Arts and Humanities Libraries Ekphrastic Challenge

Calling all undergraduate students to participate in an Arts and Humanities Libraries Ekphrastic Challenge!

What is an ekphrastic challenge?

In ancient Greece “ekphrasis” meant describing something with vivid detail. More recently, ekphrastic poetry has come to be known as poetry written about works of art. It usually includes an exploration of how the speaker is impacted by their experience with the work.

For this challenge, we’re expanding the definition to include poetry, prose, or visual artwork based on a work of literature, music, poetry, or art from any one of the Arts and Humanities division libraries. These include the Literatures and Languages Library, the Music and Performing Arts Library, the Ricker Library of Architecture and Art, and the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library. Your piece of writing or art should clearly show your engagement with the work. This guide from Masterclass suggests the following steps to create an ekphrastic poem. These are a good starting point as you create your work!

  1. Choose a piece of art
  2. Write down what you see.
  3. Pick a form.
  4. Write from a specific point of view.

Formatting:

Prose submissions of short fiction, flash fiction, or creative nonfiction may be up to 2,000 words. Poetry may be up to 200 lines in any poetic form. Written works should be in 12-point Times New Roman and submitted as Word documents attached to your email. Please number all pages.

Visual art should be scanned and sent as an email attachment. JPEG or PNG file formats are preferred. If you are unable to scan your work, please take a clear photo and attach the photo to your email.

Please do not include any identifying information on your work.

How to submit:

Once you’ve created your work, submit it to ahlibekphrastic@gmail.com. Submissions must be received by December 15th, 2022. Please follow the formatting instructions above and include your name, program, your work, and a catalog link to the work that inspired you in your email. Refer to this guide for how to locate the permalink in the catalog.

Judges from the Arts and Humanities Libraries and the Editorial Board of Montage Arts Journal will decide on one winner from each category to be published in Montage. Runners-up will receive gift cards to The Literary in Champaign.

Winners will be announced in mid-March 2023.

Twitter Email

Booker Prize and National Book Awards: Shortlisted Works at the Literatures and Languages Library

As the days get shorter and the autumnal chill slowly sets in on campus, it’s the perfect time to curl up with a book from the Literatures and Languages Library. Can’t decide on one? Luckily, fall is peak season for some national and international book awards. Two major prizes recently announced their shortlists, or the finalists in the running for the top place. The Booker Prize shortlist was announced in Mid-September and the finalists for the National Book Award were just announced on October 4th. And you can find many of the shortlisted titles at the Literatures and Languages Library!

The Booker Prize has been active since 1969 and is awarded annually to a work of fiction which the judges believe will be relevant well into the future. While the book must be written in English and published in the UK or Ireland, the authors may have any nationality and origin. This prize is announced in multiple rounds, with the longlist announced in the summer and shortlist announced in the fall. This year, the winner will be announced on October 17th.

In addition to the notoriety that comes with winning a major prize in literature, each author of a shortlisted work receives £2,500 and the author of the winning work is awarded £50,000.

The Booker Prize Shortlist consists of six works of fiction. This year’s list includes both the shortest work ever nominated as well as the oldest author to be considered for the prize. They are:

The Booker Foundation

Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Treacle Walker by Alan Garner

The Trees by Percival Everett

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

The National Book Awards have been around since 1950, when they were established to celebrate the best writing in the United States. There are currently five categories, which include Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature. For each category, ten books are selected for the longlist. This list is narrowed down to five Finalists, from which a winner is chosen. This year, the winners, who each receive $10,000 and a bronze sculpture, will be announced on November 16th.  

To be eligible for the Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, or Young People’s Literature Awards, the author must either be a U.S. citizen or have been approved by a petition process and their book must have been published by a U.S. publisher located in the United States. The Translated Literature Award does not require either the author or translator to hold U.S. citizenship and the original work does not need to be newly published, but the translated work must be in English and must have been published within the eligibility year.

The finalists for the Fiction, Poetry, and Translated Literature are listed here, but be sure to look at the winners for Nonfiction and Young People’s Literature as well!

