School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University

11/12/2024

It is now official! SWLF is proud to co-sponsor the Society for Literature, Science & the Arts' annual conference in 2025. The international event will be one of the largest arts and humanities conferences ever to be hosted by Oregon State University. College of Liberal Arts - Oregon State University

08/26/2024

How can climate change make us feel uncanny? Brittni Wisner (MA '24) delivers the final lesson in our summer mini-series, which features Grist Magazine's author M. Jesuthasan's story "When We Are Ruins, Dance Upon Us."

How does climate change render our everyday environments uncanny? How does Freud's notion of the supernatural uncanny relate to the environmental uncanny? Ho...

08/12/2024

How do literary settings change in our era of changing climate? MA student Case Pharr explains using examples from Barbara Kingsolver's novel Flight Behavior. Check out the 4th video in our new series here:

How does climate change alter our understanding of settings in storytelling? How can you spot these changes in cli-fi? In this short video, MA student Case ...

07/29/2024

How does climate change affect protagonists in literature and film? Be a hero and check out MA student Erika Stewart's new lesson for our summer climate change series:

How does climate change alter our understanding of individual protagonists, who are typically expected to resolve a story's conflict on their own? How can yo...

07/10/2024

Heat waves related to climate change haven't only stressed our energy grids. They've also stressed the way we tell stories. MA grad Jackson Cooper shows us how narrative arcs change in our era of changing climate in this new lesson.

How does climate change alter our understanding of typical narrative arcs? How can you spot these changes in cli-fi? In this short video, MA student Jackson...

06/14/2024

To celebrate the end of the term, we're proud to debut the first video in our new video series "The Oregon State University Guide to Climate-Change Literature." Hear MA student Georgia Wright's lesson on here:

What does Cli-Fi mean? What are some examples of Cli-Fi? In this short video, MA student Georgia Wright uses the Childish Gambino song "Feels Like Summer" t...

05/22/2024

Did you miss Robin Wall Kimmerer's talk at Oregon State University last Friday? See the full Stone Award Lecture, "Returning the Gift: the nature writer in a time of climate catastrophe," at the following link:

Best-selling author and scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer delivers the Stone Lecture at Oregon State. The Stone Award recognizes major American authors with bodi...

04/11/2024

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Bernard Malamud spent a decade as an instructor at Oregon State. “It was an amazingly good time in his writing life,” said his daughter, Janna Malamud Smith. “We always carried, all of us, a love for Oregon.”

Now, a generous gift from the estate of Malamud’s son, Paul Malamud, who died in 2022, and organized by his daughter, Smith, will support the OSU College of Liberal Arts’ distinguished writing program. It establishes the first endowed faculty position in the School of Writing, Literature and Film, adds to an existing scholarship, and creates a visiting writer endowment.

“I personally believe that student debt is a way to really curtail human liberty,” she said. “I just hope it makes some students’ and some faculties’ lives slightly easier.”

03/04/2024

What is a ? Hear Senior Instructor Sam Schwartz's answer here. Hint: it isn't a protein powder, but you will see serious gains if you try it.

What is a Bildungsroman? What are its origins and characteristics? What are some common examples of the Bildungsroman?In this short lesson, Senior Lecturer...

02/05/2024

OSU MFA student Bec Ehlers stars in our new terms video "What is ?" Check out the lesson here or head over to our YouTube channel for the full video: https://youtube.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLSa-y67lQA

What is the Young Adult Literature? What are some of YA literature's common themes and characteristics? How does YA differ from adult or mainstream literatu...

01/03/2024

How can the simple act of identifying the climax of a story help students build strong literary arguments? Check out the following free (OER) lesson, which uses Yiyun Li's short story "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" as its primary text. Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2024!

What is the climax of a story? What are some examples of climaxes in literature? Why are climaxes important in literary essays?In this short lesson, Profes...