Pancake Mondays @ GIC
Bi-Weekly Mondays. 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. GIC Living Room. 3708 Chestnut Street
Join us for Pancake Monday! Enjoy fresh pancakes while connecting with fellow students. Let’s chat about how you’re doing, how classes are going, and anything else on your mind.
¡Join us for Cafecito con Casa Latina! A space for conversation, curiosity, and communidad.
Join us for Bi-Weekly Breaking the Frame Sessions from 6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m @ the GIC Living Room (3708 Chestnut St).
Come connect over arts and crafts as we share our experiences and partake in cultural conversations.
Join us for Biweekly Manakeesh Mondays from 1:00 p.m to 2:30 p.m @ the GIC Living Room (3708 Chestnut Street).
Join us for Manakeesh Monday! Enjoy freshly made manakeesh and fairouz, while connecting with fellow students. This is an informal event to simply relax, refuel, and reconnect.
“One of the most vital and original ensembles on the American music scene,” (The New York Times) Alarm Will Sound performs American Stories, a collection of bold, contemporary works that reflect the vast, evolving landscape of our country’s identity. Celebrating 25 years of dynamic virtuosity, the ensemble, joined by composer and interdisciplinary artist Bora Yoon, explores themes of heritage, memory, struggle and transformation, embracing how America is an unfinished story, constantly being rewritten.
Student tickets only $10.
The Peking Acrobats push the limits of human ability, wowing audiences with spellbinding trick-cycling, precision tumbling, juggling, somersaulting and gymnastics. With a three-decade legacy of elite talent, this world-record-setting troupe takes ancient Chinese traditions to new heights, pairing artful athleticism with live music and festive pageantry. Bring the whole family–these masters of agility and grace are, quite literally, defying gravity.
Student tickets only $10.
More info to come
Pancake Mondays @ GIC
Bi-Weekly Mondays. 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. GIC Living Room. 3708 Chestnut Street
Join us for Pancake Monday! Enjoy fresh pancakes while connecting with fellow students. Let’s chat about how you’re doing, how classes are going, and anything else on your mind.
Join Dagmawi Woubshet at the Writers House for a conversation with Nicholas Boggs, author of Baldwin: A Love Story, the first major biography of James Baldwin in three decades. Baldwin: A Love Story reveals how profoundly the writer’s personal relationships shaped his life and work. Drawing on newly uncovered archival material and original research and interviews, this spellbinding book tells the overlapping stories of Baldwin’s most sustaining intimate and artistic relationships.
Nicholas Boggs is the bestselling author of Baldwin: A Love Story (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), which is currently a finalist for the NBCC's John Leonard Prize and for the PEN/Jacqueline Bogard Weld Award for Biography. It was recently awarded the 2026 Stonewall Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Book Award from the American Library Association. He is also the co-editor of Baldwin’s collaboration with French artist Yoran Cazac, Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood. The recipient of a 2023 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant as well as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Scholars-in-Residence Program at the Schomburg, and the Leon Levy Center for Biography, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Dagmawi Woubshet, a James Baldwin scholar, is the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania.
Please join us for a special evening honoring the life and work of poet Alice Notley (November 8, 1945 - May 20 2025). In her early career, Notley was primarily associated with the second generation of New York School poets, though she never limited her writing to any one specific school or genre. In subsequent decades Notley continued writing poetry that defied conventions. She describes her feminist epic poem, The Descent of Alette, as follows: “an immense act of rebellion against dominant social forces, against the fragmented forms of modern poetry, against the way a poem was supposed to look according to both past and contemporary practice.” Notley's visionary, disobedient verse is most famously connected to an uncanny ability to converse with the dead, the disembodied, and the otherwordly. Please join us for remembrances and readings to celebrate one of the most brilliant and prolific poets of our time.
