Colby-Sawyer Assistant Professor of Humanities Ewa Chrusciel Named a Finalist in International Poetry Competition
NEW LONDON, N.H. — Colby-Sawyer College Assistant Professor of Humanities Ewa Chrusciel's poem “hagio graphia” has been named a finalist in the poetry category of the International Aesthetica Creative Works Competition.
The competition is hosted by Aesthetica Magazine, a British-based arts and culture publication which covers visual art, film, music, literature and theatre and is distributed in 15 countries.
The Aesthetica Creative Works Annual is comprised of the winning entries of the Aesthetica Annual Creative Works Competition, which this year received 18,000 submissions from more than 30 countries. Professor Chrusciel joined the Colby-Sawyer faculty in 2006. Her educational background in Polish and world literature from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, as well as her Ph.D. in American contemporary poetry and cognitive poetics from Illinois State University, provide her with an interdisciplinary and international approach that facilitates and enriches her current teaching and research.
“I was very thrilled to know that this poem was selected a finalist, but I also had ambivalent feelings as to the birth and existence of this particular poem before I submitted it for the contest,” says Professor Chrusciel, a New London resident. “I have put the life of this poem in question a few times. This is one of those poems that one only shares with certain friends. Bringing this poem into the limelight, however, helped me release some of these ambivalent feelings. Let it be. I am grateful.”
Her areas of teaching and scholarly interest lie in pre-modern, modern and post-modern world poetry; comparative literature; creative writing; translation; and cognitive poetics, including neurological theories of aesthetic experience.
Professor Chrusciel's book of letters and poems in English, Strata, won the 2009 Emergency Press International Book Contest and will be published in December 2010. Strata, which means “layers” or “levels” in English and “loss” in Polish, explores issues of identity, mediation, protest and the sublime, according to poet Jorie Graham's description in the Boston Review. Her longest work originally written in English, the book is sporadically interwoven with Polish and other languages. Based in New York, Emergency Press publishes explorative books that fall outside traditional categories. Chrusciel's second book of poetry in Polish, Sopilki, was released in December 2009.
The work of Professor Chrusciel has also been published in journals, magazines, newspapers and anthologies. At Colby-Sawyer, she teaches classes in creative writing, world literature, composition, poetry and contemporary prose. In fall 2009, she served as the faculty advisor to Global Beginnings in Florence, Italy, the college's new study-abroad program for first-year students. Please visit her website for more on her poetry and teaching.
Colby-Sawyer, founded in 1837, is a comprehensive liberal arts and sciences college located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire. Students learn in small classes through a select array of programs that integrate the liberal arts and sciences with professional experience.
Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main Street, New London, N.H. 03257 (603) 526-3000
