The Kelly Writers House is a mixed-use programming and community space on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Founded in 1995 by a group of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, the Kelly Writers House (3805 Locust Walk, Philadelphia) hosts more than 300 events and projects per year, such as readings, art exhibits, lectures, seminars, film screenings, manuscript exchanges, tutoring programs, and literary celebrations.About the Kelly Writers House Most events are open to the public and live-streamed on the internet for worldwide viewing via KWH-TV.KWH-TV gives viewers around the world an opportunity to tune into KWH programs. All Writers House events are free. Writers House also sponsors or hosts several publications, including student run magazines such as Penn Review, Penn Appetit, and F-word, as well as the international online magazine of poetry and poetics Jacket2.Jacket2Preface from Jacket2 Publisher
Partially funded by the Provost's Office of the University of Pennsylvania, Writers House is also supported by "Friends of the Writers House"—alumni, Penn parents, Philadelphians, and other literary-minded and generous people interested in creative enterprise.Writers House "Friends" campaign The Writers House is also sustained by members of the Writers House Planning Committee (known as "the Hub"), the core group of writers and writing activists who plan events, offer ideas for new initiatives, and dedicate their time to literary activities.
History
In 1995, University of Pennsylvania professor Al Filreis and a group of volunteers made up of faculty, students, staff and alumni of the University of Pennsylvania founded the Kelly Writers House. The group, the Writers House Planning Committee, also known as the "Hub", aimed to create a central space where students of the University of Pennsylvania and members of the greater Philadelphia writing community could "organize, promote, and share" creative writing activities. Penn alumnus Paul Kelly funded renovations to the house itself, a cottage built as part of a Victorian suburban development project in 1851.History of the Kelly Writers House The renovations transformed the house, which had for many years been the home of a university chaplain, into a unique multi-purpose community space. What had once been the parlor became the Arts Café, a south-facing room with large windows where classes and many Kelly Writers House events are held. The house also features a publications room, an office for the Kelly Writers House Hub, classroom space, and a dining room and kitchen, all open for events and student and Writers House community use.
In 1997, Paul Kelly, a University of Pennsylvania alumnus (C'62, WG'64) and investment banker, provided an initial grant that was used to fund renovations to the house itself, a Victorian cottage built in 1851. When the Writers House reopened after the renovations, the planning committee dedicated the reopening to Kelly's parents Thomas and Rita. Since his initial 1997 contribution Kelly has continued to support the house and its programs, including the Kelly Writers House Fellows Program, an annual project which brings eminent writers such as Susan Sontag, John Ashbery, T. Coraghessan Boyle, David Sedaris, Joyce Carol Oates, and Art Spiegelman to the Writers House for readings and discussions with students and members of the public. Kelly continues to make annual gifts to the house.Kelly Writers House
Mission The Kelly Writers House aims to support and promote all activities related to the literary arts and to be a central and established location for writers, writing groups, and students of writing. Not affiliated with one particular school or major, the Writers House is a place for anyone interested in writing, regardless of his or her academic or professional path, a place to share a common identity through writing. As described in the original mission statement, the main goals of the house are to provide information about events and projects to those that are interested in participating in writing-related activities, to reserve space for engaging writers and students of writing in such activities, and to develop and sustain an environment in which disparate groups can work together with common goals and purposes.
As a communitarian and capacious place, Writers House is ideal spot for the exchange of ideas, with robust space, too, in the virtual realm for electronic texts and electronic publishing. Read the original mission statement, authored by Shawn Lynn Walker and the Writers House Planning Committee in the notes.Kelly Writers House Mission Statement , authored by Shawn Lynn Walker and the Writers House Planning Committee
Community Members
The Writers House community has many members that are affiliated with the House in a variety of ways. 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. Other affiliated groups with the Writers House include Philadelphia residents, elementary school students,About Write-On! faculty and staff of the University of Pennsylvania, literary magazines, visual artists, collaborating organizations, administrative staff members, and a network of friends and donors that supports the Writers House financially.
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.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 director, and faculty director, who 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.
Online presence The Kelly Writers House has a large online presence. All readings and events are recorded and made available for free download on the Writers House Medialinks archive. Events are often broadcast live on the web using KWH-TV, which depending on the event, makes it possible for audience members not physically present to participate in the event. Those broadcasts are then made available through the Writers House KWH-TV Reruns archive.KWH multimedia Some Kelly Writers House series are run entirely online, such as the KWH Seminars in Second Life, in which faculty director Al Filreis leads seminars in modernist poetry in a virtual Kelly Writers House on Second Life. Every month between September and April the Writers House also records a broadcast called Live at the Kelly Writers House, which includes poetry, music and spoken-word art.LIVE at the Kelly Writers House
The Writers House uses electronic mailing lists extensively to facilitate communication within and between various groups of people that are affiliated with the House. Listervs are also used as the main medium of communication for members of online book groups run through the writers house. The groups allow those affiliated to Penn to discuss a chosen book with a member of Penn's faculty or with a member of the Kelly Writers House community.KWH Book Groups
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.calendarWH Calendar: July 2008 Some of the regular programs are listed below:
Writers House Fellows Program The Writers House Fellows ProgramWriters House Fellows Program is a reading series and a class offered by the University of Pennsylvania. Over the course of a semester, students in the Kelly Writers House Fellows Seminar read from the works of three Fellows who are each writers of great distinction. Each Fellow visits Writers House for an intense two-day series of events, including a seminar with students in the Fellows course, followed by a public reading and interview, both of which are webcast live and then archived on the Writers House website. Writers House Faculty Director, Professor Al Filreis, directs the Fellows Program and teaches the Fellows Seminar. Past fellows include Joyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol Oates (2010), Art SpiegelmanArt Spiegelman (2008), Ron SillimanRon Silliman (2012) and John AshberyJohn Ashbery (2002 and 2013). More information, including a list of all the previous Fellows and recordings of readings and discussions, can be found on the Fellows website.The Fellows Program
Junior Fellows Program The Kelly Writers House Junior Fellows programKelly 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 his or her 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. Past programs include a class on "Topography of Testimony""Topography of Testimony" by fellow Matt Abess, a project to create a literary scrapbook of Philadelphialiterary scrapbook of Philadelphia by fellow Moira Moody, and a documentary about two HIV positive Philadelphia women created by fellow Roz Plotzker.
Brodsky Gallery
The Brodsky GalleryBrodsky Gallery is an art gallery positioned on the ground floor of the Kelly Writers House. The gallery, made possible by Michael and Heidi Brodsky, features up to six exhibits a year. It also hosts interdisciplinary events such as poetry readings, film screenings, and artist technique demonstrations. Past exhibits include That's What She Said: Female Voices in Embroidery, Spin Glasses and Other Frustrated Systems, Poem Posters: Small Press Broadsides,Umlaut Machine: Selected Visual Works by Christian Bok, Hiroyuki Nakamura, Susan Bee: A Retrospective, and State of the Union: Photography by Linh Dinh.
Write-On! Literacy Program