Anselm Berrigan is the author of many books of poetry including most recently, Don't Forget to Love Me (Wave Books, 2024). Some others include: Come In Alone, Notes from Irrelevance and Zero Star Hotel. With Alice Notley and Edmund Berrigan he co-edited The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan (U. California, 2005) and The Selected Poems of Ted Berrigan (U. California, 2011). More recently, he co-edited Get The Money! Collected Prose of Ted Berrigan (City Lights, 2022) with Notley, Edmund Berrigan, and Nick Sturm. From 2003–2007 he was Artistic Director of The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church. He teaches writing classes at Pratt Institute and Brooklyn College, and was a longtime Co-Chair in Writing at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts interdisciplinary MFA program.
Edmund Berrigan is the author of More Gone (City Lights, 2019), a book of poetry. With Anselm Berrigan, Alice Notley, and Nick Sturm, he co-edited Get the Money (Collected Prose 1961-1983) by Ted Berrigan(City Lights, 2022). He also edited the Collected Poems of Steve Carey, forthcoming in 2026 from Subpress.
Julia Bloch is the author most recently of a book of poems, The Sacramento of Desire, and of criticism, Lyric Trade: Reading the Subject in the Postwar Long Poem. A Pew Fellow in the Arts, she directs the Creative Writing Program at Penn and lives in Philadelphia.
writer, and teacher, erica kaufman, is the author of three books of poetry: Post Classic, Instant Classic (both from Roof Books), and censory impulse (Factory School). she is co-editor of No Gender: Reflections on the Life and Work of kari edwards and a collection of archival pedagogical documents, Adrienne Rich: Teaching at CUNY, 1968–1974. recent poems can be found in Ursula and e-flux. kaufman's prose, focused on contemporary feminist poetics and pedagogy, appears in: The Color of Vowels: New York School Collaborations; Approaches to Teaching the Works of Gertrude Stein; The Supposium: Thought Experiments & Poethical Play in Difficult Times; Urgent Possibilities, Writings on Feminist Poetics & Emergent Pedagogies; Reading Experimental Writing; and The Difference is Spreading: Fifty Contemporary Poets on Fifty Poems. she is based at Bard College where she is the director of both the Institute for Writing & Thinking and the Language and Thinking Program, and teaches in the Written Arts Program.
Michelle Lu is a third-year studying English, with minors in Chemistry and Creative Writing. She first encountered the work of Alice Notley as a student in the Kelly Writers House Fellows Seminar last spring, where Notley’s vision of the self as ever-becoming and radically receptive, rooted in interior truth and care, has reshaped Michelle's understanding of poetic possibility. On campus, Michelle serves as Managing Editor for The Penn Review, editor of The Woodlands, and President of WriteMinds, a creative writing initiative for older adults in Philadelphia.
Pattie McCarthy is the author of eight books of poetry, including Wifthing (2021) and intertidal (forthcoming 2026), both from Apogee Press, and a dozen chapbooks, most recently extraordinary tides (Omnidawn Publishing, 2023). A former Pew Fellow in the Arts, she is a non-tenure track professor at Temple University in Philadelphia where she is the Assistant Director of the Creative Writing MFA Program.
Shoshana Olidort is a critic, writer, and translator. Her work has appeared in Asymptote, Lit Hub, The Paris Review Daily, Poetry Northwest, Public Book, and The Times Literary Supplement, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in comparative literature from Stanford University and has taught at Amherst College.
Cafe & Community is an inclusive safe space dedicated to re-exploring various aspects of one’s cultural identity. All are welcome to join!
Bi-Weekly Tuesdays. 7:00-8:00 PM. GIC Living Room (3708 Chestnut Street)
February 10, 2026.
February 24, 2026.
March 10, 2026.
March 17, 2026.
March 31, 2026.
April 14, 2026.
April 28, 2026.
Looking to grow your network but not sure where to start? Stop by Penn FLASH Lounge Office Hours to explore Penn FLASH, identify 1–2 alumni mentors, and draft your first (or next!) message with support. Whether you're just getting started or ready to reach out, this space is for you.
