The 2018 Beatrice White Prize has been awarded to Associate Professor of English Eric Weiskott for English Alliterative Verse: Poetic Tradition and Literary History (Cambridge University Press). Presented by the English Association based at the University of Leicester, the Beatrice White Prize recognizes outstanding scholarly work in the field of English literature before 1590.
Award for Weiskott
How to Coach Girls
Seventy percent of kids quit organized sports by age 13, with girls quitting six times the rate of boys. This is one of the realities Alison Foley and Mia Wenjen are hoping to change with their new book, How to Coach Girls (Audrey Press, 2018). Targeted to volunteer parents as well as experienced coaches, How to Coach Girls is a comprehensive guide to coaching girls teams across the spectrum of sports, from soccer to lacrosse, field hockey to softball. The authors cover all the major issues, including how to pick captains, the importance of growth mindset, issues around body image and puberty, as well as the intricacies of coaching your own daughter. Foley is the Head Coach of BC Women’s Soccer. Plymouth WickedLocal article.
Special Delivery
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first installment in J.K. Rowling’s magical seven-book series about a boy wizard and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that ignited a love of reading in a generation of children. Inspired by the BC’s resemblance to Hogwarts, Office of University Communications Creative Producer John Walsh made “Special Delivery,” a Harry Potter-themed video to welcome those accepted to the Boston College Class of 2022. Students have until tomorrow, May 1, to indicate their acceptance of the University’s offer of admission. Read about the making of the video.
Quilting queen
Crafter extraordinaire Erin Burke Harris, a Boston College alumna, has published a book to help quilters sew their own medallion quilt. Make Your Own Medallion (Lucky Spool Media, December, 2017) provides quilters with tools and tips to sew a medallion quilt in any size. Harris’ book provides 30 pre-measured border variations and 6 center medallions so quilters can skip the math and measurements and get to the quilting. Harris is also the author of the book Quilt Essential. She learned sewing in the 7th grade and calls quilting a passion.
Arts Festival’s literary events
The 20th annual Boston College Arts Festival is a showcase celebrating the University community’s talents in music, theater, song, dance, film, and fine arts. The literary arts are also featured. Literary events for this year’s festival include readings by senior English majors with the Creative Writing Concentration on April 27 from noon to 2 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. The seniors are Kaitlyn DeVeydt, Sophia Ihlefeld, Jason Kang, Byung-Hun Kim, Leah Lombardi, Gabriel McClary, Ellen Ray, and Emma Winters. Another event is “Laughing Medusa: Poetry and Prose,” where female artists read their works on April 28 in the tent on Stokes Lawn from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Saga of the Redeemed continues
Archcriminal Tyvian Reldamar has returned in Dead but Once (Harper Voyager, 2018), Book III of the Saga of the Redeemed series by Boston College graduate Auston Habershaw. The series (Book I: The Oldest Trick and Book II: No Good Deed) follows the journey of brilliant schemer Tyvian Reldamar who has been cursed with a magic ring that forces him to do the “right” thing. Now, Tyvian has friends and money, but lots of enemies. Habershaw’s fantasy series is packed with action, intrigue, magic, and crime.
Tellalian Collection
The McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College has acquired a rich trove of Coptic textiles, and an extensive library of accompanying volumes, from collectors Donald and Barbara Tellalian of Newton, Mass. The Tellalian Collection—which comprises thirty-four Late Antique/Coptic textiles from the fourth to eighth century—is significant due to the quality, importance, and conservation of the textiles, as well as the related comprehensive library of 129 books and folios, many of which are rare volumes. The Tellalians chose the McMullen to house these important works to ensure that they are accessible to future generations of students, scholars, and the public. More from BC News.
Greater Boston Intercollegiate Undergrad Poetry Festival
Students from nearly 20 area colleges and universities, including Boston College senior Walker Halstad, will read their original work at the 2018 Greater Boston Intercollegiate Undergraduate Poetry Festival, to be hosted by Boston College today. Halstad, an English major and Hispanic Studies minor enrolled in the University’s Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program, submitted a poem titled “The Elements.” A chapbook of poetry written by participating students will be published in conjunction with the event. Poet Jennifer Barber, founding and current editor of the literary journal Salamander, will begin the festival with a keynote address. More from BC News.
Life on the farm
The Goats Songs (Univerity of North Texas Press, 2018) by Boston College Associate Professor of English James Najarian, has been awarded the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry. Najarian’s debut collection is inspired by his upbringing on a farm in Pennsylvania and offers reflections on nature, animals, and his extended Armenian family. A reviewer for the New York Journal of Books writes, “Najarian takes a risk, breaks with conformity, and succeeds.” Najarian teaches 19th-century literature at BC, where he edits the scholarly journal Religion and the Arts. His poem “The Dark Ages” received the Frost Farm Poetry Prize in Metrical Poetry.
Literary landmark’s future
As Boston’s storied Old Corner Bookstore turns 300, BC Professor of English Paul Lewis co-authors an essay with Nathaniel Hawthorne Society President Sandy Hughes in the New England Review of Books, advocating a plan for repurposing the structure, now a home to fast-food restaurants, into a museum of Boston’s literary history. “Books not Burritos” | Lewis, who led a successful campaign to have Boston officially commemorate its connection to Edgar Allan Poe, is the author of A is for Asteroids, Z is for Zombies: A Bedtime Book about the Coming Apocalypse and Cracking Up: American Humor in a Time of Conflict, and editor of The Citizen Poets of Boston: A Collection of Forgotten Poems, 1789—1820.
BC Bookmarks 