North America's Largest Lit Conference Hits Twin Cities

You may not have heard of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP), but next April it's taking over Minneapolis. AWP's annual literary conference (open to the public) goes down at the Minneapolis Convention Center (with lit stars from T. C. Boyle to Roxane Gay), and related events will be erupting all over town. Predictably, our Creative Writing Program is involved up to its eyebrows.

Help Bev Atkinson Help Students

Former adviser and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies Bev Atkinson and her husband Steve put up $1000 to challenge more giving to the Beverly Atkinson Scholarship for Non-Traditional Students. Twenty of you have donated; help us double that number by the end of December!

New Pages

It's the time of the year for lists: best of lists, gift lists, wish lists. As you're writing up yours, get inspired by this annotated list of adventurous poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by English faculty, students, and alums!

What We're Reading: Ellen Messer-Davidow

The Chair of the Department of English has assigned the Affordable Care Act as required reading. Her department classes have titles such as "Probing the Social Text," "Civil Rights Discourse," and "Consumer Culture." In her research, Professor Messer-Davidow explores how one phenomenon is explained differently by different parties, from scholars and activists to lawmakers, the media, and the public. You might say the world is her text, along with such soundings as Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century--and a thriller or two.

News: Let's Make a Video!

BA alumna Cheryl Strayed saw her younger self played by Reese Witherspoon. BA alumnus Mark Mishek leads the nation's largest nonprofit addiction treatment provider. English alums make a difference across disciplines and fields--which is why we want to make a video starring you!

Faculty News

Check out new books, articles, and paper presentations from our award-winning English professors.

PhD News

What are you presenting, publishing, working on? Tell us here. Plus learn what your peers--and PhD candidates--accomplished this fall!

MFA News

Keep us up to date about what you're writing and where you're working! And read about other alumnae/i accomplishments--not to mention those of our over-achieving MFA candidates.

BA News

What adventures did you embrace in 2014? Let us know here--and read about your peers' latest accomplishments!

Events: A Collaboration with Penumbra

As part of our ongoing collaboration with Twin Cities community organizations, English and St. Paul's pioneering Penumbra Theatre are co-presenting Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage February 18, 2015, at Coffman Union Theater. Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark runs February 5-March 1 at Penumbra.