Bi-Weekly Wednesdays | 12:00 - 1:00pm | GIC Living Room | 3708 Chestnut Street
Food provided. No RSVP. Come once or come often!
Visit https://bit.ly/PennFLASH
Dig into the craft of writing a YA novel and the exciting genres of fantasy, horror, thriller, dark academia, and fairy tale retellings in this panel event spotlighting three special guest authors. Featuring the #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of A Forgery of Fate, Six Crimson Cranes, and Spin the Dawn Elizabeth Lim; debut author of Secrets of the Blue Hand Girls and the founder and Executive Director of Cosmic Writers (as well as a KWH staffer alum!), Rowana Miller; Lambda Literary Award winner of The Grief Keeper and her latest Fireblooms and co-founder of the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival and the Latinx Storytellers Conference Alexandra Villasante; and event host Nova Ren Suma, New York Times bestselling author of several books including her latest Wake the Wild Creatures and A Room Away from the Wolves and The Walls Around Us, both finalists for an Edgar Award, and Penn Creative Writing faculty. Open to the Penn community and to the public. Book signing to follow.
Elizabeth Lim is the #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of A Forgery of Fate, Six Crimson Cranes, and Spin the Dawn. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was raised on a hearty diet of fairy tales, myths, and songs. Before becoming an author, Elizabeth was a professional film and video game composer, and she still tends to come up with her best book ideas when writing near a piano. She lives in New York with her husband and daughters.
Rowana Miller (C'22) writes about riddles, goblins, secrets, strange girls, and mischief. She is also the founder and Executive Director of Cosmic Writers, a nonprofit that provides creative writing education for kids and teenagers, and an adjunct professor at Pace University. She lives in New York City with her wife, Penelope, and two cats, Alice and Jabberwocky. Secrets of the Blue Hand Girls is her first novel. And she’s a proud KWH staffer alum!
Alexandra Villasante has always loved telling stories—though not always with words. She has a BFA in Painting and an MA in Combined Media (that’s art school speak for making work out of anything). Born in New Jersey to immigrant parents, Alex has the privilegio of dreaming in both English and Spanish. Her latest novel, Fireblooms, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and praise from Kirkus and Booklist. Alex’s debut YA novel, The Grief Keeper, was a Fall 2019 Junior Library Guild Gold Selection and winner of the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Children’s Literature/Young Adult Fiction. She's a contributor several Young Adult short story anthologies including, Our Shadows Have Claws, Relit: 16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories and We Mostly Come Out at Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters Angels and Other Creatures. Alex is a co-founder of the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival and of the LKBF Latinx Storytellers Conference. When she’s not writing, planning or painting, Alex works for the Highlights Foundation.
Nova Ren Suma is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Walls Around Us as well as A Room Away from the Wolves, both finalists for an Edgar Award, among other acclaimed novels and short stories for young adults. Her latest novel, Wake the Wild Creatures, was published by Little, Brown in 2025. Nova has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and has been awarded fiction fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, the MacDowell Colony, the Millay Colony, and Yaddo. She has taught creative writing at Columbia University, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Stanford Continuing Studies, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Rennie Harris, “the most brilliant hip-hop choreographer in America” (The New Yorker) and our 25/26 season artist-in-residence, returns with the world premiere of Losing My Religion, an exploration of the world’s constant social, economic and political turmoil through the lens of street dance and hip hop. Set to a chilling soundscape, this new work features projections of Harris’ own visual artwork and takes inspiration from his renowned autobiographical solo, Endangered Species. Losing My Religion offers a haunting narrative of personal and systemic struggle and transformation, a multifaceted reminder of our humanity.
Student tickets only $10.
¡Join us for Cafecito con Casa Latina! A space for conversation, curiosity, and communidad.
