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Literature

Pandemic project: Odyssey-a-Day
Professor Emily Wilson dressed in costume as three different characters in the Odyssey, one with a fringed scarf around her head, one with an eye patch and a fur headband, and one with a wig with long red hair.

Penn Professor Emily Wilson created a new project while at home during the pandemic, reading short passages from each of the 24 books of her translation of Homer’s “Odyssey,” complete with costumes, props, and voices. The characters included (from left) Helen of Troy, Polyphemus, and Calypso.

Pandemic project: Odyssey-a-Day

Classics Professor Emily Wilson created a project where she filmed herself reading short passages from each of the 24 books of her celebrated translation of Homer’s “Odyssey,” complete with costumes, props, and voices.

Louisa Shepard , Louisa Shepard

Everything you know about startups is wrong, says Wharton professor
picture of booksleeve on the left and author on the right

Everything you know about startups is wrong, says Wharton professor

The new book ‘The Unicorn’s Shadow: Combating the Dangerous Myths that Hold Back Startups, Founders, and Investors’ from Wharton School professor Ethan Mollick debunks myths about entrepreneurship.

Dee Patel

Children’s literature as ‘seed work’
Ebony standing along Locust Walk Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, associate professor of literacy, culture, and international education in the Graduate School of Education.

Children’s literature as ‘seed work’

Penn GSE’s Ebony Elizabeth Thomas discusses the importance of more diverse books for kids and the challenges that continue to stifle early anti-racist learning. She also shares a curated list of recommended books for youth catered to this particular moment.

Lauren Hertzler

Kelly Writers House forum amplifies ideas and voices on racial justice
Six people on a videoconference

Penn's Kelly Writers House held a forum on racial justice featuring authors, students, faculty, and staff reading works written by themselves or others. 

Kelly Writers House forum amplifies ideas and voices on racial justice

Kelly Writers House held a forum on racial justice featuring faculty, students, staff, and alumni reading written works, their own and those by others, that speak to these times.

Louisa Shepard

Literary characters as masks: A reflection on identity during a pandemic
student wearing a dark mask with pom-poms with words #IRunWithMaud

For the final project in a Penn English course on young adult literature, Amy Juang created masks for characters in five books. A double major in English and visual studies from Minneapolis, Juang graduated in May. 

Literary characters as masks: A reflection on identity during a pandemic

An English and visual studies double major, May graduate Amy Juang created five masks to reflect the identities of characters in novels she studied in a young adult literature course taught by Melissa Jensen.

Louisa Shepard

Virtual visitors at the Kelly Writers House
Four people speaking from home each on the computer screen in a videoconference

Two of the three Kelly Writers House Fellows public conversations were held remotely this year, livestreamed online. April’s guests were Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham (top row, left to right) who produce The New York Times podcast “Still Processing.” The question and answer session was managed by Penn’s Julia Bloch, Creative Writing Program  Director, and Lily Applebaum of the Kelly Writers House (bottom row, left to right). 

Virtual visitors at the Kelly Writers House

The Kelly Writers House Fellows course continued remotely this semester for the class sessions and public conversations. Last week’s guests were Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham of The New York Times podcast “Still Processing.”

Louisa Shepard

The coronavirus class divide: Space and privacy

The coronavirus class divide: Space and privacy

Emily Steinlight of the School of Arts and Sciences said narratives about the hazards of close living quarters for poor people date back to Charles Dickens’ 1852 novel, “Bleak House.” “It’s the poorest and most socially marginalized people in the novel who disproportionately die of this disease,” she said. “That also has resonance for what we’re seeing now.”

Professor Emily Wilson named 2020 Guggenheim Fellow
Professor stands outside leaning against a stone wall with trees in the background.

Penn Professor Emily Wilson has been named a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. (Image: Kyle Cassidy)

Professor Emily Wilson named 2020 Guggenheim Fellow

The School of Arts and Sciences professor has received a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in the humanities category for her translations of ancient Greek and Roman literature and philosophy. 

Louisa Shepard