Jay Shelat
@jshelat1.bsky.social
PhD. Assistant Professor of English at Ursinus College. Contemporary Literature. Writing a book about the War on Terror and domesticity. I know hundreds of Bollywood songs by heart. he/him. Views are my own.
https://www.jayshelat.com
https://www.jayshelat.com
From me and mine to you and yours, Happy, Happy Diwali, friends! 🪔❤️
October 20, 2025 at 12:28 PM
From me and mine to you and yours, Happy, Happy Diwali, friends! 🪔❤️
NEW PYNCHON NOVEL DROPPED TODAY!
October 8, 2025 at 1:39 AM
NEW PYNCHON NOVEL DROPPED TODAY!
You could be reading Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq for @mid-theory.bsky.social’s book club! We’re meeting THIS THURSDAY to chat about the book. You don’t have to read the whole thing to attend the meeting!
Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
October 6, 2025 at 1:59 AM
You could be reading Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq for @mid-theory.bsky.social’s book club! We’re meeting THIS THURSDAY to chat about the book. You don’t have to read the whole thing to attend the meeting!
Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
This weekend I went to the wonderful Calder Gardens in Philly and was so inspired by the gravitas and delicacy of his work. Came to campus today and found out we have a Calder piece hanging in the administrative building!
September 29, 2025 at 5:54 PM
This weekend I went to the wonderful Calder Gardens in Philly and was so inspired by the gravitas and delicacy of his work. Came to campus today and found out we have a Calder piece hanging in the administrative building!
Spent the weekend in NYC with my best friends from college. A wonderful time that included taking them to their first gay bar and drag show, a candlelight concert, eating every dessert possible at the Feast of San Gennaro, and hanging out in Dumbo until 2 am.
September 21, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Spent the weekend in NYC with my best friends from college. A wonderful time that included taking them to their first gay bar and drag show, a candlelight concert, eating every dessert possible at the Feast of San Gennaro, and hanging out in Dumbo until 2 am.
Sign up for the MTC reading group for Banu Mushtaq’s 2025 International Booker Prize winning collection HEART LAMP! We’re meeting this Thursday, Sept 18! It’ll be a great time—even if you don’t do the reading :)
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
September 17, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Sign up for the MTC reading group for Banu Mushtaq’s 2025 International Booker Prize winning collection HEART LAMP! We’re meeting this Thursday, Sept 18! It’ll be a great time—even if you don’t do the reading :)
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
I really like R.F. Kuang’s fantasies. Her realist novel Yellowface is fine, but I thought Babel is great and her Poppy War trilogy is some of the best fantasy writing I’ve ever read. So I’m stoked to read Katabasis!
September 7, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I really like R.F. Kuang’s fantasies. Her realist novel Yellowface is fine, but I thought Babel is great and her Poppy War trilogy is some of the best fantasy writing I’ve ever read. So I’m stoked to read Katabasis!
Not to brag but I made my therapist belly laugh 30 seconds into our session 😌😏
September 5, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Not to brag but I made my therapist belly laugh 30 seconds into our session 😌😏
Loving Helen Oyeyemi’s newest novel A NEW NEW ME. I’m an Oyeyemi evangelist because of her ability to play with form, but this newest book goes to new heights with its polyphonic (yet at the same time monophonic) voice. Seven personalities, one person—one for each day of the week. Her funniest too!
September 3, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Loving Helen Oyeyemi’s newest novel A NEW NEW ME. I’m an Oyeyemi evangelist because of her ability to play with form, but this newest book goes to new heights with its polyphonic (yet at the same time monophonic) voice. Seven personalities, one person—one for each day of the week. Her funniest too!
RAN FIVE MILES FOR THE FIRST TIME! This was one of my main summer goals. I’m so stoked!
September 1, 2025 at 3:41 PM
RAN FIVE MILES FOR THE FIRST TIME! This was one of my main summer goals. I’m so stoked!