Finalists for Fiction:

National Book Foundation

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai

The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela

Finalists for Poetry:

National Book Foundation

Look at This Blue by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke

Punks: New & Selected Poems by John Keene

Balladz by Sharon Olds

Best Barbarian by Roger Reeves

The Rupture Tense by Jenny Xie

Finalists for Translated Literature:

National Book Foundation

A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse, translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls (click here for the original in Norwegian)

Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti (click here for the original in French)

Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda, translated from the Spanish by Sarah Booker (click here for the original in Spanish)

Seven Empty Houses by Samanta Schweblin, translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell (click here for the original in Spanish)

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani

Happy reading!

Twitter Email

The Trauma of War and Displacement in the Poetry of John Guzlowski

By Marek Sroka

One of the most interesting examples of traumatic experiences of war and displacement are the poems of John Guzlowski, “arguably the most accomplished Polish-American poet on the contemporary scene.”[1]  Guzlowski, who was born in a displaced persons’ camp in Vienenburg, Germany, after World War II, came with his parents and sister to the United States as “DPs” (“displaced persons,’ the term Guzlowski uses to describe their status) in 1951.  Inspired by the wartime experiences of his parents, the author has been writing poems about his parents’ lives addressing the tragedy of war, the trauma of displacement, and the anguish of immigration.  Moreover, the topics he highlights in his poetry did not disappear after World War II.  Instead, new conflicts erupted that resulted in massive displacement of populations in various parts of the world, including present war in Ukraine.                                                                                                                    In one of his most powerful poems, “Landscape with Dead Horses, 1939,” Guzlowski introduces audiences to the Polish experience of Nazi Germany invasion of Poland in 1939 and confronts them with tragedy of all wars.  Here is the opening verse:

War comes down like a hammer, heavy and hard

flattening the earth and killing the soft things:

horses and children, flowers and hope, love

and the smell of the farmers’ earth, the coolness

of the creek, the look of trees as they unfurl

their leaves in late March and early April

(from Echoes of Tattered Tongues)[2]

Another poem worth mentioning is “Cattle Train to Magdeburg,” in which Guzlowski recreates the experience of his mother’s deportation to Nazi Germany where she would work as a slave laborer.  The poem deals with the universal and often lifelong trauma of displacement caused by wars.  Here is a fragment:

My mother still remembers

The long train to Magdeburg

the box cars

bleached gray

by Baltic winters

 

The long twilight journey

to Magdeburg-

four days that became six years

six years that became sixty

 

And always a train of box cars

bleached to Baltic gray

(from Lightning and Ashes)[3]  

Guzlowski’s poems are emotionally powerful and are anchored in his parents experience as forced laborers and country-less refugees.  Yet, his poetry has universal relevance giving voice to countless refugees displaced and traumatized by wars in the past and current centuries.

Cover of John Guzlowski’s book of poetry “Echoes of Tattered Tongues” (2016)

[1] Thomas Napierkowski, “Lightning and Ashes: The Poetry of John Guzlowski,” Polish American Studies, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 86-93.

[2] John Z. Guzlowski, Echoes of Tattered Tongues (Los Angeles, California: Aquila Polonica Publishing, 2016).

[3] John Z. Guzlowski, Lightning and Ashes (Bowling Green, Kentucky: Steel Toe Books, 2007).

 

Twitter Email

Reading Recommendations for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month. As Anti-Asian hate crimes are on the rise and the AAPI community is threatened by ignorance and cruelty, this APAHM feels particularly important. It is a time to reflect on all of the tremendous gifts, literary and otherwise, that the Asian-American community has contributed to our country and the world. With this in mind, we are highlighting some of the incredible new works by Asian-American authors in our collection.

cover art for Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless GirlsLong Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

Literary essayist Madden’s debut memoir pulls no punches in depicting her coming of age as queer, biracial teenager in Boco Raton, Florida. Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls fearlessly lays bare the many contradictions of Madden’s young life–from the immense privileges of her wealthy upbringing, to the trauma and isolation wrought by her parents’ drug addiction, to the precious and devastating nature of friendship between fatherless girls.

