulate our Spring and Summer 2009 graduates.Eleven students earned master's degrees, while 53 students completed bachelor's degrees. Please join us in wishing them well as they embark on their post-grad careers. A full list of grads follows. And grads, please let us know what's next for you. We'd like to know what your plans are for work, grad school and anything else you are up to. Please send your information to marina.hall@usu.edu. More

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Ken Sanders Rare Books is pleased to announce a publication party and gallery exhibit for the release of Painters of Utah's Canyons and Deserts, by Donna Poulton and Vern Swanson, on Friday, May 15th from 6:00-9:00 p.m. at our downtown bookstore and gallery (268 South 200 East). The exhibit will feature original artwork from many of the artists in the book including Trent Call, Royden Card, Scotty Mitchell, Dave Newman, Chad Niehaus, Serena Supplee, Carel Pieter Brest Van Kempen, Edith Roberson and many more. The book's authors, as well as many of the artists will in the store that night and available to sign books. Copies of Painters of Utah's Canyons and Deserts ($75.00, Hardcover) are available at the store now and will be available for purchase and signing at the event. Mail orders please add $8.00 shipping and handling. Utah orders please add $5.14 Utah sales tax. The book is a companion volume to the 2005 publication, Painters of the Wasatch Mountains by Robert Olpin, Ann W. Orton, and Thomas F. Rugh. Copies of Painters of the Wasatch ($60.00, Hardcover) will also be available at the event. This event is free and open to the public. More

Monday, May 04, 2009

Steven Shively, associate professor of English,is co-editor of the recently published book Teaching the Works of Willa Cather (GreenTower Press 2009). The book features 19 essays offering a wide range of approaches to teaching the novels and short fiction of Willa Cather. "Cather's books and stories are widely taught in both high schools and colleges and universities," said Shively. "The book is a unique blend of literary criticism and pedagogy." Topics covered in the book range from teaching Cather's works with Rodin's sculptures to teaching Cather on a tribal community college to a comparison of book and film biographies of Cather. Dedicated to the memory of the premier Cather scholar Susan J. Rosowski, this book will be useful to those who teach Cather in single-author courses as well as those who only teach an occasional short story. Of special interest to members and friends of the English Department is an essay co-written by associate professor Evelyn I.Funda and lecturer Susan Andersen, "Predicting Willa Cather: Using 'Peter' and the 1888 Confession Album as Introduction." More

Monday, May 04, 2009

Ben Quick, former American Studies graduate student, has won the prestigious Pushcart Prize for "The Boneyard," an essay featured in the March/April 2008 issue of Orion Magazine. Quick credits Associate Professor of English Christopher Cokinos with planting the seed for the award winning essay and helping nurture Quick's prose into maturity during his time as Cokinos' student. Most recently, Quick served as Beverly Rodgers Fellow in creative nonfiction on his way to an MFA from the University of Arizona. He lives in Tucson with his son, Sage, teaches writing at the U of A, and is hard at work on a memoir that chronicles his solo journey through history and loss in Vietnam. "The Boneyard" will reappear along with the other 2009 Pushcart Prize winners in the forthcoming Pushcart Prize Anthology.Quick joins a list of past winners that includes USU alum Brandon Shrand, Raymond Carver, Tim O'Brien, Charles Baxter, Andre Dubus, Susan Minot, John Irving, Rick Moody, Ha Jin and many more of America's most respected authors. More

Monday, May 04, 2009

Helicon West, Summer Edition, will be held at 6:00 PM the 2nd and 4th Thursday of May, June, July, and August at the True Aggie Café, 117 North Main, Logan. All creative writers are invited to share up to 7 minutes of their work with an appreciative audience. If you would like to help with Helicon West events for summer and/or fall (organize, host, advertise etc.), please contact whitney.olsen@usu.edu or star.coulbrooke@usu.edu. Fliers by Chadd Van Zanten and reminder-announcements by Whitney Olsen will be forthcoming. Let the summer muses alight! More

Monday, May 04, 2009

What's next for you? We'd like to know what your plans are for work, grad school and anything else you are up to. Please send your information to marina.hall@usu.edu. Congratulations to all of youfor your achievements! More

Monday, May 04, 2009

Six English Honors graduates gathered on a misty Saturday morning to don gold Honors cords and red and white rose boutonnières before marching from the historic Old Main Quad to the Spectrum to receive their degrees. “This is the highest number of graduates in the department for over ten years,” noted Joyce Kinkead, new Honors advisor in the department. She added, “Christine Cooper-Rompato has done a marvelous job of shepherding Honors students through the process during her tenure as departmental Honors advisor.” More