Kelly Writers House

The Kelly Writers House is a non-profit, community organization dedicated to the literary arts, particularly creative writing. It is partially funded by, and located on the campus of, the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

About the Writers House

Founded in 1995 by a group of students, faculty, staff and alumni, the Kelly Writers House is an actual 13-room house at 3805 Locust Walk on Penn's campus that serves as a center for writers of all kinds from Penn and the Philadelphia region at large. Each semester the Writers House hosts approximately 150 public programs and projects--poetry readings, film screenings, seminars, web magazines, lectures, dinners, radio broadcasts, workshops, art exhibits, and musical performances--and about 500 people visit the House each week. They work, write, and collaborate in seminar rooms, a publications room, the "hub" office, a cozy living room, a dining room, a kitchen with plenty of space for conversation, and "the Arts Cafe," the wonderfully open south-facing room that was originally the parlor. Writers House also has a strong virtual presence. Their ongoing interactive webcasts give listeners from across the country the opportunity to talk with writers such as Ian Frazier, Richard Ford, and Cynthia Ozick. And via their dozens of listservs and email discussion groups, they link writers and readers from across the country and around the world. Through its many programs and projects, the Writers House promotes the full range of contemporary literature, addressing writing both as a practice and as an object of study.

Mission

The original mission statement for the Kelly Writers House states that the Writers House aims to be a "central and established location" for writers and writing-related groups that will enable them to
*easily provide information regarding events to those that are interested in participating in writing-related activities
*reserve space in which to regularly and consistently engage other writers in such activities, and
*find a place in which disparate groups can work together with common goals and purposes.More generally, this mission includes supporting and promoting all activities related to the literary arts, especially in Philadelphia. [ [http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/about/mission.html Kelly Writers House Mission Statement] , authored by Shawn Lynn Walker and the Writers House Planning Committee]

Community

The Writers House community has many members that are affiliated with the House in a variety of ways. Perhaps the largest group of people affiliated with the Writers House are students of the University of Pennsylvania, particularly those that attend creative writing classes at the Writers House. Many other groups of people are affiliated with the Writers House, however, including:

*Philadelphia residents that read at or attend events
*elementary school students from the surrounding Philadelphia neighborhood that participate in the Write-On! literacy program [ [http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/writeon/about.html About Write-On!] ]
*faculty and staff of the University of Pennsylvania that teach or hold office hours in the House
*several literary magazines that use resources provided by the Writers House to create and distribute their publications
*other groups that meet to discuss or review writing at the Writers House
*visual artists that display work inside the Writers House
*organizations that collaborate with the Writers House by sponsoring events [ [http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/collaborations.html Collaborations] between the Kelly Writers House and other organizations]
*the Writers House administrative staff [ [http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/whoweare/whstaff06-07.html The Kelly Writers House Staff, 2006-2007] ]
*a network of friends and donors that support the Writers House financially

Electronic Mailing Lists

The Writers House uses electronic mailing lists extensively to facilitate communication within and between various groups of people that are affiliated with the House.

The Planning Committee

The Writers House Planning Committee, also known as the Hub, is the group that founded the Writers House and was initially responsible for planning the events hosted in the building. [ [http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/whoweare/hub.html The Writers House Planning Committee] , also known as "the Hub."] The Writers House is uniquely self-run. What began in 1995 as a volunteer committee of 20 people, has grown into a wide network of people who sponsor and enact the Writers House Events. The Writers House Planning Committee now consists of a 90-member volunteer group of undergraduate and graduate students, Penn faculty, staff, and alumni whose intellectual energy and collective spirit guides the House. The House also has a growing staff, including 15 student workers, a live-in resident intern, several part-time assistants, a Program Coordinator, and a Director, as well as a Faculty Director; together these staffers oversee the daily activities of the House, working side-by-side with our wide network of volunteers. Renovations, funded through the generous support of Penn alumnus Paul Kelly (C'62, WG'64), have readied the Writers House for the 21st century. Ongoing supporters include: The Provost's Office of the University of Pennsylvania; Friends of the Kelly Writers House, including the Williams Carlos Williams Circle; Penn's Vice Provost for University Life; the Hillcrest Foundation; the Alice Cooper Shoulberg Scholarship Fund for the Support of Creative Publishing; the Roxanne and Scott Bok Endowed Visiting Writers Series Fund; the Parents of the Class of '99; Anonymous Donor--to support the annual print publication of Xconnect; Harold Rosenberg; and Paul Kelly.

