Upcoming Events

Sep

27

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Christina Lupton (University of Copenhagen): "Corona Time: Reading Fiction During the Covid-19 Pandemic"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Sep

30

6:00 PM to 7:30 PM

Africana Dantes 2021: Creative Responses to the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

Class of 1942 Garden, Penn campus, and on YouTube

Hosted by: Herman Beavers (Professor of English & African Studies, Director of Civic House), with general introduction by David Wallace (Center for Italian Studies)

REGISTER HERE to attend in person

Watch: here
Oct

4

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Margaret M. Bruchac (Penn): "Reading the Material and Textual Histories in a Path Wampum Belt"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Oct

6

12:00 PM to 1:30 PM

CTL Workshop: Difficult Issues in the Classroom: University Policies and Resources

Faculty Lounge (FBH 135)

This departmental workshop is designed to provide instructors with the information and resources they need to know in order to lead safe and equitable classrooms. Representatives from CAPS, Student Disability Services, CTL, and GSWS will be present. All English graduate-student instructors are strongly encouraged to attend.
Oct

6

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Simone Chess (Associate Professor of English, Wayne State University)

Location: Zoom
Oct

8

(All day)

WIPs Sign-up Deadline

FBH

WIPs Sign-up for Wednesday, November 28 Deadline
Oct

8

3:00 PM to 4:30 PM

AmLit: Máyọ̀wá Ajibade: "The Rip and the Swirl: Desire and The Philosophies of Black Existence in The Flagellants and A Question of Power"

Location: Zoom

Please email Máyọ̀wá Ajibade (majibade@sas.upenn.edu), Ethan Plaue (plaue@sas.upenn.edu), or Arianna James (aqjames@sas.upenn.edu) to request a copy of the work-in-progress and the Zoom link.
Oct

11

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Teresa A. Goddu (Vanderbilt University): "Antislavery Media"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Oct

14

(All day)

Fall Break

University of Pennsylvania
Oct

15

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Mod/Con: Laura McGrath (Temple University)

FBH Graduate Lounge

Join the Mod/Con Graduate Group for work-in-progress by Laura McGrath. Please email Thomas Collins (thco@sas.upenn.edu), Jonathan Dick (jondick@sas.upenn.edu), or Eugenia Ulanova (eulanova@sas.upenn.edu) for a copy of the readings.
Oct

18

4:00 PM to 5:30 PM

CTL Workshop: Creativity in the Classroom with Julia Alekseyeva

Grad Lounge (FBH 330)

This departmental workshop will consider why and how to encourage creative projects—both big and small—in TA sessions and seminars.

Register: https://www.ctl.upenn.edu/event/creativity-classroom
Oct

18

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Brenton Sullivan (Colgate University): "Buddhist Monastic Constitutions"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Oct

19

(All day)

Graduate Fall Language Exam

Fisher-Bennett Hall
Oct

19

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty Meeting

Faculty Lounge
Oct

20

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Rita Copeland (Professor of English and Classics, UPenn)

Graduate Lounge (FBH 330)
Oct

20

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Latitudes: Cajetan Iheka (Yale): "Workshop on African Ecomedia: Network Forms, Planetary Politics"

Location: Zoom
Oct

22

(All day)

Field Exams Scheduled

Third Years and Faculty Committees
FBH

Dates for written and oral portions of Field Exams should be scheduled. Written Field Exams begin no sooner than 2 weeks before Thanksgiving and no later than last day of fall classes (Thursday, November 8- Monday, December 10 ). Oral portion of Field Exam takes place with 2 weeks of the written exam no later than Thursday, December 20.
Oct

25

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Michael Suarez (Rare Book School and University of Virginia): Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography, "Printing Abolition: How the Fight to Ban the British Slave Trade Was Won, 1783–1807"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library

https://www.library.upenn.edu/about/exhibits-events/rosenbach2021]
Oct

25

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Michael Suarez (Rare Book School and University of Virginia): Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography, "Printing Abolition: How the Fight to Ban the British Slave Trade Was Won, 1783–1807"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library

https://www.library.upenn.edu/about/exhibits-events/rosenbach2021]
Oct

25

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Michael Suarez (Rare Book School and University of Virginia): Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography, "Printing Abolition: How the Fight to Ban the British Slave Trade Was Won, 1783–1807"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library

https://www.library.upenn.edu/about/exhibits-events/rosenbach2021]
Nov

1

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Elizabeth McHenry (NYU): "'Utterly Worthless'?: Race Publishing, Subscription Books and Black Communities"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Nov

