OTTO H. SELLES

Department of French
Calvin College
Hiemenga Hall
1845 Knollcrest Circle SE
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546-4402

tel.: (616) 526-6805
fax: (616) 526-8583
e-mail: oselles@calvin.edu

Birth                                        October 12, 1964
Citizenship                            Canadian
Residency                             U.S. Resident Alien

DEGREES
1994                                        Doctorat de l'Université, University of Paris-IV Sorbonne, Paris, France
1988                                        M.A. in French, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
1987                                        B.A. (Honours) in French and English, McMaster University

RECENT GRANTS
2008-2009                           Calvin Lectureship
                                               Calvin Research Fellowship, Calvin College (fall term)

TEACHING
2002-                                       Professor of French, Calvin College.
1997-2002                              Associate Professor of French, Calvin College.
1994-1997                              Assistant Professor of French, Redeemer College, Ancaster, Ontario.
1988-1990                              Lecteur d'anglais (English instructor), University of Paris-X Nanterre,       Nanterre, France.

RECENT PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
2002-2008                             Chair, French Department.
2005-2008                             Festival of Faith and Writing, faculty steering committee
2002-                                      Calvin Film Forum, organizing committee
2003 and 2005                     Director, Calvin College Study in France Program, Grenoble, France

COMMUNITY SERVICE
2008                                       Preliminary judge, Dyer-Ives Foundation, poetry competition
2005-2007                            Organized with Jolene Vos-Camy three French film festivals through a Tournées film grant. (French Without Borders Film Festival; Festival of French Films by Women Directors; and Festival of French African Films).
2006-                                     Oakdale Christian School, board member
                                               Grand Rapids Christian Schools, education committee member
2006                                      Calvin Academy for LifeLong Learning, “Four Films by Robert Bresson”
2004-                                     Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church, book club coordinator
2000-                                     Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church, library committee
2001-2006                            film screenings for the Alliance française de Grand Rapids
2003-2006                            Alliance française de Grand Rapids, board member

SELECTED ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

• “Voltaire et le débat sur la tolérance, 1750-1758,” Voltaire, la tolérance et la justice. Ed. John Renwick (forthcoming).
• “Voltaire, « apôtre de la tolérance » : les Eloges de Palissot et La Harpe (1778-1780),” Les Vies de Voltaire: discours et représentations biographiques, XVIIIe-XXe siècles. Ed. Simon Davies and Christophe Cave, SVEC (forthcoming 2008).
• “Orthodoxie et Lumières au second Désert selon un sermon inédit.” L’Évolution théologique des huguenots de la Révocation à la Révolution française. Ed. Hubert Bost and Claude Lauriol. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2003, p. 119-141.
• Antoine Court, Le Patriote français et impartial. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2002 (book-length critical edition of a 1751-1753 Huguenot text on toleration).
• “The English Translations of Bayle’s Dictionnaire.” La Vie intellectuelle aux refuges Huguenots, II: Traducteurs huguenots. Ed. Antony McKenna. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2002, p. 63-95.
• “A Case of Hidden Identity: Antoine Court, Bénédict Pictet and Geneva's Aid to the Church of the Desert (1715-1724).” The Identity of Geneva: The Christian Commonwealth, 1564-1864. Ed. John B. Roney and Martin Klauber. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998, p. 93-109.

RECENT ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS

• July 12, 2007: “Le Commentaire sur la Henriade de La Beaumelle,” Twelfth International Enlightenment Congress, Montpellier, France.
• September 8, 2006: “Voltaire et le débat sur la tolérance, 1750-1758,” Voltaire, la tolérance et la justice, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.

SELECTED POETRY

•  “Soul,” The Banner (April 2008), p. 17.
• “Clapping Hands” (Psalm 113), Reformed Worship, Number 84, June 2007, p. 45.
• re/construct, (series of poems with photographs by Jennifer Steensma Hoag), Ruminate, issue 3, Spring 2007, p. 8, 10, 33-36.
• “Memento,” Voices, Grand Rapids: Dyer-Ives Foundation, 2006 (Kent County Poetry Competition, Honorable Mention), p. 20-21.
• new songs. Pandora Press: Kitchener, Ontario / Herald Press: Scottdale, PA (with Geraldine Selles-Ysselstein, illustrator; preface by Cornelius Plantinga Jr., 2001).

SELECTED POPULAR ARTICLES

• Essays on Yann Martel, Life of Pi,and Leif Enger, Peace Like a River, in The Emmaus Readers: Listening for God in Contemporary Fiction. Ed. Susan Felch and Gary Schmidt. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2008, p. 106-132.
• “A French Updike? Not quite.” Books and Culture, posted December 3, 2007 (review of Jean-Paul Dubois, Vie française), http://www.christianitytoday.com/books/features/bookwk/071203.html
• “Lives Worth Reading,” The Banner (September 2007), p. 36.
• “Francophiles and Francophobes: In Search of the Real France,” Books and Culture (May/June, 2007, p. 13-15, 39-43).
• “E-Reading: Mission Impossible?” The Banner (August 2006), p. 34.
• “Taizé in the Fall: A Parable of Community,” Books and Culture, posted November 21, 2005, http://www.christianitytoday.com/books/features/bccorner/051128.html
•  “Faith in Poetry,” (review of works by David Citino, Judith Harris, Joseph Bottom, Bruce Beasley, and Lise Goett), Books and Culture. (May-June, 2003), 21-22.
• “9/11, TV News, and the Purple Pill,” The Banner (May 6, 2002), 14-15.
• “What’s cooking when Martha Stewart meets the VeggieTales,” Books and Culture. (July/August, 2001), 8-11.

RECENT REVIEWS (The Banner)

• Chanticleer, And on Earth, Peace: A Chanticleer Mass (Warner Classics), March 2008, p. 37.
• www.slowfoodusa.org/www.slowfood.ca, January 2008, p. 31.
• Ruminate, November 2007, p. 35.
• Here’s A Little Poem, collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters (Candlewick), November 2007, p. 36
• Putamayo Kids, October 2007, p. 46.
• Alice Munro, The View From Castle Rock (Knopf), March 2007, p. 37.
• Edward P. Jones, All Aunt Hagar’s Children (Amistad), February 2007, p. 36.
• Akeelah and the Bee (Lionsgate), February 2007, p. 35.
• Dugald A. Steer, Pirateology (Candelwick 2006), November 2006, p. 32.
• Scott Cairns, Compass of Affection (Paraclete 2006), November 2006, p. 31.
• www.librivox.org, October 2006, p. 44
• John Terpstra, The Boys (Gaspereau Press, 2005), June 2006, p. 32.