News

Raven Leilani Wins VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

July 6, 2021

Raven Leilani has won the 2021 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, which honors an outstanding debut novel published during the preceding calendar year. Her winning book, Luster, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, tells the story of Edie, a 23-year-old Black woman and aspiring artist, who after losing her job finds herself living with her much older lover, his enigmatic wife and their adopted daughter. . .

Why Be an English Major? What Is the Value of An English Major? Our Professors Share Their Thoughts!

May 26, 2021

In a series of videos, the faculty in the Department of English share their thoughts on why studying English is valuable.

Professor David Latané to Retire

May 6, 2021

After thirty-seven years of service, Professor of English David E. Latané will retire from VCU effective September 1.

Retirement of Professor Richard Fine

May 6, 2021

Richard A. Fine, Professor of English, will retire from VCU on September 1 after 42 years.

Congratulations to Our Spring 2021 Distinguished English Majors

May 5, 2021

Six English majors have successfully presented their final Distinguished English Major presentations...

Announcing the Retirement of Margret Schluer

May 5, 2021

After more than thirty years of exemplary service to the Department of English, Margret Schluer, Business and Human Resources Manager, has decided to retire.

Fond Farewell to Dale Smith

April 16, 2021

Dale Smith, the department's coordinator of undergraduate advising, is leaving the department after ten years of service.

Ollie Carter | 2021 Black History in the Making Recipient

April 26, 2021

Ollie Carter will be completing their M.A. in English coursework in the Spring of 2021. They received the Black History in the Making Award for 2021...

The Black History in the Making Awards

April 5, 2021

Congratulations go out to this year’s recipients of Black History in the Making Awards, which features five students from our department . . .

Let's Talk Conspiracies?

March 29, 2021

Conspiracy theories have always been a part of American discourse . . .

M Kamara | 2021 Black History in the Making Recipient

March 17, 2021

M Kamara is a 22-year-old poet-writer-scholar and fourth-year English major, minoring in Creative Writing who will be graduating in December 2021. She is the 2021 Department of English recipient of the Black History in the Making Award...

MFA Alum's Novel Longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award

February 17, 2021

MFA program alum Brian Castleberry is an author and creative writing and literature assistant professor at the College of William & Mary. . .

Writing Our Way Out - The Podcast - Season 2

February 9, 2021

Season 2 of Writing Our Way Out: The Podcast is now available . . .

Announcing the 2021 Writing Awards

February 2, 2021

VCU English Professor Edits New Collection of Nine Classic Oscar Wilde Short Stories

January 4, 2021

Professor and Oscar Wilde biographer and scholar Nicholas Frankel has edited a new collection of short stories by Wilde . . .

Q&A with Michelle Goshen, 2020 Cabell First Novelist Fellow

October 14, 2020

Michelle Goshen is the 2020 Cabell First Novelist Fellow and in her third year in the M.F.A. program with a dual-genre concentration in fiction and poetry.

Q&A with Michelle Dotter, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief at Dzanc Books, Prior to 2020 Cabell First Novelist Award

October 7, 2020

Michelle Dotter is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Dzanc Books. Dzanc Books published John Englehardt's novel, Bloomland, which won the 2020 Cabell First Novelist Award.

Q&A with Colin Bailes, 2020 Levis Reading Prize Coordinator

September 24, 2020

Colin Bailes is the 2020 Levis Reading Prize coordinator and in his third year in the M.F.A. program for poetry.

Current MATX PhD Making a Difference (and the News)

December 23, 2020

First year MATX PhD, Aurora Higgs, has been working hard both in and outside of the classroom, helping her neighbors during the pandemic . . .

Special Event Featuring MATX Doctoral Student

August 26, 2020

MATX doctoral student Robb Crocker will be featured in a special live virtual event...

Welcome our Fall 2020 Incoming MATX/PhD Class

August 12, 2020

Please welcome our Fall 2020 incoming MATX/PhD class...

Welcome our Fall 2020 Incoming MFA Class

August 11, 2020

Please welcome our Fall 2020 incoming MFA class...

