USC Dornsife News

Alumna Laila Lalami’s new book The Moor’s Account offers a fresh perspective on the ill-fated 16th century Narváez expedition through the eyes of the first black explorer in America.

Senior Lucy Tew networks her way to an internship at American Girl, purveyors of the American Girl line of dolls and books — and draws on her love of children’s fiction for her senior project.

Distinguished Professor of English Percival Everett receives a $25,000 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to research in Algiers and Corsica for his next book about the World War II submarine Casabianca.

Anthony Marra ’08 is longlisted for the National Book Award in fiction for his debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, about an orphaned girl and her unlikely saviors against the backdrop of war-torn Chechnya.

Three highly regarded USC Dornsife novelists draw from the city’s eccentrics and ordinary folk for their inspiration. But that doesn’t mean they have L.A. all figured out.

Great Spirit

For the boss-employee edition of the popular game show Wipeout, USC Dornsife undergraduate Matt Schaefer and supervisor Tom Studdert beat out 84,000 applications to face the gauntlet.

The playwright and director of USC Dornsife’s Master of Professional Writing program will use the fellowship to work on a new play about poet Phillis Wheatley, the first African American woman to publish her writing.

The inaugural USC Writers Conference takes place Friday and features USC Dornsife faculty. The all-day event is the kick-off to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC April 21 and 22.