 

cover art for The Color of AirThe Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama

Tsukiyama’s brilliant historical novel tells the story of a Japanese-American family, set against the backdrop of Hawai’i’s sugar plantations. Just as long-standing family secrets and tensions appear primed to explode, another devastating eruption occurs: that of Mauna Loa volcano.

 

cover art for The Unpassing

 

 

The Unpassing by Chia-Chia Lin

Lin’s gripping debut novel interrogates the myth of the American Dream through a Taiwanese immigrant family struggling to get by in Anchorage, Alaska. When tragedy strikes, the resultant upheaval forces the family to reckon with grief and guilt amidst unfamiliar, and often unforgiving, surroundings.

 

cover art for How Much of These Hills is GoldHow Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang

In Zhang’s epic Western set during the American Gold Rush, the orphaned children of Chinese immigrants set out across a harsh and unforgiving landscape in the hopes of burying their father, and their past. The unforgettable sights and adventures they encounter along the way provide a fascinating glimpse of the future that might await them.

 

cover art for Pachinko

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Lee’s powerful historical novel follows a single Korean family through a dramatic saga of betrayal, sacrifice, ambition, and love. The family’s tumultuous story begins with a young Sunja’s unplanned and potentially devastating pregnancy. Unbeknownst to her, the choices Sunja makes will reverberate through generations to come.

 

 

Anti-Violence and Anti-Racism Resources to Support the AAPI Community:

https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/

https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/anti-asian-hate

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-racism-resources-support-asian-american-pacific-islander-community-n1260467

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a35862857/stop-asian-hate-organizations-to-support/

Twitter Email

UIUC Poetry Spotlight: Nneoma Ohale

The Literatures and Languages Library’s celebration of National Poetry Month continues with UIUC student Nneoma Ohale reading her poem “Love Made This Stone Brown.” Watch Ohale’s poetry reading on our Instagram and read her reflections below:

I am Nneoma Ohale, a 20 year old Nigerian-American artist. I am currently a junior at U of I studying English, Secondary Education and Creative Writing. I have been a poet since the age of fourteen when I got the opportunity to compete in Young Chicago Authors’ Louder Than A Bomb poetry festival. National Poetry Month means a lot to me and I am excited to celebrate it with fellow poets and lovers of poetry. I choose to share this poem because it took a lot for me to write it and I feel it is best when read aloud. This poem is my ultimate romantic daydream. I wrote this piece as a reflection of what love can be when lovers are able to truly be there for each other through it all. Despite what we might want to believe, love is not always easy because life isn’t always easy. It is important to be with someone who can stand the rain. The title “Love Made This Stone Brown.” is a nod to the transformative nature of love and its ability to inspire a different course of action. This poem is a celebration of my favorite things: music, life, lovers and nature.

Twitter Email

Archiving Poet’s Voice: Czesław Miłosz Reads His Own Poetry

Many scholars and poetry lovers rightly believe that Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004) is one of the most respected contemporary poets in the world and certainly the most distinguished figure in 20th-century Polish literature. According to Seamus Heaney, Miłosz, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980, created “a unique voice [italics mine]” through his poetry, “a poetry cargoed with a density of experience that has been lived and radiated by an understanding that has rendered it symbolic.”[1]

Miłosz established himself figuratively as a vital and distinctive poetic voice, but one may wonder what his human “poetic” voice was really like. The best way to find out is to listen to the recording of his poetry performed by the poet himself, which brings us to the topic of this post.

The UIUC Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures Professor George Gasyna has recently come across the tape that included the recording of Miłosz’s readings of his poetry. In terms of provenance, the “Miłosz tape” most likely came from the late Professor Stephen Hill who for many years taught Slavic literature at the UIUC and nurtured a passion for Polish poetry, cinema, and theatre. The tape has been digitized by the UIUC Library Preservation Services (thanks to Cristina Kühn, Media Preservation and Digital Reformatting Project Manager) and is currently available for downloading at: https://uofi.box.com/s/1yr7x1iqg62wwd16a5im6hs4s259fg2d

Of course, the question that needs to be further investigated is whether the tape represents an amateur recording of Miłosz reading his poetry in a classroom, at a lecture hall, or at a poetry recital. At this point, it is impossible to state unequivocally that the tape had been recorded privately. It should be noted that there is neither audience applause nor a sign of audience participation on the recording. However, there is no evidence (on the tape itself and on the case) that the recording had been done commercially or that it had been copied from another recording (such as a radio broadcast, a vinyl record, or a commercial tape, etc.). The only thing that is preserved with the tape is a typed list of poems read by Miłosz. Moreover, there is no date of the recording, but it may be a good guess to place the recording in the 1970s or 1980s (when magnetic recording tapes were widely used).