2

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Undergraduate English Program Social/Reception Event

Fisher-Bennett Hall Undergraduate Lounge, room 223
Nov

3

5:15 PM to 6:45 PM

ResVic: Russ Leo (Princeton), Title TBA

Grad Lounge, Fisher-Bennett Hall Rm 330
Nov

5

12:00 PM to 1:30 PM

Professor Emily Steiner's Book Talk

Location: Zoom

Please contact Emily at steinere@sas.upenn.edu for the Zoom link.

John Trevisa's Information Age: Knowledge and the Pursuit of Literature, c.1400 (Oxford UP, 2021)

https://www.english.upenn.edu/publications/2021/emily-steiner/john-trevi...
Nov

8

(All day)

Graduate Field Exams (Written)

Third Years and Faculty Committees
FBH

Written Field Exams begin no sooner than 2 weeks before Thanksgiving and no later than last day of fall classes (Thursday, November 8- Monday, December 10). Oral portion of Field Exam takes place within 2 weeks of the written exam no later than Thursday, December 20.
Nov

8

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Asheesh Kapur Siddique (UMass Amherst): "Documenting the Body of State: Paper and the Matter of the US Constitution"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Nov

10

4:00 PM to 5:30 PM

CTL Workshop: The Classroom in the City with Chi-ming Yang

Outside! (The Tent by Fisher Fine Arts Library)

This departmental workshop will consider why and how to engage the city of Philadelphia through your syllabus, assignments, and class discussions.
Nov

10

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Phyllis Rackin Lecture: Carla Freccero (Professor of Literature, UCSC)

Location: Zoom
Nov

12

(All day)

Kislak Fellowship Due to Graduate Coordinator by 12pm

FBH
Nov

15

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Sarah Wasserman (University of Delaware): "Pop-up Buildings and Postage Stamps: Ephemera and the American Novel"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Nov

16

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty Meeting

Faculty Lounge
Nov

17

5:00 PM to 7:00 PM

AmLit: Nan Z. Da (University of Notre Dame): "Aspirational Conflicts and the Literature of Causation"

Location: Zoom

Please join us for a talk with Professor Nan Z. Da. Contact Ethan Plaue (plaue@sas.upenn.edu) or Arianna James (aqjames@sas.upenn.edu) for the Zoom link

See below for abstract:
Nov

18

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Latitudes, Mod/Con: Joseph Cleary (Yale): Modernism, Empire, World Literature

Fisher-Bennett Hall 401

Join the Mod/Con and Latitudes Graduate Groups for a discussion of Joseph Cleary's new book, Modernism, Empire, World Literature. Please email Thomas Collins (thco@sas.upenn.edu), Jonathan Dick (jondick@sas.upenn.edu), Avni Sejpal (avnims@sas.upenn.edu), or Eugenia Ulanova (eulanova@sas.
Nov

19

12:00 PM to 1:30 PM

ResVic: Hannah LeClair WIP, "'Urbanized Rusticity' in the Midcentury Novel"

Graduate Lounge, Fisher-Bennett Hall 330
Nov

22

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Material Texts Roadshow (Virtual event): Brian Cassidy (Type Punch Matrix), Michelle Warren (Dartmouth College), Jessica Linker (Northeastern University): "Copy Technologies"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Nov

23

(All day)

Th-Fri sched on Tues-Wed

University of Pennsylvania
Nov

24

12:00 PM to 2:00 PM

Works-in-Progress Workshop for Fifth Years

Faculty and Students
Fisher-Bennett Hall Faculty Lounge
Nov

25

(All day)

Thanksgiving Break

University of Pennsylvania
Nov

29

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Andrew Pettegree (University of St Andrews) & Arthur der Weduwen (University of St Andrews): "Materializing the Immaterial: Recovering the Lost Books of Early Modern Europe"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Dec

2

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Mod/Con, ResVic: Jane Hu (Berkeley): " Reappearing Acts: Asian Americans at the End of the Novel"

Location: Zoom

Join the Mod/Con and ResVic Graduate Groups for a work-in-progress by Jane Hu.
Dec

