We regret to inform you that Emeritus Professor Walter Clark passed away peacefully on Tuesday at his home in Hancock, New Hampshire. As most of you know, Walter was one of two faculty members in the 1970s who developed our New England Literature Program. He has been a steady and enthusiastic champion of and benefactor to NELP and will be sorely missed by NELP staff and former NELPers.

UPDATE

Clark memorial

Friends:

Many of you have asked about the Clark family wishes regarding contributions in Walter’s memory. Francelia would like to offer people the opportunity to honor Walter by making a gift to one of the following places:

New England Literature Program for student scholarship support (account #362373). Gifts can be made online at www.giving.umich.edu or by sending a check to my attention at: NELP, LSA Annual Giving Programs, 500 S. State Street, Suite 5000, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Please be sure to indicate that your gift is a memorial donation. If enough donations are received, a memorial scholarship will be established in Walter’s name.

Oxfam to benefit victims in Southeast Asia. Gifts can be made online at www.oxfamamerica.org or by sending a check to: Oxfam, 226 Causeway Street, 5^th floor, Boston, MA 02114-2206. Be sure to indicate that it is a gift in memory of Walter Clark.

Or, feel free to make a gift to a charity of your choosing in Walter’s name.

Walter’s life was celebrated on Saturday at a memorial service and in his local community – they even closed the library in his honor so everyone could participate in the service or some sort of remembrance. He was loved and revered by many.

Obituary, as printed in the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

It has just been announced that Peter Ho Davies (along with Cynthia Ozick) “ha[s] been selected to receive the twenty-first annual PEN/Malamud Award. Given annually since 1988 in honor of the late Bernard Malamud, this award recognizes a body of work which demonstrates excellence in the art of short fiction. The PEN/Malamud Award includes a reading in the 2008/09 PEN/Faulkner reading series and a prize of $5,000.”

Four of our faculty have received Rackham Spring/Summer Research grants—Sandra Gunning, Nicholas Delbanco, Michael Schoenfeldt, and Adela Pinch.  Each grant is for $4,000.

And we would like to add some news about Nancy Goldstein, Larry’s partner.  Nancy’s book entitled Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist (out from UM Press) has been getting quite a lot of attention.   It was reviewed in the same issue of the NYTBR that reviewed Lorna Goodison’s Mama Goodie.

Linda Gregerson has been recommended to the Board of Regents for a Distinguished University Professorship effective September 1, 2008. This is one of the highest honors the University can bestow upon an eminent member of the faculty, and it will be celebrated at a formal awards dinner and ceremony on Tuesday, October 7, 2008.

Linda Gregerson has also been awarded a fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation’s research institute at Bellagio this coming Fall.

Julian Levinson has received a 2007-2008 LSA Excellence in Education Award. This award comes with $3500.

Scotti Parrish has received a 2008-2009 fellowship from the Institute for the Humanities.

It is a great pleasure to announce the recipients of the third annual English Department Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award:

     William Worthen

     Aaron McCollough

This award is sponsored by both the Undergraduate Studies Program and the Undergraduate English Association and recognizes these instructors' creativity, passion, and dedication as educators. Please join us in congratulating them on receiving this honor.

Mama Goodie

In July 1954, 7-year-old Lorna Goodison left her home in Kingston, Jamaica, to spend the summer with her aunt in the village of Harvey River, a 14-hour drive away. Her maternal great-grandfather William Harvey, an Englishman, had given his name to both the swiftly flowing river beneath the Dolphin Head Mountains and the town that grew up along its banks. Young Lorna ran wild that summer — roaming the countryside, knocking fruit from the trees, eating picnic lunches with her cousins among the tombstones of her ancestors. This seemingly idyllic spot would, she writes, “shape my imagination for the rest of my life.”

See link below for the rest of the article:

Mama Goodie, The NY Times article