Welcome our Fall 2020 Incoming MA Class

August 10, 2020

Please welcome our Fall 2020 incoming MA class...

Ilya Kaminsky Wins 23rd Annual Levis Reading Prize

August 3, 2020

Ilya Kaminsky is the winner of the 2020 Levis Reading Prize for his poetry collection, Deaf Republic...

VCU MFA Alumna and Professor Collaborate to Share Extended Interviews From the Making of Their Levis Documentary in New Book

July 31, 2020

When Michele Poulos and Professor Gregory Donovan teamed up to film the documentary, A Late Style of Fire: Larry Levis, American Poet, they shot hours of interviews with some of the most influential, revered poets in the United States...

Alumna’s Acclaimed Debut Novel Began as an Idea in VCU's MFA Novel Workshop

July 13, 2020

MFA grad, Rachel Beanland, finds it surreal that the book she began working on in a novel writing workshop at Virginia Commonwealth University is now in publication...

John Englehardt Wins the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

June 29, 2020

John Englehardt has won the 2020 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, which honors an outstanding debut novel published during the preceding calendar year. His winning book, Bloomland, published by Dzanc Books, deftly tells the aftermath story of a shooting at a fictional southern university, following three characters and the larger community over two decades, and is told in a provocative, implicating second-person style point of view...

MATX PhD, with English Professor, Put Together a Podcast: Writing Our Way Out

June 15, 2020

Current MATX PhD student, Robb Crocker, a former journalist who earned two journalism degrees from VCU is helping produce a podcast inspired by Professor David Coogan’s book, Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail...

VCU English Graduate Student, a Teacher at Richmond’s John Marshall High School, Digs into the School’s Past

June 8, 2020

When it came time to choosing a final research project for her master’s degree in English, Sara MacRae found inspiration in her job as a teacher at John Marshall High School...

Alumna Spotlight: Crystal Giannini

April 24, 2020

Crystal Giannini received her B.A. in English in May of 2017. Crystal is currently teaching English 9, 10, and 11 at Dinwiddie High School where she loves being able to introduce texts to students in fun and engaging ways!

Alumna Spotlight: Gretchen Gales

April 17, 2020

Gretchen Gales graduated with a B.A. in English and a minor in Creative Writing from VCU in December 2016. Gretchen is currently the executive editor of Quail Bell Magazine and a high school English teacher.

Mimi Winick, Ph.D., Named Research Associate for Harvard's Women's Studies in Religion Program

April 16, 2020

Mimi Winick, Ph.D., who was recently named a research associate for Harvard's Women's Studies in Religion Program for the 2020-21 academic year.

VCU English Goes Virtual

April 2, 2020

Like many of our colleagues, VCU English Professor Nicholas Frankel had limited experience with online learning prior to the COVID-19 crisis...

Student Spotlight: Jessica Sims

March 23, 2020

Jessica Sims is a senior English major and the recipient of the Black History in the Making Award for 2020. She’s a non-traditional student who loves reading, writing poetry and other forms of creative writing, loves music, enjoys trying her hand at photography, and loves “being the best single mom to a vivacious 9-year old that I can be.” She’s considering getting her masters so that she can be a teacher at the secondary level, but says “I will have to see what the future holds for me!”

Professor Adin Lears Named a Society for the Humanities Fellow

March 5, 2020

Congratulations go out to Adin Lears, Ph.D., an assistant professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University, who has been named a fellow at the Society for the Humanities at Cornell University for the 2020-21 academic year...

Gregory Donovan and Alumna Michelle Poulos to Publish Book on Local Poetry Legend Larry Levis

March 2, 2020

The Richmond and Qatar-based independent press Diode Editions is proud to announce the publication of Prismatics: Larry Levis & Contemporary American Poetry...

Student Spotlight: Chloe Grant

February 21, 2020

Chloe is a junior English major, creative writing minor at VCU. She currently works in the nonprofit world, advocating for childhood literacy and foster care/adoption. She plans to be a high school English teacher upon graduating.

