In December 2014 the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded its “New Directions” Fellowship to Wiebke Denecke, our Fellow from 2006-2009. A German native who has lived all over the world and is fluent in a dozen languages, Professor Denecke served as the East Asia editor for the Norton Anthology of World Literature (third edition, 2012). Denecke became the first BU recipient of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s prestigious New Directions Fellowship. The fellowship will allow Denecke to travel with her family to China, Korea, and Japan throughout next year to research all-but-forgotten poetry from the 7th through 12th centuries C.E. She believes these ancient documents may hold an important key to harmony in East Asia, promoting what she calls a “positive transnational identity.”

Wiebke Denecke is an Associate Professor of Chinese, Japanese and Comparative Literature in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at Boston University. She is also an Executive Council Member for the International Comparative Literature Association. Click here for an article about her award and research project.

(Photo Credit Tim Grey)