In memory of Paul Kelly — Daily Pennsylvanian, March 15, 2021
I published a memorial comment on Paul Kelly in the March 15, 2021, issue of the Daily Pennsylvanian. It has been issued as a guest column and can be found HERE.
Category: Kelly Writers House
Maury Povich & Connie Chung to endow Summer Workshop for Young Writers at the Kelly Writers House
I am thrilled and honored to announce that Maury Povich (College ’62) & Connie Chung have decided to make a significant gift to the Kelly Writers House to endow our annual Summer Workshop for Young Writers. The gift provides financial aid to support approximately half of the high school juniors and seniors who are selected...
Ron Silliman receives Beltran Award for Innovative Teaching
I am thrilled to announce that the recipient of the Beltran Family Award for Innovative Teaching for 2020-21 is Ron Silliman, who has taught creative writing seminars brilliantly for many years by now. The award, endowed by the Beltran family, is given each year, through a process of student nominations,...
video: celebration of my “Professor of the Year” award, 1998
In 1998-99 I was named the “Pennsylvania Professor of the Year” by the Carnegie Foundation, a huge honor even though I don’t quite know what the award specifically meant. My friends and colleagues at Penn took this as a sign that our success in establishing the Writers House starting 1995-96...
Kelly Writers House Post-Bacc Fellow, 2019-20: Maya Arthur
We here at 3805 Locust Walk are thrilled to announce that MAYA ARTHUR (C’18) has been selected as the inaugural Kelly Writers House Post-Baccalaureate Fellow. The KWH Post-Bacc Fellows project extends a central objective of the Writers House: to direct resources toward opportunities, learning experiences, and foundational support to young...
celebrating Charles Bernstein
We celebrated Charles Bernstein the other night at the Kelly Writers House, marking the occasion of his birthday and of his retirement from teaching at Penn. Lots and lots o’ BBQ, a case of whiskey (not quite all the whiskey in heaven), and much else—and many, many colleagues and friends,...
Eric Andersen sings “Thirsty Boots”
Anthony DeCurtis hosted legendary singer-songwriter Eric Andersen at the Kelly Writers House yesterday. At my request Eric sang “Thirsty Boots” to conclude the event.
John Keene at KWH on February 11/12
We at the Kelly Writers House are thrilled to welcome our first Writers House Fellow of 2019, fiction writer, poet, theorist, critic & translator John Keene, on February 11 and 12. John will visit us for two special programs: * a reading on Monday, February 11 at 6:30 PM; and * an...
House of the Book
Second dwelling from the left: House of the Book. (With thanks to Harris Steinberg & Jane Stevens Steinberg, who gave us a framed sketch of this at the time of the completed first renovation of 3805 Locust Walk in late 1997.)
Kelly Writers House Fellows, 2019: John Keene, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Rosanne Cash
We at the Kelly Writers House are thrilled to announce our 2019 Writers House Fellows events. This year, we will welcome fiction writer, critic, and (as of last month) MacArthur Foundation grantee John Keene, legendary poet Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, and eminent singer-songwriter and fiction writer Rosanne Cash. Seating is strictly limited for these programs, and an RSVP...
Al Filreis is Kelly Professor, Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House, Director of the Center
for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Co-Director of PennSound, and Publisher of Jacket2—all at the University of Pennsylvania. Among his books are Secretaries of the Moon,
Wallace Stevens & the Actual World, Modernism from Left to Right, and Counter-Revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-60. His new book is 
Founder/Faculty Director, 