Bob Santelli is the Founding Director of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, located at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ. He is also an American music historian, curator, music journalist and a GRAMMY Award winner. He has authored more than a dozen books on American music and is the winner of the 2022 Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for Woody Guthrie: Song and Art, Words and Wisdom, which he co-authored with Nora Guthrie.
Santelli was one of the original curators of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, becoming the museum’s first Director of Education and Vice-President of Public Programs in 1995. In 2000, he became Artistic Director and then CEO of Experience Music Project in Seattle. Santelli became the Founding Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum in 2006. He was also one of the executive producers of the PBS series In Performance at the White House, also working with First Lady Michelle Obama to conduct the White House’s music education programs. More recently, Santelli served as the Director of Popular Music and Performing Arts at Oregon State University.
Join us for Bi-Weekly Breaking the Frame Sessions from 6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m @ the GIC Living Room (3708 Chestnut St).
Come connect over arts and crafts as we share our experiences and partake in cultural conversations.
More info to come!
Every generation has its icons, the stars who define an era, set trends, and inspire millions. In ICON, Strictly Funk brings those larger-than-life figures to the stage, celebrating the music, movement, and moments that made them unforgettable. Each piece honors someone who left their mark on the world. Experience the thrill of a live tour and the excitement of seeing your favorites reimagined through funk.
Content Warning: Strobe lighting effects that may affect individuals with photosensitivity.
We’ve been cooking up something extra special this semester. Come grab a bite! Reserve a Table for Bloom on March 19th, 20th, and 21st in Annenberg’s Prince Theater. Hurry, these tickets are selling like hotcakes!
*Content Warning: Strong Language*
Bottoms up, divas - Without a Net presents its spring show, ST. BADDIES DAY!
This is your GREEN light to bring it all on this GREEN night bc it’s giving recharged-from-break-and-need-a-night-out. So pu this lucky evening wearing your personal pot of gold for our buckle-busting comedy.
"There’s no pot of gold at the end of my rainbow, only this.” - A well dressed leprechaun
“The leprechauns aren’t the only ones getting lucky tonight” - Nondescript frat guy in a situationship
“Be informed that it’s BYOB - Bring Your Own Baddie” - The Lucky Charms Mascot
Tickets: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwRF1uyGGqnL3pOTWNXMSvFt-TCwhZKuohbvRYGlotRfc45w/viewform
Fridays, 12pm - 1pm at Penn Women's Center (3643 Locust Walk)
Take a quick study break, meet new people, and try our snacks and tea!
We’ve been cooking up something extra special this semester. Come grab a bite! Reserve a Table for Bloom on March 19th, 20th, and 21st in Annenberg’s Prince Theater. Hurry, these tickets are selling like hotcakes!
*Content Warning: Strong Language*
Come see Penn Atma's spring show Matma Mia on 3/20 at 6pm or 3/21 at 9:30pm!
Every generation has its icons, the stars who define an era, set trends, and inspire millions. In ICON, Strictly Funk brings those larger-than-life figures to the stage, celebrating the music, movement, and moments that made them unforgettable. Each piece honors someone who left their mark on the world. Experience the thrill of a live tour and the excitement of seeing your favorites reimagined through funk.
Content Warning: strobe lighting effects that may affect individuals with photosensitivity
In Sinneapolis, crime is of the essence. After earning his Ph.D. in Mad Science, Dr. Bad is ready to take over the city with his right hand, Penis-In-a-Can, and a whole posse of dismembered body parts. There’s only one thing left to do … be in a power couple. Dr. Bad is smitten with the KitKat Bar and Cabaret’s star, Lady Godiva. He sends klutzy henchman Schmutz to plant a love serum in Godiva’s perfume, so one puff would render her instantly smitten. But Schmutz is terribly, horribly in love with his boss! Classic. When the mission goes awry, Schmutz must decide: to what lengths will he go for Dr. Bad’s affection? Can I call this court to disorder? And how many evil lairs are there in this story? Find out in Mask and Wig’s 137th Annual Production: Vaude-Villainy!
