News & Events

Department News, Publications, Etc.

  • Carlos Villacorta Gonzales, Assistant Professor of Spanish, presented a paper titled “Nostalgia por la izqierda: afectos en la nueva narrativa latinoamericana del siglo XXI” at the 2016 meeting of the Latin American Studies Association in New York.
  • Frédéric Rondeau, Assistant Professor of French, recently published a book titled La contre-culture au Québec, a collection of essays by specialists in music, literature, theater, film, visual arts and sociology on Québec’s counter-culture in the 1960s and ’70s. The collection is co-edited with Dr. Karim Larose of the Université de Montréal.
Book cover La contre-culture au Québec

Upcoming Events and Speakers

Book Talk:

Ustedes que jamas vieron mi muerte

Thursday, October 16th, 2025 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

By Peruvian author Fernando Rivera

You are invited to the Book talk by Peruvian writer Fernando Rivera. He will present his new novel Ustedes que jamás vieron mi muerte. Among his works of fiction, he has published the story collections Barcos de arena and El dios del silencio, as well as the novel Invencible como tu figura. En 1992 obtuvo el primer premio de El cuento de las mil palabras de la revista Caretas. His short stories have appeared in anthologies published in Peru and Spain. As a researcher, he has published Dar la palabra: Ética, política y poética de la escritura en Arguedas (2011), El cuerpo anudado: Objetificación y uso político de los cuerpos en los Andes (Almenara, 2025), and Los nudos de la escritura: A propósito de las narrativas del Conflicto Armado Interno en el Perú (1980–2000) (UNMSM–Cátedra Vallejo, forthcoming).

Women, fiction and Peru: Karina Pacheco
Monday, November 10, 10:00 – 11:00,
Bangor Room in the Memorial Union
Speaker: Peruvian author Karina Pacheco

Coffee and light snacks provided!

UMaine graduate and Peruvian author Karina Pacheco discusses her new book The Year of the Wind (Greywolf Press). Pacheco, who writes about the struggle of Peruvian women, the Peruvian Army Conflict and its consequences, reflects on her fiction as both a creative writer and an anthropologist. Spanish major Chelsea Johanson will also comment on her work translating one of Karina’s short stories into English.

The event includes a Q and A with Pacheco on questions such as (but not necessarily limited to):

  • Women writers in Peru
  • Fiction in Latin America
  • Translating women’s writers

This WGS at Work event is funded by the Dr. Ann Margaret Johnstone Lecture Series and the Department of Modern Languages and Classics. Dr. Johnstone was the first tenure track faculty member in the computer science program at the University of Maine. Johnstone had a love for creative writing, and the Lecture Fund in Johnstone’s name was established by her friends and family in 1996, and as a gift for computer science (in odd years) and WGS (in even years).

Past Events

Speaker: Ulises Gonzales / Peruvian Writer Lehman College-CUNY Writer and Professor of Latin American Literature

WRITING NEW YORK CITY IN SPANISH

You are invited to the talk of Peruvian writer and editor Ulises Gonzales, a conversation about the history of Spanish writing in and about New York City in the last decade 2014-2024. Ulises Gonzales will talk about Latin American authors like Lina Meruane (Chile), Mariana Graciano (Argentina), Antonio Muñoz Molina (Spain), Gabriela Polit Dueñas (Ecuador), Fernanda Trías (Uruguay), Claudia Salazar Jiménez (Peru), Keila Vall de la Ville (Venezuela), Sara Cordón (Spain), Oswaldo Estrada (Peru), and others. He will also talk about the role of the NYU Creative Writing Program in Spanish and the Graduate Center, CUNY in Manhattan and his work as editor of the literary magazine Los Bárbaros and his publishing house Chatos Inhumanos.

 Thursday,  September 19, 2024 • 4:30 pm- 6:00 pm, Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium (165 Barrows Hall)

Speaker: Naida Saavedra Writer and Professor of Latin American Literature

#NewLatinoBoom: Literature in Spanish Paving Its Way in the US

You are invited to the talk of writer and scholar Naida Saavedra. Dr. Saavedra explores the #NewLatinoBoom, the movement of literature written and published in Spanish in the United States during the first decades of the 21st century. From book presentations, fairs, readings, newspaper articles, and podcasts, the movement has a solid presence on social media. Hashtags, group selfies, and live videos are crucial for authors, publishers, and agents. The New Latino Boom is a movement in the making.

Monday,  September 23, 2024 • 4:30 pm- 6:00 pm Arthur St. John Hill Auditorium (165 Barrows Hall)

Speaker Mariana Ivanova; Associate Professor of German Film and Media.

The McGillicuddy Humanities Center presents a screening of Rolf Losansky’s 1989 film, Farewell Disco, as part of its 2024-2025 Symposium, “From Talkies to TikTok: 100 Years of Audiovisual Storytelling.” Sponsored by the School of Forest Resources, the Climate Change Institute, the Department of Modern Languages & Classics, and a “Germany on Campus” grant from the Federal Republic of Germany. Dr. Mariana Ivanova of UMass-Amherst will lead a discussion of the film. Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public.

 4 November, 4 pm, IMRC Center 104. Free and open to the public.

Sponsored by: McGillicuddy Humanities Center, Modern Languages & Classics, School of Forest Resources, Climate Change Institute, “Germany on Campus” program of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Students visit a museum during a May Term trip to Quebec City.
May term trip to Quebec City an opportunity for language immersion and more

There are many benefits that come with taking a May Term class. These classes often present opportunities that simply don’t fit within the context of a standard semester-long offering. Take the recent trip to Quebec City taken by a bakers’ dozen (or douzaine de boulangers, if you like) of French students. For one week, from […]

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