Nexus Scholar alumni profile: Neel Mehta '23
"The skills that you pick up in the lab are always going to stay with you."
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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.
Throughout history, poets find inspiration at Cornell
Cornell’s influence on the art and academic discipline of poetry has been deep throughout the university’s history and continues on campus today, where scholars and poets discuss and refine this art form in graduate seminars, gather for open mic nights and study the craft of creating beautiful and meaningful work in undergraduate classrooms.
Discover Cornell poets and the experiences that have shaped them.
Upcoming Events
Nov
21
Friday
05:30 PM
Jane Austen's 250th Birthday Celebration
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
322
Dec
04
Thursday
05:00 PM
Fall 2025 Ammons Reading
Klarman Hall
KG80, Groos Family Atrium
Recent Highlights from the Department
Combining humanities and tech for research gains
An interdisciplinary project involving faculty, staff and graduate students is sparking collaborations among those interested in computational, digital and data-driven approaches to the study of history, languages and culture.
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New digital collections preserve, examine Cornell history 
Newly published digital collections at Cornell University Library explore areas of Cornell history. Freely accessible online, the three new collections were digitized from materials held in Cornell University Library’s Rare and Manuscript Collections.
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Civil War still haunts American attitudes toward democracy
A new book by Shirley Samuels examines the story behind today’s divided America in literature and art created during and soon after the Civil War.
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Your October 2025 reads
This month’s featured titles include short stories, a fantasy book for tweens, and a scholarly look at Carmen adaptations – all by Arts & Sciences alumni and faculty.
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Bulawayo wins 25th anniversary Best of Caine prize
NoViolet Bulawayo, M.F.A. ’10, assistant professor in A&S, has won the Best of Caine Award as judges have chosen her short story, “Hitting Budapest,” as the best to have won the Caine Prize for African Writing in the award’s 25 years.
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Prolific children’s author offers some halloween-season chills
The latest book from Heather Alexander ’89 is Haunted USA, which compiles spooky tales from all 50 states.
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NoViolet Bulawayo wins the Best of Caine award
Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo has won the Best of Caine award, an honorary prize celebrating a story from past winners of the Caine Prize for African Writing, to mark its 25th anniversary. The prize was given for a short story praised by judges for its “powerful language, distinctive tone of v...
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.