To register / RSVP for this event, please use the Dresher Center's event page linked here. You can find the Webex link on this page if you'd like to attend virtually. If you want to reserve a spot for lunch in PAHB 216, you must register by February 12. 

Taking Notes, Taking Pictures: Turning Details of Place into Works of Fiction

Sally Shivnan, Teaching Professor, English; Summer 2024 Dresher Center Fellow

Stories that do not happen somewhere end up seeming to happen nowhere, an unsatisfying experience for readers, but capturing settings in writing involves more than sketching colorful descriptions. Place in storytelling is about the relationships between people and the points in space they inhabit; landscapes affect people and people affect landscapes, contributing to the wondrous variety we see in culture, history, and daily life around the world. Like many aspects of writing, evoking a place is “detail work.” Sally Shivnan will share the details she collected in words and photos on trips to France and Florida, a methodology that comes from her background in travel writing, although she uses it now in her fiction. She will also share examples from various authors who engage with place in their own works set in these same locations, as part of examining how writers turn the raw data of observation into sentences and stories.

Our newest English Department Alumni Spotlight features alumna Jordan Neal '19. Read a message from Jordan below about her graduate education and current job as a Program Analyst at the National Cancer Institute:

Growing up, I always loved reading and writing, so selecting my major in English literature was an easy choice for me! However, throughout my time in college I was never exactly sure what career or field I wanted to go into. 

After graduating from UMBC, I started working as an intern in the Office of Communications and Public Liaison (OCPL) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) before becoming a full-time federal employee. In 2021 I went on to graduate from UMGC with a M.S. in strategic communications. 

The extensive reading and writing involved in being an English literature major prepared me tremendously for my current role in strategic communications. What I love most about my job is reading about the cutting-edge science being conducted by remarkable researchers and getting the opportunity to use my writing skills to effectively and efficiently communicate it to the audiences who need it most. 

In my position, I have the opportunity to develop materials such as talking points, content for webpages, and social media messaging to relay complicated and sometimes somber topics in a way that is digestible for our key audiences. It’s truly such an honor to be trusted to do this work!

Post college, I still love reading and writing (I have read 47 out of 50 books for my 2024 reading goal) and I always recognize Professors Kathryn McKinley and Lindsay DiCuirci for encouraging my love for the subject beyond college. 

Megan McIntosh, ‘23, is a former English literature major who is currently a Library Desk Associate at Frederick Community College and pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Maryland, to begin in January. Read more about her experience at UMBC and journey to graduate school below:

I studied English literature at UMBC because I have always had a deep appreciation for expression. From a very young age, I have been a self-proclaimed writer and artist, and I have always enjoyed novels, films, and other projects of similar artistic nature. By the time I started college, I was eager to develop the ability to interpret fiction, and I hoped UMBC would help me cultivate such a skill. In that regard, my professors far exceeded my expectations.  I not only learned how to analyze texts through various lenses and write my own observations in a meaningful way, but I also learned how to “live like a writer” in creative writing classes and collaborated with my peers and Special Collections to build a virtual exhibition of George Cruikshank’s illustrations and manuscripts. The meticulous care that went into selecting which of Cruikshank’s works should be in the collection, along with the thorough research required to ensure the descriptions of each piece were accurate, revealed to me the importance of protecting and promoting artistic artifacts in order to preserve our access to past ideologies. Taking part in such an important task is what sparked my interest in curation and began my path toward librarianship.

Since graduating, I have worked as a learning assistant and, more recently, a Learning Associate in the Frederick Community College Library/learning commons. This job is one I feel quite passionate about, and it has led me to pursue a Master of Library and Information Science at UMD. I hope to eventually work in curation–whether in a museum, special collections department, or university library–where I will have the privilege of building meaningful collections that offer insight into previous perspectives and inspire future ones.