The Wesleyan Writing Blog

When: Tuesday, April 22nd, 4:30 p.m.Where: PAC 001

Although the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars constitute two of the longest wars in American history, American literature from these wars is only now beginning to flourish. Novels such as Kevin Powers’ The Yellow Birds and Phil Klay’s Redeployment are slowly beginning to enter literary consciousness, but war literature from this dark period is still an underwritten and understudied genre. Next Tuesday, Wesleyan will host a panel which will hopefully mitigate that situation. Called “War Stories: Reading and Writing the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars,” the panel will feature three writers and commentators who have all written on some facet of the war experience. Lt. Col. Peter Molin is a professor of English at West Point who comments on the war experience on his blog, Acolytes of War. Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya is a novelist whose latest book, The Watch, Publisher’s Weekly compared to the works of Joseph Heller and Tim O’Brien. Finally, Roy Scranton is co-editor of Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War, which E.L. Doctorow praised as “searing stories from the war zones of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the USA by warrior writers. Fire and Forget is about not forgetting. It is a necessary collection, necessary to write, necessary to read.” Please join us on Tuesday for what should be a stimulating and informative discussion.

This event is sponsored by the History Department with the support of the Dean of Division II and the co-sponsorship of the Departments of English, Government, and American Studies, the College of Social Studies, and the Writing Programs.

Sammy Rosh has been a writing tutor for two semesters. He currently tutors in Olin on Sunday nights.

On Monday, May 13th at 5 p.m., student writers in WRCT 267 will read from their archive-based creative writing projects. Over the course of the semester, each of these students (enrolled in Teagle Fellow Kate Thorpe’s “Creative Criticism and Inquiry: Writing Documentary Nonfiction and Poetry”) chose an archival collection from the holdings of Special Collections & Archives and wrote a creative piece inspired by the collection.  According to Director of Special Collections Suzy Taraba, “The results are wonderful examples of thinking outside the box of traditional archival research.  The collections chosen range from Civil War letters to the Hewlett Diversity Archive.  A selection of the archival materials will be on display at the reading.”

Come out to support student writer/scholars and hear about fascinating Wes-related history! For more information, please contact Kate Thorpe at kthorpe@wesleyan.edu.

Come hear this year’s writing prize winners read their work at 8 p.m. tonight at the Russell House. It’s the last Writing Programs event of the year, and we’re excited to feature talented student writers Charlotte Hauser, Kyra Sutton, Mary Vallo, Scott Farmer, Natalie Fine, Nicholas Joseph, Kayla Stoler, Anna Swartz, Ryan Sheldon, Piers Gelly, Amy Block, and Elizabeth Sallee. Each writer will read a short selection, and the reading will be followed by a catered reception. Come out to support some of Wesleyan’s best writers!

If you’re interested in being paid to help fellow students with their writing and develop yours in the process, don’t forget that the pre-application to work as a Writing Tutor is due this Friday, April 19th, at 5 p.m. The full application is due next Friday, April 26th, at 5 p.m.

Working as a writing tutor is impressive on a resume or a grad school application–if you’re planning to enter a field in which writing is important (that’s most fields, by the way!), having experience as a tutor will make you stand out. Tutoring is also really rewarding, and fun!

You can find more details about applying on our website, and if you have any questions please contact Ford Fellow Emma Mohney at writingworks@wesleyan.edu. We look forward to receiving your application!