Archived Spotlight Posts

The UCLA Department of English is celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the publication of Ulysses by hosting an experiment in collective reading. Professors Louise Hornby and Colleen Jaurretche will hold a series of Thursday evening discussions of the novel, which will be read over the course of the winter and spring 2022. The six book…

Writing Programs is proud to announce the inaugural recipient of the Sonia Maasik Prize for Graduate Instructors of Writing. The 2020-2021 winner of the Maasik Prize is Spencer Robins. Spencer is a graduate student in English and a teaching fellow. He has taught English 4W, 85, and M30. He has also taught outside the English department, serving as…

This year’s Undergraduate Writing Award winners were honored via a virtual award ceremony. Please view the presentation here. The following is a list of the winners, their essays, and the faculty who nominated them: Tom Davey Science Writing Prize WINNER: Grace Yang, “2020: At Least You’re Not a Banana” nominated by Gregory Rubinson for English…

Writing Programs lecturer David Kipen’s idea for a 21st Century Federal Writers’ Project has reached Washington D.C. Santa Monica Congressman Ted Lieu recently introduced a bill proposing a program based on Kipen’s vision. Kipen believes that a modern-day Federal Writers’ Program could help tell important stories while financially supporting writers across the country. Click here…

On May 18, 2021, Professional Writing Minor student Rebekah Brandes published her first story in Los Angeles Magazine. Rebekah took English Composition M138 (Topics in Creative Writing: The Creative Nonfiction Essay in Journalism) with Writing Programs instructor Nathan Deuel in Winter 2021. Rebekah’s article highlights TikTok users’ recent efforts to free the Menendez brothers, who…

Susannah Rodriguez Drissi’s novel Until We’re Fish (Propertius Press, 2020) was recently selected as the 2020 Nautilus Book Award Winner in Fiction. An international book prize, Nautilus Awards honor “Better Books for a Better World.” The core mission of the Nautilus Awards is to celebrate books that support positive social change, social justice, conscious living and…

The XR in the Arts and Humanities: Extended Reality Research Projects and Pedagogy with VR, AR and MR webinar will take place on Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 3 PM Pacific. Writing Programs’ Maja Manojlovic and the other members of her team will present on Scribe VR, a concept for an app to immersively compose,…

In Fall of 2020, Writing Programs’ Dr. Tara Prescott-Johnson designed a Fiat Lux seminar in response to the remote learning-related “Zoom fatigue” affecting many UCLA students. This class (Honors 19: Anything But Zoom) was designed to help students connect to one another during a difficult time and to investigate new ways of creating art and…

The Los Angeles Times recently announced a new hardcover book featuring editors’ favorite selections of true stories from the popular column, “L.A. Affairs.” The book, entitled L.A. Affairs Book: True Stories of Nightmare Dates and Happily Ever Afters, features a chapter written by Writing Programs’ Lauri Mattenson. Click here to purchase the book from the LA…

Writing Programs faculty member Maja Manojlovic will present her pitch for her team’s project, ScribeVR, at the Celebrating UCLA Entrepreneurs Pitch Showcase on November 2nd. ScribeVR is a concept for a virtual reality application for immersively composing, ideating and self-expression in 360 degree space. Last spring, Maja and her team members Annelie Rugg and Tom Garbelotti were…