Upcoming Events

Jan

30

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Alexander Bevilacqua (Williams College): "Festivities and Race-Making: Assessing The Visual and the Written Record"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library

In the sixteenth-century German-speaking lands, the knightly tournament developed into an activity for the impersonation of visible human difference. Long before it became common to enlist non-European people in court performances, European princes and nobles themselves impersonated foreign rulers through costuming, masking, and cosmetic transformation. Though eventually they would incorporate Atlantic materials and referents, these performances initially expressed longstanding Mediterranean and Central European perceptions of human alterity, in particular those of chivalry.
Jan

31

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Candidate Job Talk

Fisher-Bennett Hall
Feb

2

12:00 PM to 1:30 PM

A Special Episode of "PoemTalk": On June Jordan

Featuring Erica Hunt, Amber Rose Johnson, and Davy Knittle with PoemTalk producer-host Al Filreis
Kelly Writers House | 3805 Locust Walk

Watch Live on YouTube
Feb

2

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

ResVic: A Work-in-Progress by Katie Charles (Washington College)

Fisher-Bennett Hall Graduate Lounge (FBH 330)
Feb

3

12:00 PM to 1:30 PM

Graduation Info Session

Zoom

Information session for Ph.D. graduation procedures. Most relevant to students planning to graduate in Spring, Summer, or Fall 2023, but all are welcome.
Feb

3

12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

1st-Years: 50-Book Prep Meeting

FBH Grad Lounge

Information session for 1st-year Ph.D. students about their 50-Book exam.
Feb

3

2:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Undergraduate Advisory Board Gathering

Fisher-Bennett Hall Faculty Lounge, room 135

Join the UAB on Friday, February 3rd for a casual get-together in Fisher Bennett Hall’s Faculty Lounge at 2pm! Talk books, classes, and all things English at Penn. Light refreshments to be provided. Feel free to read Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis in preparation for a book club-style discussion, or skip the reading and just come for the fun.
Feb

6

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Zachary Lesser (Penn) and Whitney Trettien (Penn): "'Preserved as a Relic': What Happened to Edwin Forrest’s Burned First Folio?"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Feb

7

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Candidate Job Talk

Fisher-Bennett Hall
Feb

7

6:00 PM to 7:30 PM

Novelist Ling Ma at Kelly Writers House

Kelly Writers House in the Arts Café and on Youtube

REGISTER HERE to attend in person
Feb

9

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Candidate Job Talk

Fisher-Bennett Hall
Feb

10

(All day)

Deadline to Submit Submatriculation Application

Online

More details and submission guidelines: https://www.english.upenn.edu/undergraduate/submatriculation
Feb

10

(All day)

WIPs Sign-up for Wednesday, April 24 Deadline

FBH
Feb

10

(All day)

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

FBH
Feb

10

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

AmLit, Mod/Con: Sonya Posmentier (NYU)

Fisher-Bennett Hall Graduate Lounge (FBH 330). Please reach out to the coordinators for any required readings.
Feb

13

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Vance Byrd (Penn): "Adalbert Stifter and Pantheon Illustrated Editions"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Feb

14

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty meeting (3:30-5)

Fisher-Bennett Hall Business Office room 135
Feb

15

(All day)

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

FBH
Feb

15

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

15

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Professor Ruben Espinosa (English, Arizona State University)

Zoom

Organizers: George Perez & Nat Rivkin
Feb

16

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

ResVic: A Talk by Dustin Stewart (Columbia): "Crabbe's Habitats"

Fisher-Bennett Hall Graduate Lounge (FBH 330)
Feb

20

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: David Bell (Princeton): "Talking Back to the Philosophes: The Case of Claude-Rigobert Lefebvre de Beauvray"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Feb

21

6:00 PM to 7:30 PM

English Majors & More Dinner

Hill College House

This semester, Penn English will host a Majors and More Dinner in Hill College House on Tuesday, February 21st at 6pm. Register here!

ABOUT THE MAJORS AND MORE DINNERS

The College of Arts & Sciences in collaboration with the College Houses and academic departments and programs holds a series of dinner discussions on majors, minors, and academic options. These free dinners provide an opportunity to meet with faculty, staff, and upperclass students in a small, relaxed setting.
Feb

23

5:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Mod/Con, ResVic: Jed Esty, Nancy Yousef (Rutgers) & Jonah Siegel (Rutgers)

TBA

Book event celebrating three 2022 publications: The Aesthetic Commonplace (Yousef), Overlooking Damage (Siegel), and The Future of Decline (Esty). Co-sponsored by the Res-Vic and Mod/Con Working Groups.

