A&S grad wins Marshall Scholarship
The award allows Andrew Lorenzen ’22 to pursue two years of graduate study in the United Kingdom.
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Welcome! Literatures in English as a department teaches students how to read and write about literary cultures. Supported by excellent libraries and in connection with a number of interdisciplinary programs at Cornell, Literatures in English invites students and scholars to engage in conversations about global cultures as they develop skills for the future.
Upcoming Events
Feb
15
Thursday
05:00 PM
Reading by Ishion Hutchinson & Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
Klarman Hall
Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium, G70
Feb
21
Wednesday
05:00 PM
Annual Invitational Lecture: Juliana Hu Pegues
A.D. White House
Guerlac Room
Feb
28
Wednesday
04:30 PM
Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion
A. D. White House
Mar
14
Thursday
05:00 PM
Reading by Natasha Trethewey
Klarman Hall
Rhodes-Rawling Auditorium, G70
Apr
11
Thursday
05:00 PM
Reading by Colm Tóibín
Klarman Hall
Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium, G70
Apr
11
Thursday
05:00 PM
Apr
18
Thursday
05:00 PM
Apr
25
Thursday
05:00 PM
Reading by Colin Channer
Klarman Hall
Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium, G70
Recent Highlights from the Department
Student opinion pieces encourage action on climate change
Students in Prof. Caroline Levine’s Communicating Climate Change class wrote opinion pieces spurring readers to take action related to climate.
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Animals, disasters, love: Book traces nonhuman voices in literature
Laura Brown's research looks beyond “the singular, autonomous, rational, human protagonist" to find that many other-than-human presences appear in literature – with a lot to say to readers.
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Class explores Nabokov as writer and ‘butterfly man’
Writer Vladimir Nabokov spent as much of his time on campus in nature and in the Cornell Insect Collection.
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Toni Morrison Collective hosts book talks, giveaways during December
"The project makes Ithacans aware that this Nobel writer lived in Ithaca for two years."
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Giving voice to the often voiceless, alum wins a ‘Genius Grant’
Fiction writer Manuel Muñoz, MFA ’98, draws inspiration from his upbringing in a Mexican-American farming family
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From pages to pixels: Writers offer literary take on video games 
In “Critical Hits,” a new essay anthology co-edited by J. Robert Lennon, writers explore their own experiences with video games, and how those simulated worlds connect to real life.
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Alum’s book gleans inspiration from Black American trailblazers
From Oprah and the Obamas to lesser-known heroes, Joseph Holland ’78, MA ’79 finds words to live by.
Read moreLiteratures in English Destinations
Recent Books by Department of Literatures in English Faculty
Department faculty continually publish important works of criticism, fiction, poetry, and essays. Visit Literatures in English Faculty: Recent Books to learn more.
Land Acknowledgment
Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' leadership.
Statement from the Department of Literatures in English
We, the faculty and staff of the Cornell Literatures in English department, pledge to support and do our utmost to protect members of our community who are discriminated against, unjustly treated, or otherwise targeted because of race, religion, gender identification, sexuality, immigration status, ability, and other forms of difference.
Recognizing that words and symbols can be manipulated into violence, we renew our commitment to direct the force of language toward large and small acts of learning, alliance, imagination, and justice.