The poems come from two volumes, Ocalenie (Rescue), first published in 1945, and Światło dzienne (Daylight), first published in 1953. Miłosz’s deep voice oscillates between melancholy and indignation, sometimes turning into fury. It is a real treat to hear him reciting his own poetry while different images come to life as if conjured by the poet himself. And the beauty of his voice is enriched by the melodic accent of the kresy (the Polish-Lithuanian borderlands where he came from).                                              Thanks to Professor Gasyna and the UIUC Library the poet’s voice has been rediscovered and has been preserved for generations of students, scholars, and poetry enthusiasts.

[1] Hawkins, Kaitlin. “Czeslaw Milosz Centennial.” World Literature Today 85, no. 3 (2011): 6. Gale Literature Resource Center (accessed February 23, 2021). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A255971255/LitRC?u=uiuc_uc&sid=LitRC&xid=2f689b1a.

The tape.

A list of poems read by Miłosz (included with the tape).

Twitter Email

The Finalists for the National Book Awards Have Been Announced!

Congratulations to the finalists selected for the National Book Awards!

Divided into five categories–fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and young people’s literature–the National Book Awards seek to celebrate the best literature in America. Five finalists each are selected from ten longlisted books per category, with the winners of the prize being announced on November 18th.

Below are the finalists for the Fiction, Poetry, and Translated Literature prizes. To find them in the library’s collection, click the image of the cover.

Finalists for the Fiction Award: 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finalists for the Poetry Award:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finalists for the Translated Literature Award:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter Email

Congratulations to Shortlisted Authors for the Booker Prize!

On September 15th, the Booker Prize announced its shortlisted works and authors, all finalists for the prestigious award. Of the thirteen longlisted novels, six were chosen as finalists for the prize. Congratulations to all authors!

The winner, selected from the six finalists, will be chosen on November 19th. If you’d like to read any of the shortlisted works, we’ve got you covered! The library has just about every novel listed.

The shortlisted novels include:

cover art featuring pink birds on a blue background

Though the library doesn’t have Diane Cook’s newest book quite yet, for more information on the novel, click the image above, which will take you to the author’s webpage.

cover art of a green succulent on a purple background

Burnt Sugar, by Avni Doshi. Click image for catalog link.

 

 

 

cover art of legs in ballet flats on a black background

This Mournable Body, by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Click image for catalog link.

cover art of a person in shadow with a multicolored background

The Shadow King, by Maaza Mengiste. Click image for catalog link.

black and white cover of parent and child facing each other

Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart. Click image for catalog link.

 

 

 

 

 

cover art of bird on a black and red background

Real Life, by Brandon Taylor. Click image for catalog link.

Twitter Email

Congratulations to the Winner of the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction!

Recently, the winner of the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction was announced. Congratulations to Maggie O’Farrell, who won for her novel, Hamnet!

cover art for hamnet, with a giant letter h covered in leaves and flowers

This year was the 25th anniversary for the award, which was first given out in 1996 under the title of the Orange Prize for Fiction. The creation of Women’s Prize began back in 1991, after not a single woman was on the Booker Prize shortlist, despite the fact that a great number of novels published that year (around 60%) were written by women. After further research showed that only 10% of all writers shortlisted for the Booker Prize were women, the eventual founding committee sought to create a prize that celebrated these neglected authors. Thus, the Women’s Prize for Fiction was born.

Previous winners of the award include Tayari Jones, Kamila Shamsie, and Naomi Alderman.

