Major Jackson

Looking for new ways to embrace uncertainty and jump into new chapters in your life? Listen to this special summer remix of the Quantum Potential podcast as acclaimed poet Major Jackson explains how poetry can help! Read More

Dilemma, by Jane Huffman, has been selected as the 2026 winner of the Vanderbilt University Literary Prize. The prize, which is awarded to the sole author of a full-length poetry collection, reflects the university’s ongoing commitment to discovering new voices and supporting the arts as transformative and essential to society. The recognition includes the publication of the winning manuscript in print, electronic and audio formats by Vanderbilt University Press, a $10,000 honorarium, an invitation to read in the esteemed Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series at Vanderbilt University and a one-week residency on campus to engage students and local writers in the Nashville community. Read More

Among the artifacts librarian Mary McSparran selected from Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives for a pop-up exhibit last fall were a NASA space suit and a journal listing books about UFOs. Neither would seem a likely choice for a literary salon, where the exhibit was on display, but this was no ordinary discussion of writers and their works. The gathering was part of a growing collaboration between Special Collections staff and Vanderbilt faculty, in which the curators and archivists play an active role in teaching by offering students access to unique materials that bring their coursework to life. Read More

Whether Major Jackson is teaching, writing or critiquing, at the center of his work is a voracious hunger for artful language—underpinned by a commitment to painting the quotidian in new and unexpected ways. Read More

Vanderbilt University has announced plans to establish an academic campus in San Francisco beginning in 2027, subject to necessary regulatory approvals. The planned campus expects to serve about 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students and support sustained faculty, staff and academic activity. It represents the next step in Vanderbilt’s strategic growth and builds on the university’s recent expansions in New York City and West Palm Beach by extending Vanderbilt’s distinctive academic model into one of the world’s leading centers of creativity, technology and entrepreneurship. Read More

Engaging in thoughtful dialogue is not only essential in today’s society, but also is a trademark of the Vanderbilt experience, which begins with the first-year experience on The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons. On Sunday, Sept. 14, author Jacqueline Woodson spoke to a packed Langford Auditorium for the 19th Annual Lawson Lecture and offered a master class for the Class of 2029 on using storytelling to foster discourse and find connection, continuing the 2025–26 first-year programming theme of “Stories that Connect Us.”   Read More

The 2025 Southern Festival of Books, presented by Vanderbilt University in partnership with Humanities Tennessee, will connect faculty, students, alumni and others with university ties to a vast community that shares their love for creative expression. The festival, now in its 37th year, will be at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, Tennessee State Museum and Tennessee State Library and Archives Oct. 18–19. Admission is free. Read More

Building on the success of its inaugural public programming in Chelsea, Vanderbilt University today announced the next chapter of its faculty lecture series at Vanderbilt University - New York City. This fall, the university will invite New Yorkers and the Vanderbilt community to explore the intersections of music and spirituality and the mutual influence of technology and education through two public events: “Divine Rhythms: Jazz and the Sacred” on September 25 and “AI and the Future of the American University” on November 13. Read More

Printer’s Fist, by Melissa Range, has been selected as the 2025 winner of the Vanderbilt University Literary Prize. The prize competition received more than 250 submissions. Printer’s Fist is scheduled for publication in March 2026 from Vanderbilt University Press. Range will be in residence for a week in spring 2026 to engage students, faculty and the greater community with her work. Read More

Vanderbilt-New York City's first foray into public programming invited New York City residents to engage with the university in a three-event series titled “Vanderbilt in the City: Conversations on America.” The series, held between March and May, convened faculty and thought leaders for conversations that explored what it means to be an American today as our role in the world is shifting. Each event drew several hundred attendees, filling the venue to capacity—a strong signal of the enthusiasm for Vanderbilt’s debut programming. Read More

Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English Major Jackson sees poetry as an art best appreciated in communion with others and approached through the senses as much as the intellect. He believes deeply in the power of poetry to break down barriers and foster understanding. Read More

Major Jackson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities, has been awarded the inaugural Patricia Cannon Willis Prize for American Poetry by Yale Library. Jackson was recognized for his acclaimed collection Razzle Dazzle: New and Selected Poems 2002–2022, published by W.W. Norton in 2023.   Read More

Vanderbilt University has announced that it will host its first public programming in New York City: "Vanderbilt in the City: Conversations on America," beginning March 6. The three-event series, planned for Vanderbilt University–New York City, 440 W. 21st St., in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, will open the university’s doors to the New York City community. Read More

Cybele Raver’s ‘Quantum Potential’ podcast explores solutions for humanity’s greatest challenges. Read More

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

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

The new prize comes as Vanderbilt University marks its Sesquicentennial by honoring its strong connection to the arts.  Read More

Four Vanderbilt and VUMC faculty—María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Kimryn Rathmell, Keivan Stassun and Major Jackson—have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a record number of elections from Vanderbilt in a single year. Read More

Kate Daniels has long been captivated by the connection between writing and the healing process. After earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, Daniels worked as a nurse’s aide at UVA Medical Center while she was in the process of applying to graduate school. The job was grueling,… Read More

In keynote remarks delivered at an investiture officially marking his tenure as Vanderbilt’s ninth chancellor, Daniel Diermeier urged the university community to seize this aspirational moment and join him in building “The Great University” for today’s world. Read More