Congratulations to Daniel Cavicchi, for his 2012 Deems Taylor Award, given by ASCAP for his book Listening and Longing: Music Lovers in the Age of Barnum.
All Announcements
Mourning the passing of Franya Berkman
by selliott •
It is with sadness that we announce the passing of author and scholar Franya Berkman.
Franya Berkman (1969–2012) was an assistant professor at Lewis & Clark College. She received her PhD in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in 2004 and her MA in world music, also from Wesleyan, in 1999. Her BA in music was earned from Sarah Lawrence in 1992. She also completed graduate coursework in music theory at the City College of New York.
Dr. Berkman’s major fields of study were ethnomusicology, jazz, and gender and music. She also studied spiritual, cultural, and musical hybridity in the 20th and 21st century and life history in the study of music-culture. Her publications included Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane (Wesleyan, 2010) and “Appropriating Universiality: The Coltranes and Sixties Spirituality” (American Studies, 2005). She was working on her second book, Obo Addy: Ga Master Drummer, Global Musician.
While working on Monument Eternal, Dr. Berkman was able to conduct a series of interviews with Alice Coltrane. Her book is an important contribution to the study of Coltrane, and has been praised as “a compelling portrait of an extraordinary woman” and “a fascinating and important study” (Pamela Margels, The WholeNote). Berkman has been complemented as being “adept at both elucidating Coltrane’s spiritual beliefs and analyzing her music in relationship to those beliefs.” (Chris Kennedy, Musicworks). “Berkman capsizes the standard misogynistic readings of John-Alice’s musical relationship by recasting it as ‘an intimate and complex marital partnership in which family life and religious exploration provided a foundation for their mutual development.’” (Tony Herrington, The Wire). Monument Eternal was recently recognized as a finalist for the Jazz Journalists Association Book Award.
Dr. Berkman’s passing is enormous loss to the music community. Our deepest sympathies go out to her family. Those who wish to support her family may do so by contributing here: http://www.indiegogo.com/franyaberkman.
A Fuller Life
by selliott •
Samantha Fuller, daughter of Samuel Fuller, is raising funds to support a documentary film on her father, A Fuller Life. Pledge $75 to her Kickstarter Campaign and received a signed copy of Lisa Dombrowski’s “The Films of Samuel Fuller: If You Die, I’ll Kill You!”
Evaporating Genres wins 2012 Locus Award
by selliott •
Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature, by Gary K. Wolfe has won the 2012 Locus Award for Best Non-Fiction Book.
Al Braden auctioning photos to raise funds for Connecticut River
by selliott •
Al Braden, an environmental and outdoor photographer, and author of The Connecticut River: A Photographic Journey into the Heart of New England, will lead participants on a photographic tour of the Connecticut River (in Vermont), from source to sea. This is your chance to see portions of the river you may not have visited yet. Braden will also be auctioning framed prints to raise money for The Connecticut River Watershed Council.
For more information, and to view the photographs up for auction, visit the website of the The Connecticut River Watershed Council
The Connecticut River Watershed Council invites you and your family or guest to attend an afternoon Annual Meeting & 60th Anniversary Celebration.
Sunday, July 22nd
Paddle – Noon until 1:30p.m.,
Meeting – 2p.m. until 4p.m.
The Wilder Center
2087 Hartford Ave., Wilder, VT 05088
This event is free to attend. Those making a donation of any amount will be entered into a drawing for a lovely gift basket to be awarded at the close of the meeting.
Sam Wasson at Houston Museum of Fine Arts
by selliott •
Sam Wasson, author of Paul on Mazursky, will be at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston for two days, and two events! May 10th and 11th. Visit MFA’s website for more details.
“Sam Wasson is a fabulous social historian because he finds meaning in situations and stories that would otherwise be forgotten if he didn’t sleuth them out, lovingly.” – Hilton Als, The New Yorker
Pura Lopez Colome featured at Poetry Daily
by selliott •
Three Science Fiction Novellas reviewed in Washington Post
by selliott •
“Happily, thanks to the Wesleyan Early Classics of Science Fiction Series, three of Rosny’s finest novellas can now be enjoyed in authoritative translations. Never having encountered any of his fiction, I was unprepared for the power and beauty of ‘The Xipehuz,’ ‘Another World’ and ‘The Death of the Earth.’ –The Washington Post, Michael Dirda
Read the full review of Three Science Fiction Novellas: From Prehistory to the End of Mankind, by J.-H. Rosny aine, here.
Learn more about the book here.
Dr. Mel, longtime WTNH weatherman & Wesleyan author, dies at 66
by selliott •
It is with sadness that we report the passing of longtime WTNH meteorologist Dr. Mel Goldstein (Jan. 18, 2012). The staff at Wesleyan University Press has fond memories of working with him on Dr. Mel’s Connecticut Climate Book. His good nature and strength were admirable, and he inspired many. Read more about Dr. Mel here.
Marjorie Perloff on John Cage
by selliott •
Reconsider John Cage. Read Marjorie Perloff’s essay from the Los Angeles Review of Books here. Rethink Cage with our 50th Anniversary edition of Silence, with a new foreword by Kyle Gann.
