Kind of like Oprah's book club, but for Penn alumni...

Kind of like Oprah’s book club, but for Penn alumni…

When I was back at Penn in the early to mid-90s Penn didn’t have cable in the quad, a cafeteria in Rosengarten library …or a thriving writer’s community.

All of that has now changed… but most notably, the writer’s community part.

Over the years. through emails and his visits to Los Angeles, I have been able to see how Al Filreis (Writer’s House Founder, Kelly Professor of English) has created quite the active community for writers… on campus as well as online.

The latest from Al for alumni and Penn families is the Kelly Writers House Online Book Groups. This includes:

Five 5-day discussion groups on:
* Richard Ford’s story “Abyss”
* Mina Loy’s amazing poem “Lunar Baedeker” (1923)
* A.S. Byatt’s “A Stone Woman” taught by novelist Karen Rile
* selections from Art Spiegelman’s MAUS
* two poems by Emily Dickinson

and 2 month-long discussion groups:
* Al Filreis teaches Lynne Sharon Schwartz’s 9/11 novel,
THE WRITING ON THE WALL
and
* Michael Gamer teaches Jane Austen’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Some quotes about the club:
“Thanks for a great introduction to using the Internet as more than a place to shop. I really enjoyed the class and the stories, but even more so the interactions among the participants.”–Tara Harper (Law ’93)

“These groups have the feel of a new type of groundwork being laid.”–Alberto
Fernandez (C’74)

To join (specify which group, please) contact: [email protected]