'Remarkably Bright Creatures' by Olivia Newman '12 Wins Emmy for Outstanding Movie
Columbia alums and their affiliated shows were well-represented at both the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Let's break it down.
"Garbo's Queen Christina as Both Lesbian and Chinese," co-authored by Professor Jane Gaines and Film and Media Studies MA alum Yumo Yan '20, along with visiting scholar Junlei Yang, was recently published as part of the Quarterly Review of Film and Video's 50th anniversary special issue, vol.43, no.3, 2026, to commemorate Professor Gaines's seminal article on the enigmatic silent-era film star Greta Garbo and her titular role in Queen Christina (1933), published in the same journal in 1989.
In her new book, A Dead White: An Argument Against White Paint, forthcoming from Scribner on October 13, 2026, Associate Professor of Writing Wendy S. Walters traverses art history, architecture, and consumer culture to examine the impact of white paint on our lived environment and in our collective imaginary. Beginning with a sudden unease caused by the white walls of her son's school, the book is anchored in Walters's immediate sensory experience, making her cultural interrogation one that recasts our choices and habits as individuals in a new light.
Can a story about a group of 8th century nuns living in rural Italy entertain and provoke contemporary audiences? Playwright Miranda Rose Hall, finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, thinks so—and Shayok Misha Chowdhury '16 is directing the world premiere of her original play, Work of Devotion, for Second Stage in February 2027, at the Pershing Square Signature Center.
Adjunct Assistant Professor Deborah Devyn Chuang '26 is a recipient of the 2026 New Voices Filmmaker Grant for emerging directors from NewFest, New York City's largest LGBTQ+ film festival since 1988.
In the debut novel by Writing alum Willa Rosenbach Morris '90, interwoven stories circle the roof of Sylvie's childhood home in Queens, NY.
Associate Professor Dorothea Lasky's most recent book of poems explores personhood and consciousness. Read more from Columbia News.
Commissioned by the High Line and the CHANEL Culture Fund, Prior Occupants by Visual Arts alum Alison Nguyen '23 will premiere September 8, 2026, as the fifth High Line Originals film and the second High Line Originals co-commissioned with the CHANEL Culture Fund.
Read more in Playbill
The National Board of Review (NBR), a New York City-based nonprofit for film enthusiasts, has announced its 2026 Student Grant recipients, honoring 17 emerging student filmmakers from eight New York-area film programs and universities, including two Columbia filmmakers.
On July 23, 2026, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) announced the recipients of their 2026 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship program, and among them were five alums and a former faculty member of the School of the Arts.
Burlington, Vermont's premiere performing arts center, the Flynn, is partnering with the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize to publish new 10-minute plays and monologues on the state of American democracy by past winners of the prize—the oldest and largest playwriting prize honoring women+ writing for the English-speaking theatre. The civic initiative will conclude with a marathon live performance of the resulting work—Women+ on the Edge of Democracy—at the Flynn this October.
Assistant Professor of Visual Arts Adama Delphine Fawundu '18 is featured in a new exhibition, Never The Same River, at the Ford Foundation Gallery in New York City.
Dark Hollow, a new horror film directed by Film alum Daniel Byers '22, has been acquired and distributed by the independent film distribution company Brainstorm Media, with a limited theatrical release starting on September 4, 2026. In addition to Byers as director, the project was assistant directed by Will Pinke '22 and line produced by Fernando Gonzalez Ortiz '22.
Winner of the 2024 International Berkshire Prize and named one of Debutiful’s “2026 Debut Poetry Collections You Need to Read,” Song in Tammuz by Avia Tadmor ’18 is forthcoming on October 1, 2026, from Tupelo Press.
Second-year Writing student Selena Aiyla has just been named the Managing Editor at Office Magazine, a role second to the Editor-In-Chief and Founder of the magazine.
Several Columbia graduates and current faculty members are appearing in this year’s lineup at the Venice Film Festival (Biennale Cinema), which opened September 2 and runs through September 12.
Columbia alums and their affiliated shows were well-represented at both the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Let's break it down.
Playwright, librettist, and dramaturg Mo Holmes '26 has been awarded the 2026 Yale Drama Prize for her play Amanda. Holmes’s play was selected by Pulitzer- and Tony-winning playwright and current Yale faculty member Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Past recipients of this prize include playwright and Northwestern faculty member Ariel Stess and playwright Jen Silvers.