Organizers: Eilis Lombard, Hannah LeClair (Comp Lit), Jonathan Dick, and Peter Diamond
Feb

24

1:00 PM to 2:30 PM

Resume & Cover Letter Workshop for English Majors

Fisher-Bennett Hall Faculty Lounge (room 135)

Join us for an interactive, hands-on session focused on resume and cover letter writing. This workshop is specifically for English majors, and is open to students at all levels: first-year to senior!

Bring your laptop, resume, and cover letter. We’ll provide the tips and tools to refine your job materials, and have a Career Services advisor on-hand to answer individual questions. We can also help you get started if you’re in the early stages of your job or internship search. Interview preparation support available as well!
Feb

26

(All day)

Deadline to Submit CURF Summer Humanities Internship Program Applications

Online

More details and submission guidelines: https://curf.upenn.edu/content/summer-humanities-internship-program-ship
Feb

27

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Talya Fishman (Penn): "A Scripture-Centered Practice of Jewish Material Devotion in Medieval Spain and Its Cultural Setting”

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Mar

1

(All day)

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

FBH
Mar

1

12:00 PM

Deadline to Submit Undergraduate Essay Prizes

Online

More details and submission form: https://www.english.upenn.edu/undergraduate/prizes

The Annual Student Essay Prize requirements are the following:

1. Only one entry per student per prize. If you enter two contests, you must submit one essay for each contest.

2. Please do not submit the same essay for more than one prize.

3. Essays from Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022, and Fall 2021 are eligible.

4. All submissions must be in by March 1, 2023, at noon.
Mar

1

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Professor Valerie Traub (English & GSWS, University of Michigan)

Phyllis Rackin Lecture
Zoom

Organizers: George Perez & Nat Rivkin
Mar

2

5:30 PM to 7:00 PM

ResVic: A Talk by Simon Reader (CUNY, College of Staten Island)

Fisher-Bennett Hall Graduate Lounge (FBH 330)
Mar

4

(All day)

Spring Break

University of Pennsylvania
Mar

13

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Latitudes, ResVic: A talk by Ashley Cohen (USC)

Faculty Lounge, Fisher-Bennett Hall
Mar

13

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Oscar Aguirre-Mandujano (Penn): "Metaphors, Conjectures, and Opinions: Talking About Books in Early Modern Ottoman Texts"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Mar

20

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Dianne Mitchell (University of Colorado Boulder): "Folding the Lyric"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Mar

21

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty meeting (3:30-5)

Fisher-Bennett Hall Faculty Lounge room 135
Mar

22

(All day)

Visiting Days for Accepted Ph.D. Students

Penn's campus
Mar

22

12:00 PM

Deadline to Submit Undergraduate Honors Program Application

Online

More details and submission guidelines: https://www.english.upenn.edu/undergraduate/honors
Mar

24

9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Infidelities: New Directions in Armenian Studies

Location: Slought Institute and the ICA

host website: https://slought.org/resources/infidelities
Mar

24

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Mod/Con: Arthur Wang (Penn), “Inventing Rape Ecology: Octavia E. Butler and the Sociobiology of Sexual Violence"

Fisher-Bennett Hall Graduate Lounge (room 330)

Join the Mod/Con group in FBH's graduate lounge for a work-in-progress by Arthur Wang. Please reach out to Jonathan Dick (jondick@sas.upenn.edu) or Eilis Lombard (elombard@sas.upenn.edu) for a copy of the readings.
Mar

25

(All day)

CTL Graduate Fellowship Application due to Grad Coordinator by 12pm

FBH
Mar

24

9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Infidelities: New Directions in Armenian Studies

Location: Slought Institute and the ICA

host website: https://slought.org/resources/infidelities
Mar

24

9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Infidelities: New Directions in Armenian Studies

Location: Slought Institute and the ICA

host website: https://slought.org/resources/infidelities
Mar

27

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Tiffany Stern (Birmingham): "Clown Images in and Beyond the Early Modern Playhouse"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Mar

30

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

Professor Irving Goh (National University of Singapore), “Living on After Failure”

Room 401 FBH
Apr

3

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Christy Pottroff (Boston College): "Postal Hackers: Reading the Earliest Letterbooks of the U.S. Postmaster General (1789–1805) for the Extraordinary"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Apr

3

5:30 PM to 7:00 PM

AmLit, Latitudes: A talk by Yogita Goyal (UCLA)

Faculty Lounge (FBH)
Apr

5

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Premodern Studies: Jenna Nordness (PhD Candidate, English, Penn)

