Caroline Levine
David and Kathleen Ryan Professor of Humanities
Literatures in English, School of Criticism and Theory
J. Robert Lennon
Ann S. Bowers Professor of English and Editor of EPOCH Literary Magazine
Literatures in English
Professor named chair of state humanities organization
Timothy Murray, professor of comparative literature and literatures in English, has been elected chair of the board of directors of Humanities New York (HNY), a nonprofit humanities council founded in 1975 that supports and advocates for public humanities across the state.
Science of the very, very small featured in next Arts Unplugged
The event will explore the nanoscale and quantum innovations shaping our future. You can join online at eCornell!
Student spotlight: Malcom Bare
Malcolm Bare is a doctoral candidate in English language and literature from Denville, New Jersey. After attending Rutgers University — New Brunswick as an undergraduate, he chose to pursue further study at Cornell due to the freedom and community. Having completed all requirements for the Ph.D., Bare successfully navigated the job search and led...
Crystal Williams named first Black president of RISD
Cornell MFA in Creative Writing alumna Crystal Williams ’00 has been named as the next president of the Rhode Island School of Design. Williams will be the first Black president in the history of the school. She currently serves as vice president and associate provost for community and inclusion at Boston University. Williams will be stepping into...
Jodi A. Byrd named influential American Indian Scholar
Academic Influence has named Associate Professor Jodi A. Byrd as an influential American Indian scholar. Byrd was ranked 6th on a list of 35 scholars. Academic Influence explains "Our list of 35 scholars of American Indian descent features historians, anthropologists, professors, and researchers alongside artists, authors, educators, and activists...
Diaz’s book, José Montoya, named Gold medal winner
Dr. Ella Maria Diaz’s second book, José Montoya, was named a Gold Medal winner in two categories in The 23rd International Latino Book Awards: Best Biography (English) and Best Arts Book. According to the International Latino Book Awards, “the Awards are now by far the largest Latino cultural Awards in the USA,” with 276 finalists in 105...
Weiss teaching awards honor Jane Juffer
Ten faculty members have been selected to receive Stephen H. Weiss Awards honoring excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring, President Martha E. Pollack announced Oct. 18.“The Weiss Awards highlight the centrality of undergraduate education at Cornell, and I’m delighted that we’re able to recognize our exceptional faculty for their...
Winners of the 2021 Freund Prize for Creative Writing read on November 11
The Department of Literatures in English celebrates the winners of the 2021 Philip Freund Prize for Creative Writing in recognition of excellence in publication: Julie Phillips Brown, Lena Nguyen, Michael Prior, and Renia White. The alumni prize is supported by the Philip Freund '29 endowment and comes with a $5000 award and an invitation to...
Reading Series guest Ada Limón chosen to host "The Slowdown" poetry podcast
Poet and National Book Critics Circle Award Winner Ada Limón has been chosen as the new host of The Slowdown:"ST. PAUL, Minn., September 9, 2021 – American Public Media (APM) and the Poetry Foundation today announced the return of celebrated poetry podcast, The Slowdown, with award-winning poet Ada Limón taking over the helm as host for season...
Reading Series features National Book Award recipient, award-winning poets & novelist
Cornell’s Creative Writing Program returns in-person for the Fall 2021 Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series. The series will continue its legacy of bringing exciting and innovative award-winning authors to read from their work on Cornell’s Ithaca campus. Each reading closes with a live Q&A where attendees have the opportunity to...
Carole Boyce Davies in "The Black Scholar"
Carole Boyce Davies and Angelique V. Nixon have written the introduction to The Black Scholar 51:2 Caribbean Global Movements:"The Caribbean has always been a site of global and local interactions and transactions. These movements have played an important role in the dissemination of ideas and sharing of cultural practices from the indigenous...
Op-ed by Adam Szetela on the Democratic Socialists of America
Adam Szetela, Ph.D. student in the literatures in English department, has an op-ed in Newsweek, "I identify as a Democratic Socialist. The DSA, on the other hand, has lost its way:""These are not the concerns of working-class Americans, who are supposed to be the focus of socialist organizing, in my experience. Working-class Americans have...