Rennie Harris, “the most brilliant hip-hop choreographer in America” (The New Yorker) and our 25/26 season artist-in-residence, returns with the world premiere of Losing My Religion, an exploration of the world’s constant social, economic and political turmoil through the lens of street dance and hip hop. Set to a chilling soundscape, this new work features projections of Harris’ own visual artwork and takes inspiration from his renowned autobiographical solo, Endangered Species. Losing My Religion offers a haunting narrative of personal and systemic struggle and transformation, a multifaceted reminder of our humanity.
Student tickets only $10.
Bottoms up, divas - Without a Net presents its spring show, ST. BADDIES DAY!
This is your GREEN light to bring it all on this GREEN night bc it’s giving recharged-from-break-and-need-a-night-out. So pu this lucky evening wearing your personal pot of gold for our buckle-busting comedy.
"There’s no pot of gold at the end of my rainbow, only this.” - A well dressed leprechaun
“The leprechauns aren’t the only ones getting lucky tonight” - Nondescript frat guy in a situationship
“Be informed that it’s BYOB - Bring Your Own Baddie” - The Lucky Charms Mascot
Tickets: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwRF1uyGGqnL3pOTWNXMSvFt-TCwhZKuohbvRYGlotRfc45w/viewform
Pennyo Presents: The YOrax! In this show, Pennyo will be performing various creative mash-ups of Chinese and American songs, a celebration of the two cultures. They will also debut a parody version of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax!
We’ve been cooking up something extra special this semester. Come grab a bite! Reserve a Table for Bloom on March 19th, 20th, and 21st in Annenberg’s Prince Theater. Hurry, these tickets are selling like hotcakes!
*Content Warning: Strong Language*
Rennie Harris, “the most brilliant hip-hop choreographer in America” (The New Yorker) and our 25/26 season artist-in-residence, returns with the world premiere of Losing My Religion, an exploration of the world’s constant social, economic and political turmoil through the lens of street dance and hip hop. Set to a chilling soundscape, this new work features projections of Harris’ own visual artwork and takes inspiration from his renowned autobiographical solo, Endangered Species. Losing My Religion offers a haunting narrative of personal and systemic struggle and transformation, a multifaceted reminder of our humanity.
Student tickets only $10.
We’ve been cooking up something extra special this semester. Come grab a bite! Reserve a Table for Bloom on March 19th, 20th, and 21st in Annenberg’s Prince Theater. Hurry, these tickets are selling like hotcakes!
*Content Warning: Strong Language*
Pennyo Presents: The YOrax! In this show, Pennyo will be performing various creative mash-ups of Chinese and American songs, a celebration of the two cultures. They will also debut a parody version of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax!
Rock band show with a 14-song setlist.
Rennie Harris, “the most brilliant hip-hop choreographer in America” (The New Yorker) and our 25/26 season artist-in-residence, returns with the world premiere of Losing My Religion, an exploration of the world’s constant social, economic and political turmoil through the lens of street dance and hip hop. Set to a chilling soundscape, this new work features projections of Harris’ own visual artwork and takes inspiration from his renowned autobiographical solo, Endangered Species. Losing My Religion offers a haunting narrative of personal and systemic struggle and transformation, a multifaceted reminder of our humanity.
Student tickets only $10.
Bottoms up, divas - Without a Net presents its spring show, ST. BADDIES DAY!
This is your GREEN light to bring it all on this GREEN night bc it’s giving recharged-from-break-and-need-a-night-out. So pu this lucky evening wearing your personal pot of gold for our buckle-busting comedy.
