In 1995 the local news station decided that the way I was teaching modern poetry was innovative. So they researched and then filmed a story about it all. This was and is English 88, now also known as ModPo. Here is the LINK to the old video (with thanks to...
I’m including a sampling of three poems by Nelly Sachs in my course on representations of the holocaust. Here is a link to a PDF copy of these three: https://media.sas.upenn.edu/afilreis/holocaust/Sachs-Nelly_selected-poems.pdf
We are adding a filmed discussion of Stephen Ratcliffe’s Sound of Wave in Channel, his 1,000-page poem which, in part, describes a view of the Pacific Ocean from a spot along the road in Bolinas, California—describes it every day for those 1,000 days. Earlier we released a PoemTalk episode filmed...
This is David Slarskey, tweeting all these years later about his experience in English 88, the course on modern and contemporary experimental poetry I’ve been teaching now for 34 years. David took the experimentalism seriously, as you’ll see. This being twitter, you’ll need, of course, to read from bottom to...
I was pleased to publish an essay-review of Joan Richardson’s book How to Live. What to Do: Thirteen Ways of Looking at Wallace Stevens (University of Iowa Press, 2018), in the January 22, 2019 winter issue of American Literary History. He is a PDF copy of the review.
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...
I was reading Ann Lauterbach’s new book of poems, “Spell” (Penguin, 2018), and came across a poem that reminded me why I admire the art I admire. The poem is called “Elision” and here it is:
Thanks to the work of Luisa Healey, PennSound staffer, we have now segmented (into audio clips arranged by topic) the “Close Listening” conversation Charles Bernstein hosted with Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge in 2006. PennSound’s Berssenbrugge author page is HERE. And here are the segments: Close Listening with Charles Bernstein, April 28, 2006...
In a few days we will release PoemTalk episode 128—in which Sawako Nakayasu, Gabriel Ojeda-Sague & Donato Mancini talk with me about Sueyuen Juliette Lee’s “Perfect Villagers.” Below, from left to right: Sawako, Gabe, Donato. Below that, of course, is Juliette.
This is for teachers of K-12 arts & humanities: ModPo is a free 10-week course on modern poetry. Since its founding in 2012 teachers and their students have enrolled and enjoyed the poems, videos & discussions. The ModPo site includes our Teacher Resource Center (TRC), which offers video guides to...
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 1960: When Art & Literature Confronted the Memory of World War II & Remade the Modern (Columbia University Press, 2021). He is currently writing a book about online pedagogy. He has taught a massive open online course, "ModPo," to 265,000 participants in 192 countries since 2012.
Founder/Faculty Director, Kelly Writers House—intro video ][ events calendar
Convener/teacher, “ModPo.” an open online course on modern & contemporary U.S. poetry—overview of the course ][ intro video
Publisher of Jacket2 magazine—my Jacket2 commentary series ][ "First Readings"
Producer/host, PoemTalk podcast series—co-sponsored by Kelly Writers House & the Poetry Foundation
Director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing—Creative Writing ][ RealArts internships ]
Co-founder & co-director of PennSound—50,000 files ][ 15 million downloads annually
Teacher & host, "Kelly Writers House Fellows"—since 1999 ][ Susan Sontag, John Ashbery, Jamaica Kincaid, Laurie Anderson, Adrienne Rich, Joan Didion, John Edgar Wideman & more
Teacher, "Representations of the Holocaust"—a course on survivor testimony ][ my holocaust site
Click on the image for information about the book.