Kathy Graber Awarded UNT Rilke Prize

February 17, 2020

Kathleen Graber's The River Twice (Princeton University Press) has won the 2020 UNT Rilke Prize...

Student Spotlight: Caitlin Wilson

February 7, 2020

Caitlin Wilson is the 2019-2020 lead associate editor of Blackbird: an online journal for literature and the arts and in her second year of the M.F.A. program for poetry.

The Power of an English Degree: Jim O’Connor (B.A. ’93/H&S)

February 5, 2020

“My literature classes prepared me for the business world more than anything. I draw from my English degree all the time. I’m absolutely convinced my liberal arts background has been a great point of leverage for me...”

Alumna Spotlight: Rachel Murphy-Weast

January 31, 2020

Rachel graduated from VCU in December 2017 with her B.A. in English and double minors in business and nonprofit management.

Interview with Editor Jenna Johnson, Prior to the 2019 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

November 6, 2019

Jenna Johnson is an Executive Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. While attending the 2019 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award event, she will participate on a panel about the process of publishing a debut novel, alongside her client Ling Ma, whose novel Severance won this year’s award.

First Cohort of Distinguished English Majors Presented Their Research

December 11, 2019

Three undergraduate students presented the culmination of their two-semester creative and scholarly research projects...

Faculty Feature: Adin Lears

November 22, 2019

Adin Lears is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and started at VCU in the fall of 2018. She teaches classes on medieval literature, Chaucer, and much more.

Faculty Feature: Matteo Pangallo

November 15, 2019

Matteo Pangallo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and started at VCU in the fall of 2017. He teaches classes on Shakespeare, early modern drama, book history, and theater history.

M.F.A. Alumna Spotlight: Patricia A. Smith

November 12, 2019

Patricia (Patty) Smith is the author of The Year of Needy Girls (Kaylie Jones Books, 2017). She received her M.F.A. at VCU in 2001 and teaches American literature and creative writing at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School in Petersburg, VA.

Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Ph.D., to Give Lecture “Lost Titles, Hidden Histories”

November 6, 2019

Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Ph.D., will give a special guest lecture.

Alum Spotlight: Natalie Marie Salsbury

November 1, 2019

Natalie Marie Salsbury graduated with a B.A. in English and a minor in Creative Writing from VCU in December 2018. She is the Administrative Specialist in the Dean's Office of College of Humanities and Sciences.

Interview with Literary Agent Jin Auh, Prior to the 2019 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award Event

October 30, 2019

Jin Auh is a literary agent at The Wylie Agency. While attending the 2019 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award event, she will participate on a panel about the process of publishing a debut novel, alongside her client Ling Ma, whose novel Severance (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) won this year’s award.

M.F.A. Alumnus Profile: Dale Brumfield

October 18, 2019

Dale Brumfield graduated from VCU with a B.F.A. in painting and printmaking in 1981 and graduated from the VCU M.F.A. program in Creative Writing in 2015. His tenth book has just been released.

College of Humanities and Sciences Student Emergency Fund

September 30, 2019

Interview with 2019 Cabell First Novelist Award Fellow, April Sopkin

September 20, 2019

April Sopkin is the 2019 Cabell First Novelist Award Fellow and in her third year of the M.F.A. program for fiction.

Joshua Eckhardt's Book Sheds New Light on Poet and Preacher John Donne

September 19, 2019

Joshua Eckhardt has authored a new book that examines the religious texts and books that surrounded the poems, sermons, and inscriptions of poet and preacher John Donne...

New Podcast 'Writing Our Way Out' Launches

September 18, 2019

Profile of the 2019 Levis Reading Prize Coordinator, AJ White

September 18, 2019

AJ White is the 2019 Levis Reading Prize coordinator and in his third year in the M.F.A. program for poetry.

Kathleen Graber Publishes Acclaimed New Poetry Collection

September 16, 2019

Kathleen Graber, associate professor in the Department of English, has published a new collection of poems, The River Twice, (Princeton University Press, 2019)...