Historians debate authorship of letter attributed to Major Sullivan Ballou
Shirley Samuels is quoted in the article, “Sullivan Ballou’s Civil War letter embodies love,” in the Newport Daily News."Also noting the differences in language and substance, Cornell University Professor Shirley Samuels states: 'Where the famous letter came from, I cannot presume to say.'”Read the full article here.Shirley Samuels teaches...
The Passion of the Taxidermist: On Betina González’s “American Delirium”
Molly MacVeagh has an article in the Los Angeles Review of Books, "The Passion of the Taxidermist: On Betina González’s American Delirium:""But to focus on the whimsy is to miss what might be American Delirium’s most compelling achievement: its subtle recalibration of the critique of the realist novel."Read the full article here.Molly MacVeagh...
Nafissa Thompson-Spires Published in Ploughshares
We are pleased to announce that “The Old Doctor’s Story, or The Haunting of Mill Creek Medical Facility” by Nafissa Thompson-Spires has been published in the 50th Anniversary Issue of Ploughshares this summer.About the IssuePloughshares is delighted to announce the release of our 50th Anniversary Issue, out Summer 2021. Guest-edited by Aimee...
New Kiswahili science fiction award charts a path for African languages
Mukoma Wa Ngugi, associate professor of literatures in English, was quoted on the Kiswahili Prize in The Conversation article, "New Kiswahili science fiction award charts a path for African languages:""The 6th edition of The Mabati Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature, suspended last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is back. Founded...
Valzhyna Mort wins the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize
Assistant Professor of Literatures in English Valzhyna Mort’s Music for the Dead and Resurrected has won the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize:"TORONTO – Wednesday, June 23, 2021 – Music for the Dead and Resurrected by Valzhyna Mort, (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) and The Dyzgraphxst by Canisia Lubrin (McClelland & Stewart) are the International and...
The New York Public Library's Center For Research In The Humanities Announces The 2021-2022 Diamonstein-Spielvogel Fellows
Pichaya Damrongpiwat is among the inaugural class of fellows for the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Fellowship Program at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building's Center for Research in the Humanities, as announced by the New York Public Library:"Pichaya Damrongpiwat is a Ph.D. Candidate in English at Cornell University. As a Diamonstein-Spielvogel Fellow,...
"Unbury Our Dead With Song" in Granta
Read an excerpt from Mukoma Wa Ngugi’s novel, Unbury Our Dead With Song (2021 Cassava Republic Press), in Granta:"I knew enough about the Tizita to believe it – that the first time you heard a Tizita that was yours, you fell in love with it. You never forget your first love; you never forget your first Tizita. Where were you when J. M. Kariuki...
"Rebati: Speaking in Tongues" celebrates the legacy of Odia literature
The Pioneer has an article, "‘Rebati’ translated into 36 languages of world," about the release of a new multilingual anthology:"'Rebati’ was the first truly iconic short story written in Odia language in 1898 by the father of modern Odia literature, Fakir Mohan Senapati."This story was written against the backdrop of the cholera epidemic that...
Ngugi op-ed about music in The Guardian
Mukoma Wa Ngugi, associate professor of literatures in English, has an op-ed in The Guardian titled, "Mukoma Wa Ngugi’s playlist: 10 songs from my travels.""The author’s life, literary trips and adventures have taken him across Africa with music as a constant companion."Gentleman by Fela Kuti"I first heard Fela as a teenager in Kenya, when his...
"Mukoma Wa Ngugi: How music inspired my writing" podcast on BBC
Mukoma Wa Ngugi talks about his new novel, Unbury Our Dead with Song, for BBC Sounds: The Cultural Frontline podcast series. In the episode, "Mukoma Wa Ngugi: How music inspired my writing," Ngugi reads from the novel and reflects on how his homeland shaped his art."It's really about love for African music. For African people, if their soul could...