The 15th Room Press

Those who founded the Writers House in the 1995/1996 school year wished to include within the House a printing press. Though the House proved too small for such a thing the idea lived on due to the appeal of exposing young writers to both the modern possibilities of printing and publishing on a computer as well as the time-honored practice of using ink, movable type, and mechanical labor.In 2005, when the University began discussion of how to best celebrate the Ben Franklin tercentenary, the Writers House collaborated with both the Van Pelt Library and the Department of Fine Arts to help establish what has become the University's Common Press. [ [http://www.design.upenn.edu/commonpress/ The Common Press at the University of Pennsylvania] ] Three printing presses, ink, and movable type were purchased. The 15th Room Press, so named to imagine an extra room beyond the 14-room Writers House, has become a space in which students have learned to design printing projects, hand-set moveable type, ink and clean the presses, and produce hand-printed broadsides. There are two broadside series, one of which features the work of visiting poets and the Hub Series, which features the poetry of members of the Writers House community. The 15th Room Press serves to remind writers that writing is a communal activity that requires practical skills and hard work to bring it to readers. The colophon symbol of the 15th Room Press, three mismatched chairs modeled after chairs in the Writers House Arts Cafe, reminds them of the communal nature of both writing and the Press itself.

Programs and Events

The Writers House hosts over 300 different writing-related programs each year. While many of these are one-time events, others are part of several long-standing series. For a complete schedule of the Writers House programs this year, consult the calendar. [ [http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/calendar/0708.html WH Calendar: July 2008 ] ] Some of the regular programs are listed below:

The Writers House Fellows Program

The Writers House Fellows Program is a class offered by the University of Pennsylvania through the creative writing department. During the course students read from the works of three writers of great distinction; then, after an exhaustive study of each writer, the writers visit the Writers House to participate in a one-hour discussion with the Fellows class, which is webcast worldwide and archived on the Writers House website. Writers House Faculty Director, Prof. Al Filreis, directs the Fellows Program. More information, including a list of all the previous Fellows, can be found on the [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~whfellow/ Fellows website] . [ [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~whfellow/ The Fellows Program] ]

The Junior Fellows Program

The Kelly Writers House Junior Fellows program was founded by Writers House supporters Ralph and Bette Saul in 1998 to enable recent Penn alumni that had been involved in the Writers House community during their college careers to continue their study of the literary arts. The Junior Fellow receives a grant for the year to support their proposed program; the funding can be used for any purpose--paying visiting speakers, expenses for the program including food, materials, equipment, etc.--as long as the program concludes with a presentation for the Writers House community at the Writers House. The program encourages recent Penn graduates with a history of involvement in the Writers House community to remain close to it and gives them an opportunity to pursue their literary interests beyond their college career. [ [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/wh/juniorfellow/ The Junior Fellows Program] ]

The Write-On! Literacy Program

Write On! is a children’s literacy program run by the Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with the Lee Elementary and Penn Alexander schools in West Philadelphia. The weekly program presents a safe, fun, and educational extracurricular activity for students in grades 4 to 8. Students work in small groups under the supervision and guidance of student coaches from the University to improve their creative writing, poetry, public speaking, and more. While most time is spent at the Writers House, Write On! has taken some small field trips to other University buildings, local bookstores and coffee shops, and writing-related places in Philadelphia to supplement the program's curriculum. The organization has also participated in the One Book One Philadelphia campaign and has brought local authors in to work and speak with the kids. Write On!'s mission is not only to open the eyes of young students to the world of writing but to help them see that there are many different possibilities for the way they can live their lives. [ [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~wh/writeon/index.html The Write On! Literacy Program] ]

7-Up

7-Up is an annual event at the Writers House. Seven speakers are invited to speak for seven minutes each on a single concept or topic of the Hub's choosing. The Hub strives to make sure that the chosen topic is approachable from a variety of angles, possessing many interpretations and allowing each speaker's talk to be entirely unique. Past topics have included "Rock"; "Bitter"; "Ben", for the University's founder Ben Franklin; and "Gold". [ [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/wh/events/7up/ 7-Up at the Writers House] ]

