Department Of English

The image of a writer often conjures up visions of an author sequestered away crafting the perfect poem or buried under stacks of paper finishing their next novel. However, award-winning poet and Gertrude Conaway Professor of English Major Jackson believes it is a deeply collaborative process that relies heavily on community. Read More

Read about the special environment (and delicious food!) Jeong Oh Kim and his family plan to create within Zeppos College as the new residential faculty. Read More

A panel of jurists selected Niu’s I Would Define the Sun, a collection of poems about resisting scarcity through language. The inaugural prize drew more than 300 submissions and honors Vanderbilt University’s strong connection to the arts. Read More

Thirteen outstanding faculty members from across the university have been selected for the 2024 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. This group is composed of highly accomplished, recently tenured faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and areas of expertise.    Read More

Six faculty have been appointed as residential leaders in shaping student learning experiences beyond the classroom. Dean of Residential Colleges and Residential Education Melissa Gresalfi announced the appointments for the 2024–25 academic year. Read More

The distinguished faculty members and deans representing eight colleges and schools were presented with medallions that symbolize the attainment of their positions and will become part of their official academic regalia. Chair holders contribute their expertise to real-world challenges, including climate change, political inequality and access to justice, artificial intelligence and ICU trauma.   Read More

Lorrie Moore, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, won a National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction for her novel I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home. The award, considered to be among the most prestigious literary prizes in the country, adds to the lengthy list of accolades that her novel has received since it was published last fall. Read More

Avery Carpenter Forrey, BA'11, says Vanderbilt was the first place where she felt she could make a career out of writing. With a double major in in English and communications, her latest writing journey has led to the publication of her novel 'Social Engagement' (Mariner, 2023). Read More

Professor of English Lorrie Moore’s newest novel, I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, has been named one of the best books of 2023 by The New Yorker and received year-end praise from NPR and New York Magazine. Read More

Vanderbilt University will be well represented at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word, where a significant number of faculty and authors with ties to the university will discuss their works Oct. 18–22. Read More

"Spring Procession," a poem by Didi Jackson, assistant professor of English, read at Vanderbilt's Sesquicentennial launch in March. Read More

Mason Richards, BS'97, continues his quest to turn 'The Seawall' into a feature film. Read More

Meet some members of the Class of 2023 who bring a unique global perspective to the Vanderbilt community. Read More

Class of 2023: Lucy Kim came from South Korea with the goal of earning a Ph.D. in English. Read about the powerful impact she's had while helping hundreds of students find their voice at Vanderbilt’s Writing Studio. Read More

Derrick R. Spires, an associate professor of literatures in English at Cornell University, has a talent for making 19th-century newspapers and pamphlets feel as accessible as the latest social media feed. He explores the culture of the early 19th-century Black press in his 2019 book 'The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States' (University of Pennsylvania Press), which was recently released in paperback. Read More

Students from seven Tennessee colleges and universities submitted poems exploring “What unity through American democracy means to me” for the second annual poetry contest sponsored by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy. The judges selected Vanderbilt senior Sophie Kaiser’s poem as the winner. Read More

Vanderbilt's Department of English presents the spring 2023 Drake Lecture, “Inhuman Memory” with visiting professor Kathryn Yusoff from Queen Mary University of London. The lecture will be on Friday, April 21, at 3:15 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Read More

Mark Wollaeger, professor emeritus of English and former director of graduate studies in English at Vanderbilt, died Feb. 19. A respected scholar and colleague, Wollaeger was recognized across the university for his exceptional and devoted teaching. Read More

Having already released a handful of singles, junior English major Amelia Day was ready to take the next step as an artist and develop her first project under a single sound and concept. Day decided to make the creation of her first EP her Immersion Vanderbilt project, opening access to mentorship and funding opportunities to support her dream. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Department of English and Creative Writing Program are hosting acclaimed writers for the 2022–23 Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Visiting Writers Series. Fiction writer Laura Van Den Berg, author of I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, will appear on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. at the Vanderbilt Bookstore. Read More