Next month, the UW-Madison Writers? Institute will celebrate its 25th year of bringing together aspiring and established writers, along with agents, editors and others connected to the business of trying to write well and get paid for it, for two or three days of instruction and elbow rubbing.
The book was UW-Madison?s selection that year for its ?Go Big Read? community-reading project. It has only grown in popularity since then.
The Afro-American Studies department at University of Wisconsin-Madison is being eyed for consolidation with other ethnic studies programs because of diminishing resources, campus newspapers report.
“Broadcast: The Musical” is produced entirely by UW-Madison undergraduates through InterMission Theatre. InterMission was founded in 2012 and most of the performers, like Nicholas Connors, a business and composition major, and Quinn Elmer, who studies political science, are not in the theater department.
Quoted: Judith Claire Mitchell, professor of English and director of the Creative Writing MFA program.
The nude human form?nothing could be more personal, more intimate, more private, right? Well, when considered in the context of the history of art, perhaps nothing could be more saddled with expectations built up over time.
Lorya-Ozulamoi learned about Little Free Libraries while a student in UW-Madison?s Odyssey Project, a humanities program for low-income adults.
A new show opening this week at the Chazen Museum of Art focuses on the historical equivalent of doodling in the margins.
The reopening of the Wisconsin Union Theater this fall after two years under construction will feature big classical music names, starting with cellist Yo-Yo Ma on Oct. 18.
Noted: Rowe, a professor of music at the University of Wisconsin ? Madison, is a former member of the Waverly Consort.
Books can open up new worlds, and introduce readers to fresh voices. But a new survey conducted by the Cooperative Children?s Book Center, a study and research library of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, suggests that when it comes to kids books written right here in the states, the publishing industry doesn?t always give diverse authors and themes much of a chance.
Deborah Blum has a piece of jewelry to die for. The UW professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author shows off a turquoise ring. Twist it, and a secret compartment reveals itself, perfect for concealing a cyanide capsule or other poison.
For several years now, UW students from the Wisconsin Union Directorate?s Film Committee have been heading to Sundance to see the latest movies. And they?ve had a place to stay, thanks to an alumna of the university and WUD.
Academy Award-winning film director Oliver Stone headlines a stellar group of speakers this spring in the Distinguished Lecture Series on the UW-Madison campus.
For Anna Zeide, graduate school doesn?t happen only on UW-Madison?s campus. A part-time job brings her to the Madison Children?s Museum on the Capitol Square, and projects there take her to neighborhoods in other parts of the city in what is known as ?the real world,? a place the university is encouraging more scholars in the humanities to explore.
The UW-Madison-based percussion ensemble is breaking ground by reviving rarely performed works, commissioning new music and even inventing its own instruments.
Noted: Davis was recognized as one of the premier bassists in jazz history and an “eclectic musician” who has performed on some 3,000 recordings, including albums by Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison. In his acceptance speech, the bassist noted some career highlights, including working with jazz legends Sarah Vaughan and Sun Ra, performing with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein, and teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The selection committee for the University of Wisconsin-Madisons common-reading program, Go Big Read, is seeking suggestions of both fiction and non-fiction books that could fit the 2014-15 academic year theme of service.
Madison can watch local jazz legend and UW-Madison music professor Richard Davis receive the nation?s highest honor in jazz on Monday by webcast.
If you missed ?The Poisoner?s Handbook? Tuesday on public television, you still have several chances to catch the documentary based on the book by University of Wisconsin-Madison journalism professor and author Deborah Blum.
The big knock on the digital humanities is that it has no soul. Sure, you can set computers to crunch data on Shakespeare?s plays, but even the cleverest little algorithm is going to miss the anguish at the end of ?Romeo and Juliet.? A new project at the University of Wisconsin, however, shows the artistic potential in cold statistics.
Chloe Smith?s college coursework will include mastering machines known as the Reformer, Cadillac, Low Chair and High Barrel. There will be deep breathing, intense stretching, a lot of sweat and healthy dollops of both pain and pain relief.
Glass artist Harvey Littleton, the man who took an ancient medium and launched an unprecedented glassblowing movement at UW-Madison a half-century ago, died Dec. 13 at his home in Spruce Pine, N.C.
Filmmaker and UW-Madison graduate Jill Soloway, who was just in Madison two weeks ago presenting her first film ?Afternoon Delight,? was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award on Tuesday.
