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Morgan Jerkins MFA '16 was interviewed as part of the Pen Ten interview series on Pen America last month. She spoke about "the responsibility of the writer" which she sees as "to be honest and vulnerable. Jerkins is the author of a forthcoming collection of essays, This Will Be My Undoing. She is currently a contributing editor for Catapult. Her on the Colin Kaepernick controversy, "What Colin Kaepernick's National Anthem Protest Reveals About American" was published in Rolling Stone in August. 

Summer Brennan '01 used tactics straight out of 12th Night in an attempt to undermine internet trolls. She told Flare Magazine about what she learned when she changed her profile picture on Twitter to one of her brother.

In its Guide to 2016’s Great Reads, NPR recommended Nitro Mountain by Lee Clay Johnson ’07, The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney MFAW ’13, Kookooland by Gloria Norris ’76, and The Queen of the Night by former MFAW faculty Alexander Chee.

Ariel Herwitz ’06, Floryn Honnet ’13, Rainer Hunt ’13, and Georgia Lassner ’09 are the inaugural class of a new residency for young alumni artists that was established at Bennington this year. Funded by a grant from an anonymous donor made in honor of faculty members Barry Bartlett and Jon Isherwood, the program invites recent graduates in sculpture and ceramics to live and work on campus for two- to four-week stints. In “studios” in Usdan Gallery, these four artists have had a chance to dive into their practice mostly uninterrupted, and current students have had the opportunity to interact with them in a variety of ways. Says Jon Isherwood, one of the designers of the residency, “It’s a very exciting moment for us in the Visual Arts to be able to bring back alumni and have them develop new work in the gallery. The premise of the residency has been to encourage experimentation. Complimenting this, the VA faculty have invited our alumni guests to visit classes and meet with students one on one.”

The fruits of the artists’ labors will be on view at Usdan Gallery from November 29 through December 8. They spoke with Aruna D’Souza about their student experiences, their approach to art making, and their experience being back on campus.

Earlier this week, Mashable announced their long lists for several categories of the 2017 PEN Literary awards, which include a number of Bennington graduates.

The Huffington Post published an opinion piece by Jesse Larner '88 which explores the role that white supremacist support for Donald Trump has played during and after the recent election. 

Mike Rugnetta '06 was part of a live-streamed conversation called "Fed Up: On Social Media and Democracy."

Robin Jebavy '04 has been awarded a Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowship from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation in recognition of her work as an "emerging artist." Her work will be included in an exhibition at the Haggerty Museum of Art next June. 

Adam Freed '08 was the subject of a piece in The Boston Globe earlier this month about how best to help veterans.

Jenn Stanley '09 and her father Peter participated in an interview on StoryCorps titled "Just In Time for the Election, It's Time for Some Family Political Therapy." In it, they spoke the way that their differing political opinions have affected their relationship. The interview ran on NPR's Morning Edition.

Harper's Bazaar published a story on the Literary Brat Pack, featuring Bret Easton Ellis '86, Donna Tartt '86, and Jill Eisenstein '86, all of whom "helped change the course of American literature—and looked great doing it."

Anaïs Duplan '14 was interviewed in Divedapper following the release of his debut poetry collection, Take This Stallion. 

The Oyster War by Summer Brennan '01 was named as a finalist for the Orion Book Award.

Jonathan Marc Sherman ’90 received the Hudas Schwartz Liff ’47 volunteer award for his support of Bennington. In her presentation, President Silver praised Sherman for the way he “sustains Bennington by making Bennington part of what he does.”

Bennington trio Mountain Man was featured as part of the "Musical Map of the United States" series by Brooklyn Magazine. 

Amrita Lash '04, and her band, Long Journey, released their debut album, Fierce Folk, last month. 

Deborah Borda ’71 spoke Michael Eisner at the Aspen Ideas Festival about her work managing the LA Philharmonic Orchestra. She also spoke about why she chose to attend 51�������� (after beginning her studies at a traditional music conservatory), citing Bennington's high level of flexibility, and emphasis on entrepreneurship. She soon realized, in Eisner's words, "Bennington would be better," and now advises musicians: “go to a liberal arts school” [9:40]. .

A new exhibition of the later works of Helen Frankenthaler '49 opened today at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills. The show, titled Line Into Color, Color Into Line and curated by John Elderfield, includes "works where the painter was exploring the division between drawing and painting." It will run until October 29. 

Two alumni were included in Buzzfeed's list of 21 Incredible New Books You Need to Read this Fall. A "colorful new novel" by Jonathan Lethem '86, A Gambler's Anatomy, was featured, along with Safiya Sinclair's '10 new "lyrical and provocative" book of poetry Cannibal.

Sylvan Esso, a group that includes Amelia Meath ’10, was featured in this week’s New York Times Playlist for their single “Radio.” The playlist includes “the week’s most notable new songs.” This week’s theme: “ten tracks you may have missed this summer.”

Morgan Jerkins MFAW ’16 recently published an essay in Rolling Stone on “What Colin Kaepernick’s National Anthem Protest Tells Us About America.” In it, she argues that “People aren’t merely upset because he is disrespecting the flag; they are upset because [his] anger illuminates just how divided this nation is and has always been.” 

Gesture, a nearly 3000-part installation of small paintings by Manju Shandler ’95, is included in the exhibition “Rendering the Unthinkable: Artists Respond to 9/11” at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Each painting is meant to evoke a particular victim. The show opens on September 12.

Effy Redman '04 recently published a piece in The New York Times about growing up with Moebius Syndrome, a condition that renders her unable to smile or make most other facial expressions. In the article, Redman meditates on the difficulties she deals with as a person unable to participate in the many-layered and surprisingly vital social mechanism that is a simple smile. 

The Imperial Wife, by Irina Reyn MFAW '06, has received widespread critical attention and praise, including an article and interview with NPR, and a review in the . 

Lee Clay Johnson '07 is the author of Nitro Mountain, which was published this spring by Knopf. It has been favorably reviewed by several literary journals including Kirkus and Electric Literature and most recently, by the New York Times. 

The buzz around Cannibal by Safiya Sinclair '10 continues to grow. The book, while still unpublished, has already been recognized by the Prairie Schooner Book Prize as their 2015 winner. Now, Cannibal appears Publishers Weekly's "Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2016." 

Jeva Lange '15 published an opinion piece today in The Week which explores the difficulties that international students face after graduation.

NPR's Selected Shorts aired a reading of Megan Mayhew Bergman's story "Hell Diving Women" from her collection Almost Famous Women. Anika Noni Rose (Dream Girls, Raisin in the Sun) read it.

Emmy nominations were announced, and two Bennington alumni made the cut: Peter Dinklage ’91 is once again nominated for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones, and Shawn Paper ’90 received a nod for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series for his work on Veep

A New York Times feature illustrates the depth and breadth of the impact Elizabeth Swados ’73 had on musical theater, highlighting a number of upcoming productions and quotes from notables including Meryl Streep, Diane Lane, Garry Trudeau, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.