LIVE at the Kelly Writers House

LIVE at the Writers House is a collaboration between the Writers House and radio station 88.5 FM WXPN. The hourly program airs six times during the University's academic year and features readings of poetry, prose, and other spoken-word art in addition to one musical guest. LIVE broadcasts from the Writers House Arts Cafe and is made possible through the support of BigRoc. [ [http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~wh/wxpn/ LIVE at the Kelly Writers House] ]

Emergency Reading Series

The Emergency series addresses issues of "emergence, influence, and community" and the question of whether poetry is still a relevant cultural force in America. The series brings together emerging and established poets for readings and discussions in order to create an ongoing dialog on those issues. Emergency was begun in the fall of 2006 and continues to the present day. [ [http://emergency-reading.blogspot.com/ Emergency Reading Series] ]

Publications at the Writers House

The Writers House provides meeting space in our Publications Room, web space, advice, and an occasional pizza for a number of Penn publications and editorial teams. For Penn students, getting involved with an ongoing publication project—whether as a writer, editor, or staff member—is easy; simply consult the descriptions and contact information listed on the Kelly Writers House website. [ [http://writing.upenn.edu/~wh/publications/] ]
*First Call is Penn's weekly undergraduate magazine that provides a forum for the expression of ideas and opinions, in the forms of creative fiction and poetry, reviews and critiques, as well as art. First Call is committed to a strict policy of not censoring opinions. They print provoking commentary on the university community as well as Penn's society as a whole and remain committed to providing top-notch writing that will sometimes anger, sometimes inspire, but always challenge our community to think about its ambitions, its beliefs, and its ethical and professional standards. [ [http://www.firstcallmagazine.com Welcome to First Call - Penn's Undergraduate Magazine ] ]
*The F-Word: A Collection of Feminist Voices is a new literary journal on campus, created to fill the feminist void at Penn. Their mission is to provide an outlet for writing or art pertaining to feminism (broadly defined as respect for all individuals regardless of gender or sexual affiliation).
*The Green Couch is a seasonal publication devoted to the genre of literary journalism. There are no meetings and submissions are welcome from undergrads, graduate students, and alumni alike. Each issue includes a feature piece (This month's Couch Potato) of about 3,000 words as well as a handful of shorter articles.
*The Little Black Book is a magazine publication and social group that focuses on the wholeness and well-being of Black women on Penn's campus. It is a forum through which Black women can discuss their concerns and opinions on a range of topics that include sexuality, emotional health, and financial growth.
*Penn Appetit is a food magazine that includes all types of food writing: feature food stories, personal narratives related to food, political/opinion columns, food poetry, restaurant reviews, and more. They are also looking to include photography or other artistic work in the magazine. The goal of the publication is to expand the types of food writing done on campus, as well as to explore the food issues surrounding Penn and Philadelphia.
*Devoted to the literary and visual arts, Penn Review is the premier mainstream magazine on Penn's campus. They publish poetry, fiction, creative non fiction, and other original literary works. We also accept all forms of visual art, including including documentation of 3-D, time-based, and site-specific work.
*Punchbowl is Penn's humor magazine held meetings in the nurturing embrace of the Writers House in their younger days, but as they grew, like a rebellious teenager, they demanded a later curfew, more independence, and meeting space elsewhere. They continue to list them here to acknowledge our originary relationship and continuing mutual affection.
*Quake is the University of Pennsylvania's first literary erotica magazine. Quake is student-run, University recognized, and dedicated to the principle that sex should be both enjoyed and discussed. The publication showcases the prose, poetry, and photography of Penn undergraduates from all sexualities and backgrounds.
*Xconnect is a tri-annual electronic journal for contemporary art and writing based in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania.

External links

* [http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/ The Kelly Writers House Homepage]
* [http://www.design.upenn.edu/commonpress/ The Common Press at the University of Pennsylvania]
* [http://myspace.com/kellywritershouse The Kelly Writers House MySpace]

References