A New Chapter: Women Writing Northern Ireland Now

Tuesday, Nov. 28, at 6 p.m.; Topper Theater, Villanova University

“The Villanova Center for Irish Studies, in partnership with the Consul General of Ireland in New York, will welcome award-winning women writers from Northern Ireland to campus for an engaging literary panel discussion and readings around the topics of women’s rights, the sectarian divide, and social class.” Panelists include: Lucy Caldwell, Jan Carson, and Michelle Gallen. Moderated by Yvonne Cassidy.

This ACS-approved event is presented in partnership with Columbia University, NYU, and Georgetown University, with support from the Government of Ireland and Northern Ireland Bureau. Co-sponsored by: Falvey Library, Department of English, Department of History, Department of Political Science, Department of Global & Interdisciplinary Studies, Gender & Women’s Studies, Center for Peace & Justice Education, Creative Writing Program, the Writing Center, St. Joseph’s University Irish Studies Program, the Irish Diaspora Center of Philadelphia, and the Irish American Business Chamber & Network, Inc.

Register here.

By Lauren Picard 

Photo courtesy of Lauren Picard.

This past Thursday, poet Donika Kelly read her work to a captivated audience in Falvey Library Speakers’ Corner as part of the 25th Annual Villanova Literary Festival.  

After being introduced by two Villanova students, Kelly took to the podium, where her warm and lighthearted presence immediately set the audience at ease. Before diving headfirst into the first poem from her published book, Bestiary, Kelly asked the audience if they knew what a Centaur was. After some chuckles and nods from the audience, Kelly began reading, “Love Poem: Centaur”. Her use of repetition and visual language in the poem not only brought the audience into the mystical land in which a Centaur might truly exist, but also personified the thoughts of a Centaur in love: “Nothing approaches a field like me. Hard / gallop, hard chest—hooves and mane and flicking / tail… Love, / I pound the earth for you. I pound the earth” (Kelly, p. 41). Love and legendary creatures fill the pages of Bestiary, and it was a pleasure to have Kelly take us on a tour. 

Kelly also read from her most recently published book of poetry, The Renunciations, which, as described by the students who introduced her, asks: can experiences be unremembered, and feelings unfelt? In both The Renunciations and Bestiary, Kelly explores love in its many different forms (even through certain poems dedicated to her partner which she fondly describes as “macaroni art”), and engages readers with her vivid language and storytelling.  

The Q&A session following her readings offered the audience a chance to learn more about Kelly’s writing and editing process, to which she had a sundry of candid advice for the aspiring poets in the audience. After the event’s conclusion, Kelly stayed behind to sign books and talk more with audience members.  

Kelly’s was the third event of the Villanova Literary Festival, and both of her books, Bestiary and The Renunciations are available through Falvey Library. The fourth and final Lit Fest event is coming up on Tues., April 18 at 7pm in Falvey Library Speakers’ Corner, and will feature Steph Cha, the author of Your House Will Pay. We hope to see you there!

Lauren Picard ’23 CLAS, is Communication & Marketing Assistant at Falvey Library.

By Julia Wagner

Photo courtesy of http://stephcha.com/

Villanova University’s 2023 Literary Festival will be featuring novelist Steph Cha, author of Your House Will Pay, for a reading and talk on Tuesday, April 18, at 7 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner. Cha was born in San Fernando Valley, California and is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California with her family.

Your House Will Pay is a winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the California Book Award. She is also the author of Follow Her Home, Beware Beware, Dead Soon Enough, and Treasures in Heaven. Her work has made appearances in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She also served as noir editor and is the current series editor of the Best American Mystery & Suspense anthology.

This ACS-approved event—co-sponsored by the English Department, the Creative Writing Program, the Honors Program, Africana Studies, Global Interdisciplinary Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, the Center for Irish Studies, and Falvey Library—is free and open to the public.

