The Wesleyan Writing Blog

Tom Perrotta will speak at Russell House at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27th, as part of the Russell House Series.

Perrotta’s most recent novels are The Leftovers and The Abstinence Teacher. His novels Election and Little Children were both made into acclaimed movies, and Perrotta received an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay of Little Children, which he wrote with director Todd Field. He is currently adapting The Leftovers into an HBO series along with Damon Lindelof, the co-creator of Lost. Perrotta has taught writing at Yale University and Harvard University and has published essays and reviews in Rolling Stone, GQ, and The New York Times. He also edited the 2012 edition of The Best American Short Stories.

The Writing Workshop will officially close for Spring Break tomorrow, Thursday, March 7th at 11 p.m., and will reopen on Monday, March 25th, at 1 p.m. Questions? Contact Ford Fellow Emma Mohney at writingworks@wesleyan.edu.

If you’re working on papers over break, check out the resources listed on the right side of this page–you’ll find information about style, formatting, and citations, advice about crafting your thesis statement and topic sentences, and fun links to other writing blogs.

If you’re NOT working on academic writing over break, it’s the perfect time to break out your creative writing notebook (oh, you don’t have one? Now’s a great time to start one–keep all of your ideas and observations in one place, and feel very old-school-writer-y) and get writing. About anything! No grades, no professors, no rules.

Finally, if you’re looking for a job next year, have a great idea for an independent writing-based research project, or just want to win accolades (and money!) for your writing, apply for Wesleyan’s Writing Prizes! Learn more about the prizes and submission requirements here. Note that the deadline for prize submissions is Wednesday, March 27th, at 4:30 p.m. (right after break). Get to it!

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, March 6th at 12 p.m. in Allbritton 311 to learn more about Wesleyan Writing Programs’ opportunities for student writers! Professor Anne Greene, Wesleyan’s Director of Writing Programs, will talk about:

1. Writing prizes and summer fellowships for undergraduates
2. Ford Fellowships for graduating seniors, teaching positions in the Writing Programs
3. Wesleyan Writers Conference scholarships. This program offers classes, seminars, and consultations with distinguished writers; close attention to your work; and a chance to meet many editors and agents. The conference has helped many students gain admission to MFA programs and jobs in publishing.

Please note: applications for fellowships and writing prizes are due on Wednesday, March 27th at 4:30 p.m. Applications for Writers Conference scholarships are due on Monday, April 1st (extended deadline). Submission details can be found on the Wesleyan Writing website (links posted above). 

The 2013 Joan Jakobson Evening with A. J. Verdelle and Nikky Finney, originally scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, March 6th, has been postponed because of impending bad weather. Verdelle and Finney will speak at 8 p.m. on Monday, April 15th at the Russell House.

We’ll see you there!

Siddhartha Deb is the author of the novels The Point of Return (a New York Times Notable Book) and An Outline of the Republic. His nonfiction book The Beautiful and the Damned: A Portrait of the New India won the PEN Open award. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, The Guardian, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, The Nation, n+1, London Review of Books, and The Times Literary Supplement. He has received grants from the Society of Authors and the Nation Institute and a fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies.

Deb will speak at the Russell House this Wednesday, February 20, at 8 p.m. as part of the Spring 2013 Russell House Series.

This is a friendly reminder that applications to work with a writing mentor this semester are due tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 7 at noon.

Have you ever wanted a personal editor? Someone who would work with you one-on-one to help you tackle your writing assignments and hone your writing skills?

If so, you should apply for a Writing Mentor!

Your mentor will work with you one-on-one throughout the semester on anything and everything you’re writing, from term papers to cover letters to short stories. Mentors meet with students weekly to help with brainstorming, organization, grammar–even time management.

Students of all years and disciplines are encouraged to apply for this completely free service.

The deadline to apply is Thursday, February 7th, at 12 p.m. (noon). For the online application, click here.

Essayist and biographer Adina Hoffman (Wes ’89) will open this semester’s Russell House Series at 8 p.m. this Wednesday, February 6th at Russell House (350 High St.). Hoffman writes often of the Middle East, approaching it from unusual angles and shedding light on overlooked dimensions of the place, its people, and their cultures. Her books include House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood and My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet’s Life in the Palestinian Century, named one of the best books of 2009 by the Barnes & Noble Review and one of the best biographies of the year by Booklist. She is also the author, with Peter Cole, of Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza, which won the American Library Association’s prize for best Jewish book of 2011. A 2011 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, she lives in Jerusalem and New Haven and is currently a visiting writer in the English department.

Piers Gelly

This weekend, a team of Wes students worked from noon on Friday to noon on Sunday to produce this year’s 48 Hour Magazine. Check it out online to read articles, watch short films, and see original artwork (like Piers Gelly’s untitled painting, at left).

Great job, 48 Hour Mag contributors!