Colin Rafferty, associate professor of English, recently had his essay “Four Sentences on Failure (#16)” published in the 2016 issue of The Evansville Review. He also moderated and presented a paper on the panel “Joan Didion and Today’s Essayists” on April 2 at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Los Angeles.
Rao Elected President of Faculty Senate of Virginia
P. Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and Director of the Speaking Intensive Program, represented the University of Mary Washington at the Faculty Senate of Virginia’s meeting at Longwood University on April 16. At that session, he was elected President of the FSVA for next year. This group includes representatives from the faculty senates and councils of schools across Virginia, including public, private, four- and two-year institutions.
Mathur Presents at Shakespeare Conference
Maya Mathur, associate professor of English and Associate Chair of the Department of English, Linguistics and Communication, presented the paper “Family Dynamics in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara” at the conference “Shakespeare and Our Times,” which was held at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., on April 14-16. Her paper examined representations of gender in Omkara, an Indian adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello.
Dasgupta Presents at Comparative Literature Conference
Shumona Dasgupta, assistant professor of English, presented the paper “Decolonizing Trauma Studies: Writing the Partition of Bengal” at the American Comparative Literature Association’s annual conference held in Boston on March 17-20.
Richards Discusses Harper Lee at Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival
Gary Richards, associate professor of English and chair of the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, led the discussion of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman at the Breakfast Book Club at the 30th Anniversary Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival held March 30 – April 3 in New Orleans. At the embedded Saints and Sinners conference, he also chaired the panel “Queer (R)Evolutions: Where Do We Go Next?” featuring panelists Dorothy Allison, Alexander Chee, Aaron Hamburger and Sassafras Lowrey.
Barrenechea Appointed IAU College Resident Fellow in Aix-en-Provence, France
Antonio Barrenechea, associate professor of English, has been appointed the Institute for American Universities College Resident Fellow, Aix-en-Provence, France, for the academic year 2016-17. His residency will coincide with a sabbatical project on how the South American underground cinema reinvents Hollywood and European “trash” and avant-garde film sources.
Richards Presents at Southern Literature Conference
Gary Richards, associate professor of English and chair of the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, presented the paper “From Hairspray to Hamilton: Productions of Southernness in the Contemporary Broadway Musical” at the Society for the Study of Southern Literature Conference, themed “The South in the North,” that met in Boston on March 10-12.
Barrenechea Surveys Career of Thomas Pynchon
Antonio Barrenechea, associate professor of English, recently published the retrospective review essay “Thomas Pynchon, Literary Giant.” It is the lead essay in an issue on “Big Novels” for American Book Review 37.2 (2016).
Mathur Presents on Shakespeare and Riot
Maya Mathur, associate professor and associate chair of the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, presented the paper “Riotous Genres” at the annual conference of the Shakespeare Association of America, which was held in New Orleans from March 24-26, 2016. Her paper was part of a seminar on “Shakespeare and Riot.”
Johnson Places a Range of Poems
Luke Johnson, adjunct professor of English, has had his poem “Sally Takes an Art Class” featured as Poem of the Week at The Missouri Review (http://www.missourireview.com/archives/luke-johnson-sally-takes-an-art-class/). He also has two poems included in the new issue of Painted Bride Quarterly and two poems in the new issue of Image.