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Professor Maura Grady continues "Shawshank Redemption" involvement with local reunion
Was it meant to be that Maura Grady would become an expert about the connections of “Shawshank Redemption” to the local area? “It has been the joy of my life to be involved with the research around this great film to some extent,” said Grady, Ph.D., an Ashland University associate professor of English. “Other people have written on this film. I’m not the only one by any means. but I think I can claim to know a lot about the local area and the tourism with it…
AU English instructor named writer-in-residence for Hemingway-Pfeifer Museum
Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, writer and Ashland University instructor, is obsessed with women left out of historical narratives. “Paula McLain did such a beautiful job imagining us into the lives of Hadley and Martha, Hemingway’s first and third wives,” said Kelly-Harbaugh, a Cleveland resident who teaches 100-level English courses for AU, including to incarcerated students. “Maggie O’Farrell broke my heart spinning stories about Shakespeare’s wife and children.…
MFA faculty member named poet laureate for her hometown
It has finally worked out for Tess Taylor to become poet laureate for her hometown of El Cerrito, California. “I’d wanted to do this for years but had been traveling a lot,” said Taylor, who has published five books of poetry. “I’m so happy to be able to do this.” Taylor, a member of the Ashland University MFA program’s Poetry faculty, will start her one-year term as El Cerrito poet laureate on April 1. She will be helping to build El Cerrito High School’s…
Ashland University grad looking forward to returning to campus for a reading of his debut novel
Jason B. Dutton can’t wait to return to a place Feb. 22 that gave him such wonderful memories. That place is Ashland University, where the AU grad will give a reading of his recently published first book, “How to Dance.” “I was very fortunate to be surrounded by countless people of great character, integrity and kindness,” Dutton said about his time as an undergrad student in the early 2000s, which eventually led to him returning in 2010 to earn his master’s…
English Professor Russell Weaver publishes his fourth book
Once Ashland University Professor of English Russell Weaver, Ph.D., stopped taking his kids to soccer games, he started writing books. Weaver keeps doing it because he said jokingly that it keeps him out of trouble. “It’s also fun to do,” added Weaver, who has been teaching at AU for almost 40 years. “And it’s helped my teaching because you learn things about texts when you write about them that you can’t learn teaching them.” On Monday, Jan. 22 in Ronk…
Ashland MFA graduate publishes his first book of poems
While searching for Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing programs with an emphasis on poetry, Adam Gellings said he felt very intimidated by the process. “I didn’t have that feeling when I was looking into Ashland,” said the poet and adjunct instructor for the Department of English Language and Literature at Columbus College of Art & Design. “It really felt like the right fit pretty early on in my exploration of the program.” That experience at AU…
MFA grad and CE instructor finding success writing dark fantasy, weird fiction stories
Growing up, Nathan Batchelor read many stories by horror writers Clive Barker and Stephen King. He decided to give writing his own spooky stories a try in 2017. “In some hybrid of a quarter-life/mid-life crisis, I took up writing because my friends and teachers always enjoyed my writing and my ideas,” said Batchelor, who earned his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree from Ashland University last year. “After I sold my first story in 2018, I just…
'Heart of It All' latest book written by Christian Kiefer, director of AU's MFA program
Christian Kiefer doesn’t like to pick a favorite book he has written. “I always love the thing I’m working on now the most,” said the director of Ashland University’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. His most recent work is a fiction novel, “The Heart of It All,” which is available anywhere books are sold, as well as online.
Students, alumni showcase their varied interests and scholarly work during URCA Symposium
Tiffany Sims enjoyed combining three of her interests into one presentation. Jacob Owens liked sharing about a business he hopes to start. And Phillip Wages loved giving back to his alma mater. Those were just a few of the many reasons about 40 students and a couple of alumni from Ashland University’s College of Arts and Sciences presented their scholarly work at the 14th annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) Symposium on Tuesday, April…
AU department of languages and literatures presenting poetry reading March 22
ASHLAND, Ohio – The department of languages and literatures at Ashland University is sponsoring a poetry reading by visiting writer Saeed Jones on Wednesday, March 22, at 7 p.m. It will take place at the Student Center Auditorium inside the Hawkins-Conard Student Center (847 Claremont Ave.), and is free and open to the public. Jones will read excerpts from his critically-acclaimed book, “Alive at the End of the World.” A collection of poems that confront the…
