The new Wounded Galaxies Festival to bring avant-garde arts, experimental music to town
Be prepared to be surprised. The Wounded Galaxies Festival of Experimental Media will launch next week with a mix of music, film and other happenings. “Wounded Galaxies will bring together a world-class slate of performers and filmmakers, the kind of slate that you would ordinarily have to go to Chicago to see,” said Joan Hawkins, […]
IU professor looks at how ‘The Simpsons’ ’embiggened’ the English language
Guest post courtesy of IU Newsroom intern Emily Davis: Indiana University English professor Michael Adams is a specialist on history, theory and the practice of lexicography. He considers himself a standard English speaker with an affinity for historical dictionaries. He also appreciates the complex vocabulary of Homer Simpson. Adams recently published a blog post for […]
Poet and IU alumnus Khaled Mattawa awarded ‘genius grant’ as 2014 MacArthur Fellow
Khaled Mattawa, who earned his MFA in poetry at Indiana University, was recently named a 2014 MacArthur Fellow. This year, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded unrestricted grants of $625,000 to 21 individuals who demonstrate exceptional creativity in their work. The foundation called Mattawa a “cultural ambassador” whose masterful translations make the […]
Maya Angelou: A poet, artist for the ages
Guest post courtesy of IU Newsroom colleague Jaclyn Lansbery: Modern Renaissance woman Maya Angelou – published poet, memoirist, singer, professor and civil rights activist – took the IU Auditorium stage on March 1, 2009, speaking of her difficult childhood growing up in rural Arkansas during the time of Jim Crow laws. Her visit to IU […]
‘The Poetics of Rap’ — IU English professor breaks it down in the classroom
Guest post courtesy of IU Communications colleague Jaclyn Lansbery. Video by multimedia intern Lena Morris. Adrian Matejka asks his students to raise their hand if they’ve ever heard of American hip hop artist Mos Def. Most of them – about more than half of the class – raise their hands. Then he asks if they’ve […]
Author, former IU English professor Scott Russell Sanders: ‘True art emerges out of the desire to shape something’
Guest post courtesy of IU Newsroom colleague Jaclyn Lansbery: Every time my two young nieces get their hands on a palette of paint colors, they seize the chance to create something colorful they can give to my mother, who proudly hangs their artwork on the refrigerator door like masterpieces. My mother then, of course, is […]
IU English, creative writing professor: ‘My students inspire me on a daily basis’
I once heard author Anna Quindlen say that when she was a journalist, everyone assumed she made details up, but once she wrote a book, everyone assumed her characters were based on real people. I recall laughing at the time, thinking writers just can’t win. But for IU Department of English assistant professor Jacinda Townsend, […]
IU English professor wraps up project directing Shakespeare iPad app
With the flick of a finger, IU associate English professor Ellen MacKay navigated through her iPad, pointing out her favorite images embedded within the newly-released scholarly application she directed for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The app helps readers interact with Shakespeare’s well-known text in new ways. Among other things, it features expert commentaries from leading […]
Alumna: Book, work with Congolese refugees wouldn’t have happened without IU
IU Bloomington alumna Ming Holden has finished her first book, a nonfiction first-person narrative about her experience founding a theater group with Congolese refugee girls in a Nairobi slum in 2011. Known as the “Survival Girls,” the girls are orphans and survivors of severe gender-based violence. They’ve continued to meet since Holden’s initial work with […]
IU slang expert takes on new book, new title
Think of IU associate English professor Michael Adams as a word nerd. A grammar geek. The sultan of slang, even. Author of “Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon” and “Slang: The People’s Poetry,” Adams is expecting a new book on profanity to be published by Oxford University Press in the spring. He couldn’t […]