Oh hey I’m in this collection! Thanks to Loic and Chris for being fantastic editors!
August 31, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Oh hey I’m in this collection! Thanks to Loic and Chris for being fantastic editors!
Happy First Day of School! It’s my 10th year teaching!
August 25, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Happy First Day of School! It’s my 10th year teaching!
Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan
August 12, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan
Parents are posting vids on TikTok of themselves crying after dropping their kids off at college and this comment from a professor is pissing me off:“College professor here telling you we got your babies. ❤️”
Professors aren’t babysitters! Students in college are not babies!
Professors aren’t babysitters! Students in college are not babies!
August 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Parents are posting vids on TikTok of themselves crying after dropping their kids off at college and this comment from a professor is pissing me off:“College professor here telling you we got your babies. ❤️”
Professors aren’t babysitters! Students in college are not babies!
Professors aren’t babysitters! Students in college are not babies!
Today, @mid-theory.bsky.social finished their summer reading group for Alexis Wright’s magisterial novel Praiseworthy. I’m so heartened to have read this alongside smart friends and colleagues!
We love big books and we cannot lie!
We love big books and we cannot lie!
August 7, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Today, @mid-theory.bsky.social finished their summer reading group for Alexis Wright’s magisterial novel Praiseworthy. I’m so heartened to have read this alongside smart friends and colleagues!
We love big books and we cannot lie!
We love big books and we cannot lie!
Family wedding stuff this weekend and people in their 20s keep calling me Jay Uncle unironically 😮💨
August 2, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Family wedding stuff this weekend and people in their 20s keep calling me Jay Uncle unironically 😮💨
I submitted my book Domestic Denial: Terror, Race, and Home in Literature After 9/11 for peer review today! It's under contract with @uminnpress.bsky.social. I'm super stoked that this whole process is chugging along!
July 31, 2025 at 7:19 PM
I submitted my book Domestic Denial: Terror, Race, and Home in Literature After 9/11 for peer review today! It's under contract with @uminnpress.bsky.social. I'm super stoked that this whole process is chugging along!
Finished my Fall syllabi! I'm teaching Literary Methods, Banned Books, and Political Poetry. Despite everything being bad, I'm excited to teach this semester.
July 30, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Finished my Fall syllabi! I'm teaching Literary Methods, Banned Books, and Political Poetry. Despite everything being bad, I'm excited to teach this semester.
I start working on my syllabi tomorrow, so till then I’m reading poolside
July 27, 2025 at 7:03 PM
I start working on my syllabi tomorrow, so till then I’m reading poolside
Image licensing and permissions is the bane of my existence.
I’ve been running around back and forth between my bank and house trying to figure out how to wire transfer two different licensing orgs for ONE image in the intro of my book
I’ve been running around back and forth between my bank and house trying to figure out how to wire transfer two different licensing orgs for ONE image in the intro of my book
July 25, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Image licensing and permissions is the bane of my existence.
I’ve been running around back and forth between my bank and house trying to figure out how to wire transfer two different licensing orgs for ONE image in the intro of my book
I’ve been running around back and forth between my bank and house trying to figure out how to wire transfer two different licensing orgs for ONE image in the intro of my book
I didn’t realize that today is Jane Austen’s death anniversary until after I got ready, and I just so happened to wear my Persuasion 1814 Summer Tour shirt.
July 18, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I didn’t realize that today is Jane Austen’s death anniversary until after I got ready, and I just so happened to wear my Persuasion 1814 Summer Tour shirt.
The statement from the Coldplay cheating guy is KILLING ME. The last line😭😭😭
July 17, 2025 at 10:54 PM
The statement from the Coldplay cheating guy is KILLING ME. The last line😭😭😭
Ready for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter show! Ft. Jenny, the Dog
July 13, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Ready for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter show! Ft. Jenny, the Dog
Philly traffic is so bad tonight I’m gonna fuckin scream
June 27, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Philly traffic is so bad tonight I’m gonna fuckin scream