6

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Ellen Gruber Garvey (New Jersey City University): "Unstable Access to the Print Record: The Case of Back Number Budd and Nineteenth-Century Newspapers"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Dec

7

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty Meeting

Faculty Lounge
Dec

8

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Matt Aiello (PhD Candidate in English, Upenn)

Graduate Lounge (FBH 330)
Dec

10

(All day)

Last day of classes

University of Pennsylvania
Jan

12

(All day)

First day of classes

University of Pennsylvania
Jan

17

(All day)

Martin Luther King Jr. Day - No Classes

University of Pennsylvania
Jan

18

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty Meeting

Faculty Lounge
Jan

19

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Vin Nardizzi (Associate Professor of English, UBC)

Location: Zoom
Jan

20

(All day)

Hold for p.m. job talk

Fisher-Bennett Hall
Jan

24

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Jerry Singerman retirement celebration

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Jan

25

(All day)

Hold for p.m. job talk

Fisher-Bennett Hall
Jan

27

(All day)

Hold for p.m. job talk

Fisher-Bennett Hall
Feb

1

(All day)

Hold for p.m. job talk

Fisher-Bennett Hall
Feb

7

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Dahye Kim (Northwestern University): "The Hangul Typewriter: Failing Communication and the Korean Writing System"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Feb

11

(All day)

King’s College Fellowship Applications Due to Grad Coordinator by 12pm

FBH
Feb

11

(All day)

WIPs Sign-up for Wednesday, April 24 Deadline

FBH
Feb

11

10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Graduate Admissions Final Meeting

Graduate Admissions Committee
Fisher-Bennett Hall Faculty Lounge
Feb

14

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Pamela Smith (Columbia University): "Making and Knowing in Early Modern How-To Texts"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Feb

15

(All day)

SAS Dissertation Completion Fellowship and SAS Dissertation Research Fellowships Due to Graduate Division

FBH
Feb

15

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty Meeting

Faculty Lounge
Feb

16

12:00 PM to 2:00 PM

50-Book and Field Exam Discussion

Fisher-Bennett Hall Faculty Lounge

50-Book Exam Discussion (12-1pm)

(First Years)

Field Exam List Discussion (1-2pm)

(Second Years)
Feb

16

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Dan Wakelin (Professor of English Palaeography, University of Oxford)

Location: Zoom
Feb

28

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Marcy Dinius (DePaul University): "David Walker's Textual Engagements"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Mar

1

(All day)

Junior Research Seminar (JRS) Graduate Student Mentor Application due to Grad Coordinator by 12pm

FBH
Mar

2

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Hannah Marcus (Assistant Professor of History of Science, Harvard University)

Location: TBD
Mar

7

(All day)

Spring Break

University of Pennsylvania
Mar

22

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty Meeting

Faculty Lounge
Mar

23

9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Prospective Graduate Students Visit

Various
Mar

23

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Adrienne Williams Boyarin (Associate Professor of English, University of Victoria)

Location: Zoom
Mar

25

(All day)

CTL Graduate Fellowship Application due to Grad Coordinator by 12pm

FBH
Mar

28

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Micha Perry (University of Haifa): "Medieval Jewish Bilingual Charters: Texts, Signs and Sounds"

Class of 1978 Pavilion, on the 6th floor of Van Pelt Library
Apr

6

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Nicholas Jones (Assistant Professor of Spanish, UC Davis)

Location: Zoom
Apr

12

(All day)

Graduate Spring Language Exams

Fisher-Bennett Hall
Apr

19

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty Meeting

Faculty Lounge
Apr

24

12:00 PM to 2:00 PM

Works-in-Progress Workshop for Fifth Years

Fisher-Bennett Hall, room 135 (Faculty Lounge)
Apr

27

(All day)

Last day of classes

University of Pennsylvania
Apr

27

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Urvashi Chakravarty (Assistant Professor of English, University of Toronto)

Location: Zoom
Aug

30

10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Graduate 50 Book Exams

Exams will be held 10-12 PM or 2-4 PM by Zoom. Information will be sent to you by your 50-Book Chair.
Aug

30

2:00 PM to 3:30 PM

GAS New student Orientation remotely

English Department New student Orientation by Zoom
TBA
Sep

4

(All day)

Graduate 50 Book Exams Reports due to Graduate Coordinator

FBH
Sep

8

5:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Collation and Department Party