Dig deeper and explore the links below for more on Cha’s work:

• Cha’s official website
• Cha’s Twitter and Instagram
• Your House Will Pay (2019)
• Dead Soon Enough (2015)
• Beware Beware (2014)
• Follow Her Home (2013)

Julia Wagner ‘26 CLAS is a Communication major from New Hampshire (Go Patriots!). She works as a Communication & Marketing Assistant at Falvey Library.

By Julia Wagner

Photo courtesy of donikakelly.com

Villanova University’s 2023 Literary Festival will be featuring poet Donika Kelly, author of The Renunciations (Graywolf) and Bestiary (Graywolf), for a reading and talk on Thursday, March 30, at 7 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner. Kelly was born in Los Angeles, Calif., and earned an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in English from Vanderbilt University. She currently resides in Iowa City with her wife.

The Renunciations is a winner of the Anisfield-Wolf book award in poetry, and Bestiary is a winner of the 2015 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry, and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Kelly’s poems have been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review. She is a Cave Canem graduate fellow and member of the collective Poets at the End of the World. She has also received a Lannan Residency Fellowship and a summer workshop fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center. Her work has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Publishing Triangle Awards, the Lambda Literary Awards, and longlisted for the National Book Award.

This ACS-approved event—co-sponsored by the English Department, the Creative Writing Program, the Honors Program, Africana Studies, Global Interdisciplinary Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, the Center for Irish Studies, and Falvey Library—is free and open to the public.

Dig deeper and explore the links below for more on Kelly’s work:

• Kelly’s official website
• Kelly’s Twitter
• The Renunciations (2021)
• Bestiary (2016)
• More Poems by Kelly (Poetry Foundation)
• Self-Portrait With Father (New York Times)
• From the Catalogue of Cruelty (The New Yorker)
• Sixteen Center (The New Yorker)
• Calling: Marfa (The Atlantic)
• An Interview with Donika Kelly (West Branch)

Julia Wagner ‘26 CLAS is a Communication major from New Hampshire (Go Patriots!). She works as a Communication & Marketing Assistant at Falvey Library.

“I am personally so excited that The Renunciations is part of my Moderns curriculum, and I can’t wait to hear Kelly speak!”

Photo courtesy of Isabel Choi.

To celebrate the kick-off of the 25th annual Literary Festival at Villanova, I attended the Charles A. Heimbold Jr. Chair of Irish Studies Mary O’Donoghue’s poetry reading. The event began with a couple speeches of appreciation from Jennifer A. Joyce, PhD, Associate Director, Center for Irish Studies; Villanova University President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD; and Geraldine Byrne Naso, Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, who personally congratulated O’Donoghue on her new post. 

O’Donoghue’s reading invited people to sit and listen. The slightly warm yet cozy atmosphere of the President’s Lounge truly made the poetry reading seem like a personal performance. As an English major myself, I had high hopes for this event, and I was not disappointed. O’Donoghue’s poetry is deeply artistic and emotion-packed. She read a total of three poems, but one struck me most. Her villanelle, “My Daughter in Winter Costume,” inspired by the sculpture, Daughter in Winter Costume (1922) by John Storrs, uses biting language to give the stoic sculpture a personal dimension. In the formulaic villanelle style, the poem continually repeats the same lines, yet O’Donoghue delivered a different mood each time. 

The event concluded with a Q&A session with O’Donoghue who explained a bit of her writing process and struggles as a poet. Overall, the kick-off was enriching and a delightful way to spend my evening. Be sure to join us for the next Literary Festival event on Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner featuring a reading and talk by Tsering Yangzom Lama. 

Isabel Choi ’26 is a Communication & Marketing Assistant at Falvey Library.

We’re gearing up for Lit Fest at Falvey Library! Check out the display on the first floor and be sure to stop by Speakers’ Corner for a reading and talk by Tsering Yangzom Lama on Thursday, March 16, at 7 p.m.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. Photo courtesy of Joanne Quinn, Director of Communication & Marketing at Falvey Library.

