Shapiro Creative Writing Center

For many of the faculty members retiring from Wesleyan this year, representing over two centuries of academic experience, the joy of their time at the University comes down to their work with students. Amy B. Bloom '75, Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing; Stephen Henri Devoto, professor of biology; Fred M. Ellis, professor of physics; Janice R. Naegele, Alan M. Dachs Professor of Science; Stewart E. Novick, Joshua Boger University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics; Irina M. Russu, E. B. Nye Professor of Chemistry; and Peter Gordon Solomon, adjunct professor of physical education announced their retirements and will receive emeritus…

Associate Professor of the Practice in Letters Charles Barber wrote “In the Blood,” the true story of how an absent-minded inventor and a down-on-his-luck salesman joined forces to create a once‑in‑a‑generation lifesaving product. The book was published in May 2023 by Grand Central Publishing. Giulio Gallarotti, Professor of Government, will release a new book titled “Alternative Paths to Influence: Soft Power and International Politics” in June 2023. The book, which explores the process by which soft power is created, will be published by Routledge. He was also recently named a Senior Fellow at the Global Climate Innovation Center, working with businesses…

With access to knowledge under assault across the country, the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department and the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism struck a blow for the freedom to read whatever you like. Last week, the departments hosted two banned book giveaways as part of the Freedom to Learn National Day of Action. On May 3, 2023, FGSS and Shapiro Center gave away almost 100 banned books to students, staff, and faculty. “These actions by FGSS and the Shapiro Center engage the university in a nationwide day of resistance against the banning of books that tell truths about gender,…

Students from the “Dance as Activism” course this spring will perform a new movement piece based on excerpts from Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writer in Residence Mahogany L. Browne‘s poetry collection “Chrome Valley” at Lincoln Center in New York on September 9. Their performance, called “Movement Through The Valley,” received its first showing in the Bessie Schönberg Dance Studio April 14. The “Dance as Activism” course is taught by Assistant Professor of the Practice in Dance and African American Studies Joya Powell. On May 8, the class will share individual projects—solos and duets, and a workshop—in conversation with social issues of their…

Merve Emre, scholar, critic, and contributing writer for The New Yorker, had no expectation as an undergraduate that she would have a literary career. An academic one, perhaps, but a life working in letters didn’t seem to be in her future. As a government major at Harvard, Emre expected to go to graduate school to study international relations. She’d done the appropriate coursework but found herself disengaged from her own field of study. It was literature that captured her attention. “(Literature and criticism) is a process of endless intellectual renewal and gratification. It’s a constant act of communing with the…

(Updated March 1, 2023) Philosopher Kohei Saito ’09 spoke with The Guardian on his work in Marx in the Anthropocene which builds on Karl Marx’s writings on the economic and ecological crises to propose degrowth communism as a “new way of living.” Erika Franklin Fowler, Co-Director of the Wesleyan Media Project, spoke with Campaigns and Elections on the digital advertising spending of candidates in major state and federal races. Gary Yohe, Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, Emeritus, was quoted in a story by The Poynter Institute's PolitiFact on an advertising campaign promoting natural gas’ role in transitioning…

Poet, author, activist, and educator Mahogany L. Browne is having a moment. The stage adaptation of her acclaimed young adult novel Chlorine Sky premieres this month at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater. She’s finishing up a “poetic orchestral” performance she expects to unveil this spring at Wesleyan, where she’s deep into a stint with the inaugural group of Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writers in Residence. And next week, Chrome Valley—the latest collection of verse from Browne, the first-ever poet-in-residence at New York’s Lincoln Center—was published by W.W. Norton & Company. Here, Browne offers insights into her work, creative process, and bringing a sense of…

Yuri Herrera, part of Wesleyan’s inaugural Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writers in Residence program, is regarded as one of the most remarkable writers in contemporary Mexican literature. In spare, weighty prose flecked with language-bending neologisms, Herrera explores borders—the physical, the social, and beyond—in books like The Transmigration of Bodies and Signs Preceding the End of the World, the latter of which The Guardian named one of the 100 best books of the 21st century. A professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, Herrera holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso and a PhD from the…

A new residency will bring a trio of noteworthy writers to Wesleyan for the 2022-23 academic year as the University looks to augment its already robust writing programs. Mahogany L. Browne, poet, curator and author of “Black Girl Magic”; Merve Emre, Oxford professor and New Yorker critic; and Yuri Herrera, an acclaimed Mexican novelist and Tulane professor, will be the first to join the newly established Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writers in Residence program. “The Shapiro-Silverberg program will bring to campus writers whose work is already having an impact on a variety of audiences around the world. The initiative builds on a…

Maaza Mengiste, professor of English, has found that sometimes the scariest thing a writer can do is start over. It’s a hard-earned lesson she had to experience herself, but a vital one that she passes on to her students. Mengiste believes that the benefits of a fresh start are immeasurable. It can be a period where ideas coalesce and, perhaps more importantly, experimentation begins. When asking her students to start over, “They would look at me with sheer terror,” she said. But eventually “they would come back with these spectacular pieces of writing. It was hard to convince them sometimes,…

Author Amy Bloom’s home office overlooks a lovely section of Long Island Sound, with rocky islands in the distance, boats drifting by, and sunlight playing off the harbor. When the time comes to put pen to paper, she has a magnificent view from her window. The great view doesn’t make the work any easier. “The job is, you’ve got to go to the office. You have to sit in the chair. You’ve got to make the effort. These things don’t sprout by themselves. It’s not magic and it’s not the muse. The muse shows up when she will but my…

In this recurring feature in The Wesleyan Connection, we highlight some of the latest news stories about Wesleyan and our alumni. Recent Wesleyan News The New York Times: "Anthony Braxton Composes Together Past, Present and Future" Anthony Braxton, the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music, Emeritus, is profiled. Among other ongoing projects, Braxton has spent much of the past four years working on his newest opera, “Trillium L,” which, he says, “is a five-day opera”—if it is ever performed. 2. Los Angeles Review of Books: "That Bit of Philosophy in All of Us" Tushar Irani, associate professor of philosophy, associate professor of letters,…

Seven Faculty Members Announce Retirements

Faculty Achievements: May 2023

Banned Books Distributed on Freedom to Learn Day

‘Dance as Activism’ Students Create Movements to Poems from Browne’s ‘Chrome Valley’

Emre Named Director of Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism

Wesleyan in the News: February 2023

“We Write a World Around Those Moments”: A Q&A with Mahogany L. Browne, Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writer in Residence

The Musicality of Language: A Q&A with Yuri Herrera, Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writer in Residence

Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writers in Residence Program Launches in 2022-23

Mengiste, Newly Named Guggenheim Fellow, Encourages Risk Taking

Bloom’s New Book Explores How ‘Love Can Reveal Itself in Life’s Most Difficult Moments’

Wesleyan in the News