Log in with Penn Key for location details

Material Texts: Christina Lupton (University of Copenhagen): "Corona Time: Reading Fiction During the Covid-19 Pandemic"

Material Texts: Margaret M. Bruchac (Penn): "Reading the Material and Textual Histories in a Path Wampum Belt"

Premodern Studies: Simone Chess (Associate Professor of English, Wayne State University)

AmLit: Máyọ̀wá Ajibade: "The Rip and the Swirl: Desire and The Philosophies of Black Existence in The Flagellants and A Question of Power"

Material Texts: Teresa A. Goddu (Vanderbilt University): "Antislavery Media"

Mod/Con: Laura McGrath (Temple University)

Material Texts: Brenton Sullivan (Colgate University): "Buddhist Monastic Constitutions"

Premodern Studies: Rita Copeland (Professor of English and Classics, UPenn)

Latitudes: Cajetan Iheka (Yale): "Workshop on African Ecomedia: Network Forms, Planetary Politics"

Material Texts: Michael Suarez (Rare Book School and University of Virginia): Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography, "Printing Abolition: How the Fight to Ban the British Slave Trade Was Won, 1783–1807"

Material Texts: Michael Suarez (Rare Book School and University of Virginia): Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography, "Printing Abolition: How the Fight to Ban the British Slave Trade Was Won, 1783–1807"

Material Texts: Michael Suarez (Rare Book School and University of Virginia): Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography, "Printing Abolition: How the Fight to Ban the British Slave Trade Was Won, 1783–1807"

Material Texts: Elizabeth McHenry (NYU): "'Utterly Worthless'?: Race Publishing, Subscription Books and Black Communities"

ResVic: Russ Leo (Princeton), Title TBA

Material Texts: Asheesh Kapur Siddique (UMass Amherst): "Documenting the Body of State: Paper and the Matter of the US Constitution"

Premodern Studies: Phyllis Rackin Lecture: Carla Freccero (Professor of Literature, UCSC)

Material Texts: Sarah Wasserman (University of Delaware): "Pop-up Buildings and Postage Stamps: Ephemera and the American Novel"

AmLit: Nan Z. Da (University of Notre Dame): "Aspirational Conflicts and the Literature of Causation"

Latitudes, Mod/Con: Joseph Cleary (Yale): Modernism, Empire, World Literature

ResVic: Hannah LeClair WIP, "'Urbanized Rusticity' in the Midcentury Novel"

Material Texts: Material Texts Roadshow (Virtual event): Brian Cassidy (Type Punch Matrix), Michelle Warren (Dartmouth College), Jessica Linker (Northeastern University): "Copy Technologies"

Material Texts: Andrew Pettegree (University of St Andrews) & Arthur der Weduwen (University of St Andrews): "Materializing the Immaterial: Recovering the Lost Books of Early Modern Europe"

Mod/Con, ResVic: Jane Hu (Berkeley): " Reappearing Acts: Asian Americans at the End of the Novel"

Material Texts: Ellen Gruber Garvey (New Jersey City University): "Unstable Access to the Print Record: The Case of Back Number Budd and Nineteenth-Century Newspapers"

Premodern Studies: Matt Aiello (PhD Candidate in English, Upenn)

Premodern Studies: Vin Nardizzi (Associate Professor of English, UBC)

Material Texts: Jerry Singerman retirement celebration

Material Texts: Dahye Kim (Northwestern University): "The Hangul Typewriter: Failing Communication and the Korean Writing System"

Material Texts: Pamela Smith (Columbia University): "Making and Knowing in Early Modern How-To Texts"

Premodern Studies: Dan Wakelin (Professor of English Palaeography, University of Oxford)

Material Texts: Marcy Dinius (DePaul University): "David Walker's Textual Engagements"

Premodern Studies: Hannah Marcus (Assistant Professor of History of Science, Harvard University)

Premodern Studies: Adrienne Williams Boyarin (Associate Professor of English, University of Victoria)

Material Texts: Micha Perry (University of Haifa): "Medieval Jewish Bilingual Charters: Texts, Signs and Sounds"

Premodern Studies: Nicholas Jones (Assistant Professor of Spanish, UC Davis)

Premodern Studies: Urvashi Chakravarty (Assistant Professor of English, University of Toronto)