Zoom
Apr

7

3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

ResVic: A Virtual Discussion of John Ruskin with Graduate Consortium

Zoom
Apr

10

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Leah Price (Rutgers), Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Apr

10

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Leah Price (Rutgers), Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Apr

10

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Leah Price (Rutgers), Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Apr

17

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Jessica Linker (Northeastern): "Reimagining Women's Roles in 19th-Century American Scientific Illustration"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Apr

18

3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Faculty meeting (3:30-5)

Fisher-Bennett Hall Faculty Lounge room 135
Apr

19

1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Dissertation Defense: Alex Millen

FBH Faculty Lounge
Apr

19

4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

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

Zoom

Organizers: Nat Rivkin & George Perez
Apr

20

5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

AmLit, Latitudes, Mod/Con: Michaela Bronstein (Stanford)

Fisher-Bennett Hall Graduate Lounge (FBH 330). Please reach out to the coordinators for any required readings.
Apr

21

2:30 PM to 4:00 PM

ResVic: A Work-in-Progress by Molly Young

Fisher-Bennett Hall Graduate Lounge (FBH 330)
Apr

24

12:00 PM to 2:00 PM

Works-in-Progress Workshop for Fifth Years

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

24

5:15 PM to 6:30 PM

Material Texts: Roger Chartier (Penn): "Who Died on April 23? Three Textual Connected Histories between Peru, Spain and London"

Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
Apr

26

(All day)

Last day of classes

University of Pennsylvania
Apr

27

8:00 AM to 9:00 PM

End of the Year, Festivities

Fisher-Bennett Hall Rooms 222/223/224
May

15

8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Commencement!

Fisher Bennett Hall Rooms 222/223/224
Sep

7

5:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Collation and Department Party

Log in with Penn Key for location details

Material Texts: Alexander Bevilacqua (Williams College): "Festivities and Race-Making: Assessing The Visual and the Written Record"

ResVic: A Work-in-Progress by Katie Charles (Washington College)

Material Texts: Zachary Lesser (Penn) and Whitney Trettien (Penn): "'Preserved as a Relic': What Happened to Edwin Forrest’s Burned First Folio?"

AmLit, Mod/Con: Sonya Posmentier (NYU)

Material Texts: Vance Byrd (Penn): "Adalbert Stifter and Pantheon Illustrated Editions"

Premodern Studies: Professor Ruben Espinosa (English, Arizona State University)

ResVic: A Talk by Dustin Stewart (Columbia): "Crabbe's Habitats"

Material Texts: David Bell (Princeton): "Talking Back to the Philosophes: The Case of Claude-Rigobert Lefebvre de Beauvray"

Mod/Con, ResVic: Jed Esty, Nancy Yousef (Rutgers) & Jonah Siegel (Rutgers)

Material Texts: Talya Fishman (Penn): "A Scripture-Centered Practice of Jewish Material Devotion in Medieval Spain and Its Cultural Setting”

Premodern Studies: Professor Valerie Traub (English & GSWS, University of Michigan)

ResVic: A Talk by Simon Reader (CUNY, College of Staten Island)

Latitudes, ResVic: A talk by Ashley Cohen (USC)

Material Texts: Oscar Aguirre-Mandujano (Penn): "Metaphors, Conjectures, and Opinions: Talking About Books in Early Modern Ottoman Texts"

Material Texts: Dianne Mitchell (University of Colorado Boulder): "Folding the Lyric"

Mod/Con: Arthur Wang (Penn), “Inventing Rape Ecology: Octavia E. Butler and the Sociobiology of Sexual Violence"

Material Texts: Tiffany Stern (Birmingham): "Clown Images in and Beyond the Early Modern Playhouse"

Material Texts: Christy Pottroff (Boston College): "Postal Hackers: Reading the Earliest Letterbooks of the U.S. Postmaster General (1789–1805) for the Extraordinary"

AmLit, Latitudes: A talk by Yogita Goyal (UCLA)

Premodern Studies: Jenna Nordness (PhD Candidate, English, Penn)

ResVic: A Virtual Discussion of John Ruskin with Graduate Consortium

Material Texts: Leah Price (Rutgers), Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography

Material Texts: Leah Price (Rutgers), Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography

Material Texts: Leah Price (Rutgers), Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography

Material Texts: Jessica Linker (Northeastern): "Reimagining Women's Roles in 19th-Century American Scientific Illustration"

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

AmLit, Latitudes, Mod/Con: Michaela Bronstein (Stanford)

ResVic: A Work-in-Progress by Molly Young

Material Texts: Roger Chartier (Penn): "Who Died on April 23? Three Textual Connected Histories between Peru, Spain and London"