This week’s Throwback Thursday (TBT) is a whiteboard drawing of author Wes Moore. Joanne Quinn, Director of Communication and Marketing, crafted the artwork to celebrate Moore’s arrival to Villanova’s campus on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014. Author of the 2014 Villanova One Book selection, The Other Wes Moore, Moore has been the focus of current events as he is the Democratic nominee for governor in the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election. Moore’s most recent book, Five Days, co-authored with Erica Green, “which tells the story of Baltimore in the days that followed the death of Freddie Gray in 2015.”

Dig deeper and explore Moore’s books below:

• The Other Wes Moore (2010)
• Discovering Wes Moore (2013)
• The Work (2015)
• This Way Home (2016)
• Five Days (2021) 

Villanova’s One Book committee has announced that Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas has been selected as the campus book for the 2022-23 academic year.

In Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, Vargas shares the personal account of his life as an undocumented immigrant living in America. Vargas was born in the Philippines and at the age of 12 was sent to the United States illegally by his mother—a fact which he didn’t discover until he went to apply for a driver’s permit and learned his papers were fake. In the years since, Vargas has struggled with his identity, has had a sense of homelessness, and has been frustrated with the fact that there is no clear way to achieve citizenship. Through his work as a reporter and writer, he has been a champion for the human rights of all immigrants.

Villanova University will welcome Vargas to campus to speak on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 5:30 p.m. in the Villanova Room, Connelly Center, as a part of our annual One Book Villanova Lecture during the St. Thomas of Villanova Celebration. A book signing and light refreshments will follow the talk. Please note that you don’t have to have read Dear America to attend the book talk! There will be a limited number of copies available at the event.

Following the author’s visit on September 28, the One Book Committee will continue to focus on the themes and topics presented by Vargas in Dear America by working with campus departments and groups to sponsor topical events so the community can continue the conversation. Be sure to check Campus Currents and Wildcat Newswire for further updates.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

By Kallie Stahl 

The 22nd Annual Villanova Literary Festival begins Thursday, Feb. 20! A reception and book signing with the author will follow each reading. All events begin at 7 p.m. The festival, co-sponsored by the English Department, the Creative Writing Program, the Honors Program, Africana Studies, Global Interdisciplinary Studies, The Writing Center, Gender and Women’s Studies, and Falvey Memorial Library, is free and open to the public.

Dinaw Mengestu — Thursday, February 20, Dougherty Hall, West Lounge 

Mengestu is the author of three novels, all of which were named New York Times Notable Books: All Our Names (2014), How To Read the Air (2010), and The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2007). He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow and recipient of a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction, Guardian First Book Award, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize, among other honors.

• The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/791181
• How to Read the Air: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1272238
• All Our Names: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1495140
• Children of the Revolution: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/2027588

Bryan Washington — Tuesday, March 24, Falvey’s Speakers’ Corner 

Washington’s debut collection of short stories, Lot, was published by  in 2019. His fiction and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, The Paris Review, Tin House, and numerous other publications. He’s also a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 winner, and the recipient of an O. Henry Award.

• Lot: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/2027589
• Link to writing available online via his website: https://brywashing.com/work/

Brenda Shaughnessy — Thursday, April 2, Falvey’s Speakers’ Corner 

Shaughnessy is the author of five poetry collections, including The Octopus Museum (2019), So Much Synth (2016) and Our Andromeda (2012), which was a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Award, The International Griffin Prize, and the PEN Open Book Award. A 2013 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, Shaughnessy is Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Newark.

• Our Andromeda: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/2027580
• So Much Synth: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/2027578
• The Octopus Museum: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/2027579
• Human Dark With Sugar: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1090094

Robin Coste Lewis — Tuesday, April 21, Falvey’s Speakers’ Corner 

Coste Lewis is the poet laureate of Los Angeles. In 2015, her debut poetry collection, Voyage of the Sable Venus, won the National Book Award in poetry–the first time a poetry debut by an African-American had ever won the prize in the National Book Foundation’s history. Lewis’ writing has appeared in various journals and anthologies such as Time Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, Transition, and Best American Poetry.

• Voyage of the Sable Venus: and Other Poems: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1601510

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.