As part of the poetry reading series “Whenever We Feel Like It”, Rob Fitterman visited the Kelly Writers House to read from his work. This clip includes Fitterman reading from his book Nevermind, a “relaxing” of the lyrics of Nirvana’s seminal album “Nevermind” into slow poetry.
In April 2016 Anna Maria Hong gave a reading at the Kelly Writers House. One of the poems she read was “Plain As Him.” She introduced by telling us that it is about Donald Trump and also the U.S. women’s soccer team. Thanks to the video editing work of Dylan...
Back in November 2016 I had the honor of presenting the 99-year-old poet Naomi Replansky at Kelly Writers House. Here I’ve selected three photos from the many taken during her visit. Click on a photo for a larger view. I am also and pleased to offer links to various Replansky...
Erin Gautsche—long-time Kelly Writers House program coordinator—gave a talk about what her KWH experience has meant to her at the 20th-year celebration in May 2016.
Today in the student-written, student-edited weekly magazine, 34th Street, there appeared a nice article about the Kelly Writers House that captures the spirit (and food-centricity) of our writerly haven. It can be found HERE. It begins: “It’s another cold, violently windy day in Philadelphia, but in the kitchen, sun streams through...
ModPo Boston alert! We are gathering in Cambridge MA on May 18 for a Writers House “salon”-style evening, including a collaborative close reading of a poem. If you would like to join us, please write to modpo@writing.upenn.edu. Amaris Cuchanski will be one of the readers!
Patrick Bredehoft and I annually come together for a lunchtime conversation about one of Bob Dylan’s albums. In recent years we’ve done “Blood on the Tracks” and “Blonde on Blonde.” Last fall we talked about “Highway 61 Revisited.” Here are two video clips from that discussion (the entirety of which...
Otter Jung-Allen, Philadelphia’s Youth Poet Laureate, performs a poem called “Praise,” about their father. Otter Jung-Allen is a seventeen-year-old genderqueer poet and performer from West Philly. They are the coach of Science Leadership Academy’s Slam League team, a 2015 Brave New Voices International Champion, the 2015 Liberty Unplugged Champion, and the...
Today Nathaniel Mackey concluded his visit to the Kelly Writers House as a Writers House Fellow — with a one-hour interview/conversation moderated by me. Here are some photos I took here and there throughout the day.
Nate read a poem from Blue Fasa while Hannah Judd joined him for an improvised duet—poet’s Andoumboulous voice and cello.
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.