When Bill Gibson introduced his teenage students to a novel set in eastern Turkey about clashes between secular rules and deep Muslim beliefs, he didn?t worry about whether the story would resonate despite an absence of connection to the life they know.
The prestigious Criterion Collection is renowned for releasing classic films, from Jean-Luc Godard?s ?Breathless? to Charlie Chaplin?s ?City Lights,? on Blu-ray and DVD. But the company?s blog recently went outside the home to showcase a theatrical screening at the UW-Madison?s Cinematheque program.
Members of the Classics Society at UW-Madison grew up loving mythological stories and hope to instill that appreciation among elementary students.
Noted: But Mr. Vidal?s bequest could be the culmination of a late-in-life relationship with Harvard. He believed his papers had not been treated with the respect they demanded at the University of Wisconsin, where they were previously held, Mr. Parini said.
A Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a UW-Madison researcher?s documentary film on how exercise plays a role in combating multiple sclerosis has hit its funding target, and then some.
Noted: The University of Wisconsin?s creative writing program is such a powerhouse that it?s hard to believe it?s only been around for 35 years … To mark this anniversary, the program is celebrating at the Overture Center?s Wisconsin Studio on Thursday, Nov. 14, from 8-9:30 p.m.
STANFORD, Calif. ? On Stanford University?s sprawling campus, where a long palm-lined drive leads to manicured quads, humanities professors produce highly regarded scholarship on Renaissance French literature and the philosophy of language.
Alex Rivera swept up awards at Sundance in 2008 with his socially-conscious sci-fi film, Sleep Dealer, a dystopian look at the future of Mexican/United States border control. Since then, the filmmaker has taken his time assembling a follow-up. This week, Rivera earns the title of programmer and artist-in-residence for Tales from Planet Earth, a science- and environment-themed festival beginning Nov. 1 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In its seventh year, Tales from the Earth culls films from across the globe, ranging from factual documentary to speculative future fiction.
During the same two days in October 1967, an American battalion, ambushed in Vietnam, lost some 60 men, and an antiwar protest at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was met with violent police force. This juxtaposition of events is the subject and structure of ?They Marched Into Sunlight,? an acclaimed 2003 book by David Maraniss. That book, in turn, has inspired ?Into Sunlight,? a dance by Robin Becker that had its New York debut this weekend at Gould Hall at the French Institute Alliance Française.
Ruth Ozeki, the author of this year?s Go Big Read book, gave a lecture titled ?How to be a Better Time Being? to 1,200 audience members at Union South Monday, as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series.
Ruth Ozeki, author of ?A Tale For the Time Being,? the University of Wisconsin?s Go Big Read Book for 2013, spoke on how to bring the novel?s central theme of living in the moment into everyday practice at an event on campus Monday.
One of Romare Bearden?s earliest journeys left an imprint on his artistic imagination. When he was a toddler, his family, like many other African American families, moved from the South to New York City?s Harlem neighborhood. Bearden?s new home became a gathering place for Harlem Renaissance icons such as Langston Hughes and Duke Ellington, who fostered his love for storytelling and jazz. A homeward voyage is also the focus of Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey, 50 works from the late 1970s visiting the Chazen Museum of Art from the Smithsonian Institution (through Nov. 24).
Dorothy Allison, the author perhaps best known for the 1992 novel ?Bastard Out of Carolina,? will lead a writing workshop Thursday on the UW-Madison campus .
It?s interesting to note that the selection for this year?s Go Big Read, with the theme of global connectivity, is a continent-spanning work of fiction written by a woman whose grandparents were dairy farmers in Stevens Point.
The over-four-year initiative to create a College of the Arts was dropped in the spring, replaced by a plan that would revamp the Art Institute instead, University Committee Chair Michael Bernard-Donals said at a Faculty Senate meeting Monday.
Two law professors took up the issue at a recent forum at UW Law School sponsored by the Federalist Society, a student group of conservatives and libertarians.
Mary Murrell, a cultural anthropologist at UW-Madison, will be a contestant Monday on the famed quiz show “Jeopardy!,” according to the show?s publicist.
While researching the history of psychology for her 2002 book on UW-Madison professor and psychologist Harry Harlowe, titled ?Love at Goon Park,? Deborah Blum found numerous references to a leading late 19th century intellectual named William James. Blum, herself a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and UW-Madison professor, was intrigued by stories suggesting James ? brother of the novelist Henry James ? had lost his mind.