Even though Hamnet isn’t available through the library just yet, you can read Maggie O’Farrell’s other works, as well as those of former winners of the prize! Here are a few you can get through the library:

cover art for i am, i am, i am.

I am, I am, I am, by Maggie O’Farrell. Click for catalog link.

cover art for an american marriage.

An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones. Click for catalog link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cover art for home fire

Home Fire, by Kamila Shamsie. Click for catalog link.

cover art for the power

The Power, by Naomi Alderman. Click for catalog link.

 

 

Twitter Email

Marcel Proust & His Madeleines

Marcel Proust is famous for many things, one of which is his inclusion of madeleines in his infamous work, In Search of Lost Time. But where did madeleines originate, and why would Proust choose include this specific dessert in his writing?

Madelines are small, spongy cakes, known for their seashell-like shape and iconic “hump” that develops when baked in the oven. The way in which the cake batter is whisked and mixed together results in an airy and light cake when baked in the oven and is a lighter sort of batter than the traditional sponge cake.

The dessert was thought to have originated in 17th century France, specifically in the Lorraine region. Over time, several legends explaining the invention of these sweets began to circulate. No one knows the true story, but one such tale focuses on a woman named Madeline. The legend claims that when a young woman stepped in as the pastry chef to the Duke of Lorraine, she chose to bake these delicious, airy cakes that came from her grandmother’s recipe, as they were the only thing she knew how to make. The Duke loved them so much that he decided to name them after the girl who’d baked them. Thus, madeleines were born.

There are several other legends regarding the origins of the madeleine, including finding the recipe on a pilgrimage to Spain; in fact, one story claims that Louis XV tried this new dessert and loved it so much that he popularized it in France. Though these stories all differ, there’s one thing in common: each time, a woman named Madeline is the one responsible for the invention.

We may never know the true origins of the madeleine, but its popularity–particularly in France–is obvious. But what about these desserts enamored Proust so much?

Proust first mentions madeleines in connection to memory:

“She set out for one of those short, plump little cakes called ‘petites madeleines,’ which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim’s shell…No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through my whole body, and i stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place.”

–Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past, Volume One

As soon as the narrator tries the madeleine, his senses are overwhelmed by the flavor, causing him to remember–involuntarily–an old memory from his past.

“And suddenly the memory returns. The taste was that of the little crumb of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray…when I went to say good day to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of real or of lime-flower tea. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it; perhaps because I had so often seen such things in the interval…But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered…the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls, ready to remind us, waiting and hoping for their moment.”

–Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Lost Things, Volume One

Whether he shares the narrator’s experience of this dessert evoking a specific memory, or simply enjoyed the pastry enough to want to include it, Proust’s fondness for madeleines is undeniable. Perhaps that’s why, instead of including macarons–another dessert commonly associated with France–he instead opted for a more delicate pastry. One that happens to pair incredibly well with coffee and tea.

Despite their exquisite appearance, you can make madeleines of your own at home. All you need is a whisk, a madeleine tin, and a little bit of patience.

Madelines (recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

Ingredients: 

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 2 eggs, room temp.
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • Chocolate if desired (for dipping)

Method: 

  1. Melt butter and set aside to cool.
  2. With a whisk (or equivalent attachment for a stand or handheld mixer), whisk eggs and sugar together until the batter becomes thick and pale, and forms ribbons when you lift the whisk (approx. 8 mins.).
  3. Beat in vanilla extract until combined.
  4. Fold in flour, baking powder, and salt. Be gentle when folding the dry ingredients into the egg and sugar mixture, as the batter is delicate.
  5. Stir about 1/4 of the butter into batter. It will take a minute to incorporate. After its combined, stir the rest of the butter into the mixture. Batter will appear thick and shiny.
  6. Cover and chill for ~30-60 mins. 45 minutes is ideal.
  7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
  8. Spray madeleine pan with nonstick cooking spray, or brush melted butter into pan to avoid sticking. Drop about 1 tbsp of batter into each madeleine mold.
  9. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops spring back after being lightly pressed on.
  10. Transfer to baking rack to cool, and if desired, dip in chocolate or add any other desired toppings.
  11. Enjoy!

 

Twitter Email