New England Literature Program
The New England Literature Program (NELP) is an academic program run by the University of Michigan that takes place off-campus during the Spring half-term. University of Michigan faculty and other staff teach the courses, and students earn regular University of Michigan credit. The program has been in existence since 1975[1] and has an endowed permanent directorship in the English Department to ensure NELP's continuation.
The program, founded by professor Walter Clark,[2][1] takes place at Camp Kabeyun on Lake Winnipesaukee in Alton Bay, New Hampshire. (The program has also been held at Camp Kehonka in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, and at Camp Wohelo and Camp Mataponi on Sebago Lake in Maine.) NELP lasts for six and a half weeks, with 40 students and 13 staff members participating each year. In addition to formal academic work in literature and writing, staff and students offer non-credit instruction in canoeing, camping, art, and nature studies. Students also teach or co-teach classes as part of the NELP program, and several three-day hiking and camping trips round out the NELP curriculum. Students at NELP live without cell phones, recorded music, video cameras, and email/computers.
Educational philosophy
[edit]The course description of NELP states that, "Diverse kinds of learning are all valuable and pleasurable," suggesting that intellectual and physical challenges are often parallel with each kind of learning reinforcing the others. The program is run cooperatively: All participants belong to work groups. Work responsibilities rotate among the groups, which prepare meals, wash dishes, and clean common areas. NELP begins with a work day during which equipment is unpacked and camp set up, and it ends with another work day. The students and staff live together during the duration of NELP.
The academic program
[edit]NELP students earn 9 hours of credit. While NELP’s academic work is said to be taught as a single integrated academic experience, the credits nonetheless appear on transcripts as three separate courses.[3]
The program is grounded in the writings of 18th and 19th-century writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau,[4] Emily Dickinson, Frederick Douglass, and Herman Melville,[5] as well as more modern writers like Sarah Orne Jewett, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, Carolyn Chute,[6] E. E. Cummings,[7] Louise Glück, Galway Kinnell,[8] and Cheryl Savageau[3][9] In particular, Thoreau's Walden has been described as the Bible of NELP.[5]
NELP offers creative writing workshops, and most writing is done in a journal. Journal writing is required and is central to NELP education. The journals are both personal and academic. The courses at NELP are graded. The academic program requires completion of a reading list, active work in the journal, and extensive participation in classes and groups.[1]
Alumni
[edit]The NELP program has had participants who have gone on to careers in writing and the arts. Among those Mark Leibovich, a writer for the New York Times;[10] Diane Cook, formerly a producer at Public Radio International's This American Life and author of Man V. Nature, a 2014 book of short stories published by Harper Collins;[11][12] Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn;[13] food journalist Francis Lam;[14] and bluegrass singer Rebecca Frazier.[15]
In 2018, alumna Dana Nessel was elected Attorney General of the State of Michigan.[16]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Weber, Bruce (2004-08-01). "A Sense of Place". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
- ^ Berman, Jillian (2008-10-07). "NELP continues with new director". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
- ^ a b "About Us: Academic Program". U-M LSA New England Literature Program. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
- ^ Corey, Mary (2023-07-04). "U-M New England Literature Program combines nature with education". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
- ^ a b Canan, Danielle (2023-11-01). "Thoreau and the myth of the author". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
- ^ Hetzler, Alex (2023-09-22). "The Daily Book Review picks the worst books they read for school". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
- ^ Lapan, Tovin (2001-02-01). "Students study literature in New England". The Michigan Daily. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
- ^ Sloan, Aisha Sabatini (2015-06-01). "How to Teach a Nightmare". Guernica. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
- ^ "Prospective Students: Academic Program". U-M LSA New England Literature Program. Retrieved 2025-04-11.
- ^ Zorn, Eric (July 30, 2022). "Had no idea that Mark was a former NELPer! Hi". Facebook.
- ^ "U-M literature program takes students into the deep woods". The University Record. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ Araujo, Mara (2015-05-04). "Diane Cook: "Life Is Very Precarious"". Talking Writing. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ^ Zorn, Eric (2024-10-22). "Zorn: I too had a low-paying restaurant job". Eric Zorn: The Picayune Sentinel. Retrieved 2025-04-10 – via Substack.
- ^ Lam, Francis (December 17, 2014). "Dear fellow NELPers..." Facebook.
- ^ Frazier, Rebecca (August 8, 2024). "Thanks for watching, friends! ✨ - Rebecca (NELP '96)". Facebook.
- ^ "Michigan voters made history on election night November 6, 2018 by choosing Dana Nessel to become the state's first openly gay attorney general". University of Michigan LSA. Retrieved 2023-11-10.