"There’s no pot of gold at the end of my rainbow, only this.” - A well dressed leprechaun
“The leprechauns aren’t the only ones getting lucky tonight” - Nondescript frat guy in a situationship
“Be informed that it’s BYOB - Bring Your Own Baddie” - The Lucky Charms Mascot
Tickets: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfwRF1uyGGqnL3pOTWNXMSvFt-TCwhZKuohbvRYGlotRfc45w/viewform
Every generation has its icons, the stars who define an era, set trends, and inspire millions. In ICON, Strictly Funk brings those larger-than-life figures to the stage, celebrating the music, movement, and moments that made them unforgettable. Each piece honors someone who left their mark on the world. Experience the thrill of a live tour and the excitement of seeing your favorites reimagined through funk.
Content Warning: strobe lighting effects that may affect individuals with photosensitivity
Come see Penn Atma's spring show Matma Mia on 3/20 at 6pm or 3/21 at 9:30pm!
Join us for Biweekly Manakeesh Mondays from 1:00 p.m to 2:30 p.m @ the GIC Living Room (3708 Chestnut Street).
Join us for Manakeesh Monday! Enjoy freshly made manakeesh and fairouz, while connecting with fellow students. This is an informal event to simply relax, refuel, and reconnect.
Nowruz (Persian New Year)
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
5:30 PM -7:30 PM
Houston Hall, Hall of Flags
Co-hosted by East Asian Studies Department, Azerbaijani Students at Penn, Persian Society, Kurdish Students at Penn, SWANA Council, Pan-Asian American Community House, the Middle East Center, and Greenfield Intercultural Center.
Please join Vote That Jawn, The Philadelphia Citizen, the Penn Creative Writing Program, and the Kelly Writers House for the second annual Sheno Prize Celebration! Honoring the legacy of Penn graduate, Philadelphia writer, and Vote That Jawn Youth Leader Erinda Sheno (C’22), the Sheno Prizes will recognize high school and college writers for extraordinary pieces on voting, democracy, immigration, and Philadelphia life.
You are welcome to come to this evening of celebration and community, featuring guest speakers, music, food, and young writers. We’ll toast Erinda’s legacy and celebrate the next generation of Philadelphia writers.
From early on, the quiet, reserved Erinda Sheno brought an unmistakable voice to her writing: witty, naughty, clear-eyed about human foibles and hopeful, especially when it came to the country and the city that her parents came to from Albania to raise their children. The Sheno Prize encourages young writers in Philadelphia to find and share their own unique writing voices.
PAACH is back with the Explore. Reflect. Become. Lunch Series for spring 2026! Come join us for a catered lunch and learn from our exciting group of speakers.
Event Information:
-Date/Time: Wednesday, March 25 at 12pm
-Location: ARCH Room 108 (3601 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104)
-Registration: https://bit.ly/PAACHERBLUNCHSERIES
The Explore. Reflect. Become Lunch Series focuses on the deep reflection of our personal experiences and the becoming of ourselves. We will invite individuals from Penn and the Philadelphia community to share their intimate histories and backgrounds and how they've explored, reflected, and become the person that they are.
About the Speaker:
o Areebah is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, with a Master’s in Non-Profit Leadership. They are the president of Penn Bangla and Queer Muslims at Penn, and part of the United Minorities Council, Penn Queer & Asian, and organizing efforts within Penn and broader Philadelphia. Areebah’s professional interests lie in refugee legal rights, grassroots work, and generally working for and with the people.
Elaine Hsieh Chou is a Taiwanese American author and screenwriter from California. Her debut novel Disorientation was a New York Times Editors’ Choice Book, NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award Finalist and Thurber Prize Finalist. A former Rona Jaffe Graduate Fellow at New York University, her Pushcart Award–winning short fiction appears in Guernica, Black Warrior Review, Tin House Online, Ploughshares and The Atlantic, while her essays appear in The Cut and Vanity Fair. She is a Fred R. Brown Literary Award recipient, a Sundance Episodic Lab Fellow and a Gotham Series Creator to Watch. Her work has been supported by the Harry Ransom Center, the New York Foundation for the Arts and Hedgebrook’s Writers-in-Residence Program. Her story collection Where Are You Really From came out from Penguin Press in August 2025.
More info to come