Author

Vanderbilt MFA students featured in Cheekwood Exhibit

Sep. 16, 2025— MFA faculty, students, and alumni are currently featured in the exhibition Verse & Visions at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. Visit Cheekwood and read the ekphrastic poems of Sydney Mayes, Carson Colenbaugh (MFA ’25), Ajla Dizdarevic, and Assistant Professor Didi Jackson. Verse and Vision,...

Didi Jackson wins 2025 Tennessee Book Award

Sep. 16, 2025—Humanities Tennessee has selected Assistant Professor Didi Jackson’s My Infinity: Poems as the winner of the 2025 Tennessee Book Award for Poetry, calling it “a remarkable book, not only for the phenomenal texture and musicality of its language, but equally for its stunning imagery and metaphorical constructs.” Didi Jackson is the author of the poetry...

Bryan Byrdlong (BA ’15) publishes debut collection of poetry

Sep. 16, 2025— Bryan Byrdlong’s Strange Flowers is a staggering debut that maps the lines and links between the living and undead, ritual and where the speaker belongs. Byrdlong’s exploration of the zombie, from the Caribbean to cocktails, marks what changes us, takes us out of ourselves, and...