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Yunyun Wang ’21 remembers arriving at Cornell as an “overeager freshman” who wanted to study everything but wound up feeling lost.The College of Engineering student found her academic footing and forged a new major as a junior with help and inspiration from Drew Margolin, associate professor in the Department of Communication in the College of...
The Department of Literatures in English is pleased to announce our 2020-21 graduates! Please visit the Department of Literatures in English Commencement 2020-21 Graduates page. Congratulations to all!For all graduation weekend information, see Cornell University's Office of Commencement Events website.
The Department of Literatures in English is host to many gifted student writers and teachers. Thanks to the generosity of various donors, annual prizes are awarded for outstanding work in poetry, fiction, research, critical writing, and instruction. We are pleased to announce our 2020 - 2021 student award winners below.Teaching AwardsThe Joseph...
Subdivision, a novel by professor J. Robert Lennon, has made the New York Times' list of "10 New Books We Recommend This Week:""Lennon's ninth novel is a dazzling puzzle box: The narrator arrives in a town full of mysteries, and each chapter provides a clue to besting the danger ahead. Folkloric elements, including a stalking crow and a shape-...
The Cornell Daily Sun ran a story on the Carolyn Forché reading, "Carolyn Forché Reads from Her Work for Zalaznick Reading Series.""Having reviewed In the Lateness of the World for an earlier article, I’d still been unsure of what to expect from this event — and even, I confess, a little intimidated by Forché’s reputation. But I realize now that...
Department of Literatures in English faculty members have received College Awards for distinguished teaching:Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, associate professor of literatures in English, has won the Morgan Chia-Wen Sze and Bobbi Josephine Hernandez Distinguished Teaching Prize, which is awarded to one professor in the humanities every three years. The...
Dan Sinykin, who earned his PhD in English Language and Literature in 2015, has an article, "Data Is Not the Enemy of the Humanities," in the Chronicle of Higher Education:"Literature and culture are increasingly defined by data itself. Think about the presence of authors in the digital literary sphere. Think about Instapoets — popular poets who...
The Cornell Daily Sun ran a story on the Susan Choi reading, "Susan Choi MFA ’95 Reads ‘Flashlight’ for Zalaznick Reading Series.""When asked whether she misses her characters after finishing a novel, Choi replied that usually it will have taken so long to write that she is 'not that interested' in ever returning to the characters in writing, but...
Valzhyna Mort, assistant professor of literatures in English, has won the prestigious Rome Prize in Literature. "The American Academy in Rome has announced the winners of the 2021–22 Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships. These highly competitive fellowships support advanced independent work and research in the arts and humanities. This year, the...
J. Robert Lennon, professor of literatures in English, has a short story in Lit Hub, "How I Spent My Plague Year Inside a Video Game," about finding a home away from home in Fallout 76:"Now, through my efforts in the virtual world, I had managed to create a home that, though imperfect, could be maintained without assistance from anyone, despite...
The stark economic realities and inequalities in the U.S. have been laid bare by the uneven impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We invite you to join us for the final offering in our webinar series from the College of Arts & Sciences and the American Studies Program on Racism in America.Racism in America: The EconomyTuesday, April 277-8:30 p.m...
Assistant Professor of Literatures in English Valzhyna Mort’s Music for the Dead and Resurrected has been shortlisted for the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize:https://www.griffinpoetryprize.com/awards-and-poets/shortlists/2021-shortlist/The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada’s most generous poetry award. Past winners include Anne Carson, Paul Muldoon,...
Five Cornell doctoral candidates have been selected for induction into the Cornell chapter of the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society.The Bouchet Society recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate. Its network of scholars exemplifies academic and...
The Department of Literatures in English Graduate Student Organization (EGSO) announces its 2021 Virtual Conference: Vulnerability, which begins on Friday April 16 and continues Saturday, April 17.Visit the EGSO Conferences page for full details and link to register.“Vulnerability,” defined as a sense of exposure or openness, carries multiple...
69:1 contributor notes FICTION SnakeheadsMichael DevensArkHolly Goddard JonesLove in the DesertJudy TroyDispensersGeorge SingletonWater LiliesLauren A. GreenMagic EyeJackie ReitzesPhenixStephanie Reents EPOCH FEATURED SECTION A Matter of FamilyAn essay and a short story by Lamar Herrin POETRY What's The MatterDiane LouieThe...
Jehan L. Roberson, a literatures in English doctoral student, recently published an essay that engages the art installation/ritual practice of Ogemdi Ude and Sydney King. The essay is entitled "Ever Present and In Process: Breathing and Grieving with Ogemdi Ude and Sydney King.""Whether through embodiment, memory work, sculpture or photography,...
Poet, writer, speaker, and political strategist Camonghne Felix will share her work in a virtual reading on Thursday, April 8 at 7 p.m. ET. The event is free and open to the public.REGISTER HERE to attend!Felix will read from her National Book Award nominated poetry collection, Build Yourself a Boat, and preview selections from her anticipated...
"On his part, Prof. Mukoma wa Ngugi, an Associate Professor of English at Cornell University, and the co-founder of Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature, spoke about the importance of languages in the society."'The question is: what is a language? You could take a language to be transactional, but you could take language as...
Robert Morgan's poem, "Cowbell," is featured in the April 2021 issue of The Atlantic:"...a still, calm voice in dialectand keeping its own company,both out of time and long as time..."Experience the full poem here.Robert Morgan is the Kappa Alpha Professor of English at Cornell University. He is the author of fifteen books of poetry, nine...
The Africana Studies & Research Center has organized a panel discussion on "No Greater Burden: Health and the Weight of the World on Black Women," which will take place Tuesday, March 23 from 4:00-5:30 pm.REGISTER HERE.The coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has greatly impacted the United States with more than 29 million known infected people...
Caroline Levine; David and Kathleen Ryan Professor of Humanities and author of Forms: Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network; participated in a talk with Nonprofit Quarterly on "Exploring Hierarchy as Form:""Part of the problem of hierarchies is that they feed on each other. So, we have gender hierarchy, a race hierarchy, a wealth hierarchy, and then...
Jane Juffer, professor of literatures in English, was interviewed by the Cornell Daily Sun in an article titled "Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies Director Jane Juffer Discusses Women’s History Month:""The legacy of feminist movements — from the call for women’s suffrage to the Women’s Liberation Movement and #MeToo rallies — stand as a...
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the dire consequences of inequities in America’s health care. According to the COVID Tracking Project, African Americans die from COVID-19 at rates more than 1.5 times their share of the population, while Hispanics, Latinos, Native American and Alaskan Natives share of death and sickness is disproportionate to...
Since its publication thirty years ago, Out of the Kumbla has witnessed an amazing flowering of Caribbean women's writing and its criticism all over the world.Please join us for this celebratory virtual event — also honoring Sylvia Wynter — featuring greetings, poetry, and statements from writers and scholars like NourbeSe, Abena P.A. Busia,...
Adam Szetela, Ph.D. student in the literatures in English department, published an op-ed in Inside Higher Ed titled "Censoring a Poet Isn’t the Answer:""I have never met a prison volunteer who supports crime. But most prison volunteers believe that a criminal can reform and move beyond their crime. As one of my colleagues from the Prison...