I was invited by Rob McLennan to contribute an essay to a festschrift for Pattie McCarthy. I chose to write about her book Wifthing. Here is the essay:
Grzegorz Wróblewski will have a new book out soon—titled ‘Dear Beloved Humans.’ Here is my blurb: ‘In this book find short brilliant grim verse tales — such as the tale of Anne who lives inside her white dress, or that of the poet who is the only one (including former...
From a new selection of English translations of Grzegorz Wroblewski’s poems (originally of course written in Polish): https://www.mercurius.one/home/ticks-from-hareskov-a-selection-of-grzegorz-wrblewskis-poetry
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 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:
Below is the text of a message I have sent to all ModPo people through the ModPo site. If you don’t currently have access to the site, please simply enroll or re-enroll here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/modpo Greetings from Philadelphia, and from the quaint 1851 cottage called “the Kelly Writers House”! Spring has finally...
On Friday, March 2, starting at 6 PM, Al Filreis will be hosting a ModPo meet-up at Openhouse in San Francisco (located at 55 Laguna Street). We will do collaborative close readings of two short poems. If you would like to join Al and others at this gathering—and possibly for a SF outing afterwards—please...
As you might know, we at the Kelly Writers House at Penn, six years ago, created an open, free, online course on modern and contemporary U.S. poetry. The next 10-week session of ModPo begins on September 9, 2017. We hope you’ll join us (simply click HERE). We have greatly enjoyed working...
The Free Library of Philadelphia is proud to now be leading the Poet Laureate Program. I am honored to continue as a member of the Poet Laureate Selection Committee. We will be accepting submissions from young poets in all styles including written and spoken word, ages 13-18 who are interested in...
A few months ago I announced that the ModPo team would be taking our annual “on the road” webcast to London, England, this year. Today we are excited to share more details of this visit. We are very grateful to our London-based partners for providing us spaces to host our...
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, Counter-Revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-60; 1960: When Art & Literature Confronted the Memory of World War II & Remade the Modern (2021); and The Difference Is Spreading: Fifty Contemporary Poets on Fifty Poems. His new book is The Classroom & the Crowd: Poetry & the Promise of Digital Community (2025). He has taught a massive open online course, "ModPo," to 315,000 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.