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Professor Emily Lordi set to release Whitney Houston biography
Sep. 1, 2026—Professor Emily Lordi will release her critical biography of Whitney Houston on September 29. In Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston, leading cultural critic and professor Emily Lordi has gained unique access to Houston’s innermost circle to show us the Whitney we’ve been unwilling to see—her fluid sexuality, her unapologetic love...
Gertrude C. & Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series kicks off September 10 with U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey
Aug. 27, 2026—Former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey will kick off the 2026-2027 Gertrude C. & Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series on September 10. The evening will begin with a literary salon at 6:30 PM, followed by a public reading 7:00 and a book-signing at 8:00. Thursday, September 10 Vanderbilt Special Collections Library, 1101 19th...
English welcomes new graduate cohorts
Aug. 24, 2026—The Department of English welcomed three poets, three fiction writers, and nine scholars to its MFA and PhD programs. The new students arrived at Vanderbilt from around the country and from Bolivia, China, Italy, Mexico, and Myanmar. Joining their respective programs: Josie Abugov (MFA Fiction) Nain Christopherson (MFA Poetry) Lucia De Carli (PhD) David Egan...
MFA student Kinsale Drake receives American Book Award for poetry anthology
Aug. 18, 2026—On July 29, The Before Columbus Foundation announced the winners of the Forty-Seventh Annual American Book Awards. Third-Year MFA student Kinsale Drake co-edited a winning anthology with Stacie Shannon Denetsosie and Darcie Little Badger, Beyond the Glittering World: An Anthology of Indigenous Feminisms and Futurisms (Torrey House Press). Read the full press release. [pdf] Kinsale...
Adam Ross joins Vanderbilt English as writer in residence
Aug. 4, 2026—Vanderbilt University’s Department of English and Creative Writing Program is delighted to welcome novelist and short story writer Adam Ross as a writer in residence for the Fall 2026 semester. He is the author of Playworld, a coming-of-age novel which follows 14-year-old Griffin Hurt in 1980s Manhattan. It was named one of the best books...
Poet Jane Huffman awarded 2026 VU Literary Prize
Aug. 4, 2026—Dilemma, by Jane Huffman, has been selected as the 2026 winner of the Vanderbilt University Literary Prize. The prize, which is awarded to the sole author of a full-length poetry collection, reflects the university’s ongoing commitment to discovering new voices and supporting the arts as transformative and essential to society. The recognition includes the publication...
Professor Akshya Saxena on the power of English
Jun. 22, 2026—Associate Professor Akshya Saxena was recently featured on Vanderbilt’s Quantum Potential podcast. In its bonus episode, “Language and Its Political and Social Power,” Professor Saxena discusses how English operates in multilingual societies like India—not just as a language, but as a force shaping democracy, identity and access. Listen to the episode here. MORE NEWS
English Department celebrates graduating majors
May. 8, 2026—The Department of English celebrated our 53 graduating majors on May 7 with a celebration at Benson Hall. Thank you for your contributions and best wishes on the next part of your journey! Congratulations! Elnathan Abraham Darin Jacks Soham Saraf Brinda Ambal James Jackson Timothy Sims Benjamin Arthur Chesney Jacobs Patrick Smith Natalie Blum Chloe...
Didi Jackson’s Tennessee Book Award to be celebrated
May. 1, 2026—Humanities Tennessee will celebrate Didi Jackson, the recipient of the 2025 Tennessee Book Award for Poetry. The reading and reception will take place Saturday, May 2, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM at Parnassus Books in Nashville. Didi Jackson is an assistant professor of English and the author of the poetry collections My Infinity and Moon...
Katerina Krizner and Audrey Welch receive Outstanding Undergraduate English Major awards
Apr. 28, 2026—The Department of English has named Katerina Grace Krizner (Tallahassee, FL, also a recipient of a Moore Prize for Creative Writing) and Audrey Welch (Santa Clarita, California) as the 2026 recipients of the Outstanding Undergraduate English Major Award. Established in 1998 and presented in honor of the distinguished teaching careers of professors Emerson Brown, Jr.,...