Stories

Poet Hajjar Baban Receives Soros Fellowship for New Americans

Hajjar Baban’s experience as an immigrant to America exists in all aspects of her work, she says, from “the words that I may obsess over to images that become motifs.” Baban – who received a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 2020 and is currently a Master of Fine Arts student in the University of Virginia’s Creative Writing Program in poetry – was awarded the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a merit-based award to support graduate study for immigrants and children of immigrants. Founded by Hungarian immigrants Daisy M. Soros and her late husband Paul Soros, the fellowship program honors the contributions of continuing generations of immigrants in the United States.

Double Take: Life Lessons from a 4-Year-Old, a Beloved Single Dad, and 1970s Tumult

This year’s Double Take speakers were, in order of appearance, former Cavalier football player and member of the Class of 2020 Charles Snowden, UVA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis, first-year student Taylor Curro, community member Paul C. Harris Sr., his son and ’13, ‘16 ‘double Hoo’ Paul C. Harris Jr., UVA Hospital Cafeterias sous chef Eryne Zerihun and Joel Gardner, a ‘70, ‘74 ‘double Hoo.’

Professor Rita Dove’s Playlist for the Apocalypse Nominated for a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry

A New Home for the Arts at UVA: $50 Million Gift Sets Stage for Performing Arts Center

UVA President Jim Ryan announced at a Board of Visitors meeting a $50 million lead gift from Tessa Ader for the building of a performing arts center at the University.

Virginia Commission for the Arts Announces $30,000 in Artist Fellowship Awards Including Two UVA Professors

The Virginia Commission for the Arts has named six Virginia poets to receive Poetry Fellowships in 2022. Fellowships are awarded annually to artists residing in Virginia in recognition of creative excellence. Among the awardees are UVA Professors Debra Nystrom and Kiki Petrosino, along with MFA program alumna and Virginia Tech Professor Erika Meitner.

On the shelf: New reads from alumni and faculty

From academic research to rollicking fiction, UVA alumni and faculty members have been churning out books on a variety of topics. Here’s a look at some of them.

Global Connections: UVA Spanish Students Publish New Poetry Translations

According to UVA Lecturer in Spanish and professional translator Nieves García Prados, translation is an exercise in challenge and compromise, linguistically, and also culturally: “When translating, students seek solutions to the challenges they face, and therefore achieve, in my opinion, a deeper understanding of the meaning, structure, and use of the language, both the mother tongue and the one they are learning.”