Dear Friends of the Slavic Department,
We had a busy and joyful second part of the academic year. Our faculty continued to actively publish and teach, introducing our students to the riches of Slavic and world literature, cinema, and culture. Alongside our Slavic and Russian graduates, our festive June Convocation celebrated the first generation of graduates of our new and fast-growing GLITS (Global Literary Studies) major, a Humanities Division-wide major housed in our department. We also happily cheered our newest Ph.D., Taylor Eftimov, who worked with three South Slavic languages— BCMS, Macedonian, and Slovene—for research on her doctoral dissertation Visions of Homeland in Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Literature, Film, and Culture.
The second half of the year was marked by our department’s increased emphasis on student-centered events. The very successful “Printmaking Social” on January 30 and “Printmaking Social: Bookplates & Bookmarks” on April 24, both jointly sponsored by UW Textual Studies and Global Literary Studies and organized by our Program Coordinator Isabelle Schlegel and Student Assistant Caprielle, so over-filled a large room in the HUB that a line of students formed at the door, hoping to get in and do some hands-on work with their peers. A more low-key “Coffee, Crafts, and Chat!” event was held on March 6 specifically for Slavic and GLITS majors. Living so much on their screens, our students seem more than eager for opportunities to meet their peers in person and chat with them while working jointly on a craft project and enjoying refreshments in the middle of a busy day.
One of our community-oriented events was the May 21 visit of film director Radivoje Andrić and the screening of his film How I Learned to Fly, depicting a young Belgrade girl on her summer visit to relatives on the Croatian island of Hvar. This lovely and light-hearted comedy for children was warmly received by an audience that included many from across the post-Yugoslav region, and who filled one of our biggest campus auditoriums, Kane Hall 210. They could not stop applauding the clearly moved Mr. Andrić. The screening was followed by a lively extended Q&A.
Our focus on literature remained evident in our community events as well: In February, award-winning Polish poet Krzysztof Siwczyk read his poetry and engaged in conversation with his translator and Assistant Professor Piotr Florczyk, moderated by Maria Kott Endowed Assistant Professor of Polish Studies Agnieszka Jeżyk. Also, at the end of May, our GLITS program hosted a popular roundtable with faculty from across all language and literature departments and open to all visitors, titled “Work in Progress: Approaches to Global Literary Studies.”
Wishing you a good summer, and stay in touch!