In January, Nelson, 65, retired from her dual role in art at UW-Madison, where she both taught in the art department and did outreach, partly as director of the Wisconsin Regional Art Program for nonprofessional artists. The mother of two adult daughters, Nelson also became chairwoman of the Madison Arts Commission this year. Her husband, UW-Madison Afro-American Studies department director Craig Werner, urged her to do a retrospective exhibit.
With a new crop of students also comes a new slate of performances and exhibitions on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
A working draft of a performing arts study in Madison was released Monday by Webb Management Services Management Services, Inc., the New York-based company that conducted the study in conjunction with WolfBrown consulting firm.
The 100th season of the University of Wisconsin?Madison?s Pro Arte Quartet?an unprecedented milestone for any chamber ensemble in history?was celebrated throughout the 2011-12 season. Each of the four concerts included a world premiere by a major composer, guest lectures, media coverage far and wide and a double-CD of the premiered works produced by a Grammy-winning producer.
Noted: work by Michael Peterson, associate professor of theater; Amy Quan Barry, professor of creative writing; PhD students Jeff Casey and Katrina Schaag.
Lea Jacobs is a familiar face to film lovers on the UW campus. A communication arts professor, she?s also afounding director of the UW Cinematheque, the campus organization that screens noteworthy films for free nearly every week, including silent films and 16mm and 35mm prints. Now she?s adding another title to her resume: associate dean for the arts and humanities in the UW Graduate School, the role new School of Music director Susan C. Cook recently vacated.
Ruth Ozeki shared her challenges and inspiration behind the 2013 Go Big Read book, ?A Tale for the Time Being? with The Daily Cardinal Tuesday.
Moise and the film?s producers, Jason Schumacher, Will Blomker and Mason Hill, are all University of Wisconsin-Madison grads who made short films during their time in the city. Now living in New York, they decided to make their first feature on familiar turf.
There were numerous winners with local ties at last night?s Emmy Awards, chief among them Steve Levitan, creator of “Modern Family.”Levitan is a University of Wisconsin-Madison alum.But there was also another not remarked upon UW connection when James Cromwell won as best supporting actor in a miniseries or movie for “American Horror Story: Asylum.”
Sometimes a concert is less about ?performing? and more about simply sharing one?s gifts in an atmosphere of gratitude and joy. That is exactly what a very full Mills Hall audience received Sunday evening from baritone Nathaniel Stampley and accompanist Jamie Schmidt.
University of Wisconsin communication arts professor Lea Jacobs added an additional position to her resume after she was recently appointed to be one of the associate deans for the graduate school, where she will oversee arts and humanities programs. The Badger Herald sat down with her to get a glimpse of her plans as she enters her new position. This interview was edited for clarity and brevity.
When the Madison Public Librarys new central branch opens this Saturday, visitors will find plenty of books and cozy spots to dig into a story. What they might not expect is the incredible array of art?and opportunities to get creative?offered in the sleek downtown space.
Spatula&Barcode is actually UW-Madison profs Laurie Beth Clark and Michael Peterson, whose legendary Madison food parties and collaborations in the kitchen have led to some deliciously strange and enlightening international encounters.
The way that Nathaniel Stampley and Jamie Schmidt started making music together almost sounds like the subplot of a Broadway musical.
As the fall semester gets off to a busy start, graduate students working toward their MA and MFA degrees have begun to exhibit their latest artworks. This year?s review show is called ?///Some.? In it, 18 graduate students in the art department showcase one piece that best represents their progress in two years of study.
When artist Romare Bearden set out to create a series based on Homer?s epic poem ?The Odyssey,? he recast the myth of the Greek warrior as ?happening possibly in Africa.”
Just when you thought Madison might finally be getting over the 1960s comes another volume on the subject. But before you dismiss Matthew Levin?s Cold War University as something you?ve read before, take another look.
The chairman of the Communications Department of the UW-Madison Division of Continuing Studies in 1990 was Barry Orton. It was Orton who gave the OK for his colleague Christine DeSmet?s idea for the Writers? Institute, which next year will hold its 25th edition. Orton told me this week that Leonard was available ? at, get this, no charge ? in July 1990 because he was just starting a book tour for ?Get Shorty,” … Six weeks later, the tour over, Leonard wrote Orton a letter … All these years later, Orton, still a UW-Madison professor, has the letter framed in his office.
