Our Common Life: Folksong from the Front Porch to the Concert Hall (University of Illinois Press) by Stephen Wade illuminates the truth that creative freedom within informal tradition, fundamental to the artists and their processes, speaks to a resourcefulness inscribed in America’s founding charter and expressed in its common life.
News from the Field
The True Texas Collection consists of photographs and oral histories taken and conducted by independent folklorist Douglas Manger. These materials are now available online through Angelo State University's digital repository.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) encourages nominations of master folk and traditional artists to recognize artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to our nation's traditional arts heritage. Nominations for the 2027 class of NEA National Heritage Fellows are due May 11, 2026.
Lisa Gilman has been selected as a recipient of Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards for the 2026–27 academic year. She will participate in a bi-national program of educational exchange between the United States and Iceland and will be teaching two folklore classes at the University of Iceland.
Leela Prasad has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences among a class of 252 new members in academia, the arts, industry, journalism, philanthropy, policy, research, and science.
Only Girls Bleed (Legend Times Publishing), a debut novel by AFS Past President Elaine Lawless, will be released this June and September. A special session about this book is planned for the 2026 AFS Annual Meeting.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 NEA National Heritage Fellowships, the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
Literary scholar and author Jack Zipes publishes Alex in the Land of Liars (Vanguard Press), a modern political fairy tale intended for young adults.
ACLS, AHA, and MLA filed a motion that included discovery documents revealing that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) used a flawed ChatGPT process to identify “DEI programs” and inform decisions to terminate grants awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Learn about the motion and how you can take action.
Jo Farb Hernández, a writer and curator who has worked in the field of vernacular art environment builders for over five decades, will release a visual documentation of self-taught built environments during U.S. Architecture Week.