Prospective Screenwriters!-Get the Low-Down

Sometimes attending a simple lecture can be as inspiring as the mystic muses themselves. One can be especially inspired if a talented speaker,such as our own Michael Mahin is the one speaking. Mahin will be lecturing at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Orange County Chapter's Editor's Day this Saturday. Here, he will be speaking on the way screenwriting techniques can be applied to children's book writing--aspiring screenwriters/child lit authors, get inspired!

Deniz Perin LIVE in Steaming Video on THE LATENT PRINT

One of our fab alumni is the latest addition to the Latent Print arts website--hit the image to the left to be connected. Perin is a graduate of our MFA in Creative Writing.

Deniz Perin is a poet and translator living in San Diego. Her work has been published in several literary journals, including Runes, The Atlanta Review, Sentence, and Pacific Review, as well as in the anthology, A Year in Ink, vol. II. She teaches in the English Department at the University of San Diego.

10 Bucks for a Night of Comedy and Maybe Even a Look Into our Own Souls

With SD having an array of options for amusement, try an insightful night of entertainment and grandeur.

Come and support a fellow San Diego State student of ours, Rachael Van Wormer at the Mission Of New Village Arts

New Village Arts Theatre, located in Carlsbad, offers $10.00 student rush tickets to all students with a valid ID beginning 20 minutes before curtain. Tickets are on a first-come, first-serve basis, and subject to availability.

"THINGS WE WANT has to have the highest cool quotient of any show in town" - NY Times.

One Of Our own, Tyrone Nagai, Reflects On The Economic Tragedy of Today

A member of the San Diego State Family Tree Shines with one of his own crown jewels published in the The New Verse News Journal online. Nagai speaks out on the harsh, yet ever so real realities that much of us are experiencing today.

His talented eloquence and down to earth sonnets can be found at the link below:

http://newversenews.blogspot.com/search?q=tyrone+nagai

Congrats Tyrone!

SDSU's Department of English and Comparative Literature Notes UNION TRIBUNE's Coverage of Marilyn Chin's New Literary Success!

Hit the image above for the feature story and go here for a recent review, also from the pages of The SD Union-Tribune.

For more on Marilyn Chin's Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen, here or hit the bookcover opposite.

High Tech Edith Frampton in the News! literature.sdsu.edu and the Social Networking Scene!

Click the image below for the original story at the SDSUniverse!

In Beta: New literature.sdsu.edu Logo

What do you think? Comments welcome!

Art + Literature = Magic!

Hit the image above for a great site with portraits of writers by an amazing group of indy illustrators--the Carlos Fuentes portrait is really rad!

ENGL 577 Student Makes His Film and Gets into SDFF

Neil Kendricks, part of the literature.sdsu.edu faculty familia and a local director and film curator for MCASD, writes in with the following tidings:

"This Sunday, the U-T's Arts section is publishing my article on the challenges of making short films and select short films - including "Rocket" - featured in SDFF."

Heres a still from Phil's short film:

"Two of my former ENGL 577 students have short films in next week's San Diego Film Festival. One of the students, Phil Wilson, a grad student in TFM, actually went out and filmed the short script that he wrote in last semester's class and he finished the film. Phil's short film "Rocket" is among the shorts featured in SDFF."

For more information on the San Diego Film festival visit http://www.sdff.org/

Cool Trends in Literature! Jane Austen Novel Mash-ups!

click the image for a scanned facsimile; click here for the original source online.

Ilya Kaminsky wins the LEVINSON PRIZE!

Congratulations to Professor Kaminsky!

With all the grumblings and angst raging through our furlough/budget-cut besmeared corridors, it brings great happiness to share that Ilya Kaminsky, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, and Director, Spring 2010, of the MFA Program in Creative Writing, SDSU has won another award:

THE LEVINSON PRIZE, presented annually since 1914 through the generosity of the late Salmon O. Levinson and his family, for the sum of $500, is awarded to Ilya Kaminsky for his poems in the May 2009 issue. Kaminsky was born in Odessa, in the former USSR, and came to the United States in 1993, when his family received asylum from the American government. He is the author of Dancing in Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004) and currently teaches poetry and comparative literature at San Diego State University.

Before Vermicious Knids, There Were Gremlins

Happy September, English Department, from Anne in Special Collections. This weekend marked the birthday of children's author Roald Dahl, known for his beloved classics such as James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One of Dahl's very first stories for children, called The Gremlins, was published in 1943 at the height of World War II. As a Royal Air Force pilot, Dahl became familiar with a superstition among air force men about the nasty little creatures who tinker with plane machinery to sabotage and cause all sorts of annoying mishaps. After being injured on duty and sent to Washington, D. C. as an air attaché, Dahl began writing the story and sent it to Walt Disney. And though he published as a book and made into several cartoons, Disney never made The Gremlins into the feature-length film he had originally wanted, supposedly because he decided there were too many "war films" being produced. Disney and Dahl parted ways (editorial: thank goodness!) after this effort, and The Gremlins was lost to history.

Special Collections just received a really brilliant copy of the rare first edition (published in an edition of only 5,000) from generous donor Carolyn Connor. The book would be at research home in a cultural study of later mythical figures in children's literature, or in textual/illustrative depictions of war for children, or...the list can go on and on! Stop by Special Collections to check out this gem and to see how it might contribute to your research. Tidbit: Dark Horse Comics reissued the original and did a strange tribute to this partnership in 2006.

Edgar Allen Poe Archive Now Available Online! Thanks to boingboing.net!

literature.sdsu.edu and hyperbole books tout LALO ALCARAZ @ AIR CONDITIONED LOUNGE, 7pm, THURS. September 3, 2009

Click here for the coordinates and more!