[CW-Grad] FW: Summer Literary Seminars (SLS) International Programs and University of Calfornia-Riverside

[Bryan G Bradford]

From: Kate Sehl [mailto:sumlitsem.outreach at gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 7:31 PM
To: Laila Lalami
Subject: Summer Literary Seminars (SLS) International Programs and University of Calfornia-Riverside

Dear Professor Lalami,


Greetings. Apologies for writing "out of the blue." My name is Katie Sehl, public liaison and assistant to the director at the Summer Literary Seminars international programs: www.sumlitsem.org<http://www.sumlitsem.org/>. I would like to tell you about SLS and the ways of possible cooperation between SLS and your institution, in the hopes that you would share this information with your students and your colleagues.
We at SLS are always interested in exploring the possibilities of academic cooperation with colleges and universities. A collaborative option that has been pursued in the past by university departments is having several students attend one (or more) of our programs as a group of at least 4 people, perhaps led by a UCR faculty member, in the capacity of an SLS affiliated faculty member. The students in such a group would also receive a partial tuition discount from SLS based on the number of participants from the University department. Of course any suggestions, with regards to any other forms of possible cooperation are welcome.

Here is some basic information about our programs:

"SLS is one of the most exciting and important intellectual venues in the world right now; absolutely the most important seminar of its kind."
               -George Saunders, two-time SLS/St. Petersburg faculty member.

 
Indeed, Montreal-based, Concordia University-affiliated SLS is the only independent international writing program of its kind in the world. In existence since 1998, it has had annual programs running and upcoming on three continents: in St. Petersburg, Russia (1998-2008); Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Nairobi-Lamu, Kenya; and Vilnius, Lithuania.
Premised on the notion of the essential commonality of writer's experience, regardless of one's origins and place of residence in the world, SLS offers: creative-writing workshops of the highest caliber taught by some of the greatest writers at work today, unorthodox and lively lectures read by the leading local and international scholars, and deep immersion in the local literary and arts scene -- in all, a thoroughly unique cultural and literary experience. What has characterized SLS as a cultural undertaking is the sheer conceptual meaningfulness of its programs: SLS always goes to places in transition, places of an import that goes far beyond the purely visual, "touristic" or bucolic aspect.

Here is a very brief summation of the current annual SLS offerings:

Montreal -- North America's virtual gateway to Europe; world's second-largest Francophone city boasting nonetheless an intense and rich Anglophone literary/cultural scene; a free-wheeling, benign, beautiful metropolis.

Kenya -- Africa in a microcosm, now closing in on the tenth year of democratic rule's restoration and, inevitably, periodically experiencing some significant setbacks along the way; a country with one of Africa's most vibrant literary and cultural communities; Nairobi is full of energy and electricity, and the ancient town of Lamu on the eponymous island is a thousand year-old settlement floating in timelessness below the equator.

Lithuania -- a small European country at the very geographic heart of Europe; a tiny nation in search of its identity in the new pan-European paradigm; a country caught in a painstaking transition from the "Soviet" fold to full-fledged European-ness; Vilnius (Wilna), one of Europe's hidden gems, is also the place of utmost historic significance to the Jewish people the world over, hence our parallel program there, Jewish Lithuania; a land of unobtrusive beauty, a place full of empty spaces waiting to be filled with new cultural content in a new context.

This December in Kenya will mark our 20th program in 13 years. In all, well over 1000 writers of every age group and level of accomplishment, from every part of the North America and beyond, took part in the SLS programs.

 
Among the past and present SLS faculty have been some of the leading, most influential and interesting writers of our time (in no specific order): Robert Creeley and Robert Coover, George Saunders and Padgett Powell, Edward Hirsch and Mac Wellman, Paula Vogel and Jim Shepard, Denis Johnson and Jayne Anne Phillips, Fanny Howe and Ann Lauterbach, Mary Gaitskill and Tony Hoagland, Martin Espada and Peter Gizzi, Aimee Bender and Toi Derricotte, Gary Shteyngart and Tibor Fisher, Francine Prose and Binyavanga Wainaina, Billy Collins and Robert Hass, C.K. Williams and Phillip Lopate, William T. Vollmann and William Meredith, Jerome Rothenberg and Stephen Dobyns, Lawrence Wright and Jonathan Ames, Edward Hirsch and Cornelius Eady, Kim Addonizio and Kevin Canty, Ron Carlson and Amy Bloom, Colum McCann and Anthony Swofford, Jeffery Renard Allen and Josip Novakovich, Matthew Zapruder and Dave Eggers, George Elliott Clarke and Steven Heighton, Maxine Chernoff and Claudia Rankine, Christian Bok and Lynne Tillman, Tom Sleigh and Constance Congdon, Elizabeth Kendall and Roy Kesey, Dagoberto Gilb and Vivian Gornick, Wayne Johnston and Noah Richler, Lynne Sharon Schwartz and Jonathan Baumbach, Dave Eggers and Glyn Maxwell, Laimonas Briedis and Kerry Shawn Keys, Sam Lipsyte and Christopher Sorrentino, Johanna Skibsrud and Steve Almond, Antanas Sileika and Joseph Kertes, David McGimpsey and Jonah Winter, Brenda Hillman and Elizabeth Kendall, Laura-Maria Censabella and Laurie Stone, Rebecca Seiferle and Robin Hemley, Stephen Elliot and Dawn Raffel, Elizabeth Kendall and Mark Halperin, and many, many others.

It is our hope, here at SLS, that you will tell your students about our programs, as well as the SLS Annual Unified Literary Contest -- one of the largest and most dynamic ones in North America, held in conjunction with several prominent literary entities (such as the Black Warrior Review, Graywolf Press, Center for Fiction, The Walrus magazine, Joyland, Branch and The Diagram). The first-place winners receive an all-expenses-paid participation in the SLS program of their choice, in addition to the publication of their work in the participating literary journals. A considerable number of contest-based fellowships are also offered ever year.

This year's judges are Mary Gaitskill (fiction), Tony Hoagland (poetry), and Ander Monson (nonfiction).

The detailed SLS Unified Literary Contest information can be found here: http://www.sumlitsem.org/contest.html.

SLS page on Facebook can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Summer-Literary-Seminars/153266274746763.

SLS programs in Kenya and Lithuania can be taken by qualified participants for the transferable academic credit from Concordia University.

Please let me know if you might be interested in discussing how we can work together in more detail. I would be glad to hear from you. Or, if you prefer, you can contact the SLS director, Mikhail Iossel, by e-mail, at sls at sumlitsem.org<mailto:sls at sumlitsem.org>. We hope to hear from you.

Thank you for your time.

 

All Very Best,

Katie Sehl

Public Liaison and Assistant to the Director
Summer Literary Seminars
www.sumlitsem.org<http://www.sumlitsem.org/>
LB-673.03
Concordia University
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1M8
(514) 848-2424x46<tel:%28514%29%20848-2424x4632>32
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