awards
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...
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...
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.,...
Creative and critical honors thesis awards announced
Apr. 28, 2026—Graduating seniors Nicole Reynaga and Connor Wolfe have received the 2026 Best Honors Thesis Award. Nicole receives the prize for creative thesis for her poetry collection, Anatomy of an Earthquake. Connor receives the prize for critical thesis for his exploration, Wrangling Western Exceptionalism: Subversive Mythmaking in the Anti-Western. The award is supported by the Merrill Moore...
Merrill Moore creative writing awards announced
Apr. 23, 2026—The Department of English and Creative Writing Program congratulate the recipients of the 2026 Merrill Moore Prizes for outstanding work in their respective genres. The awards go to graduating seniors based on “literary promise and the psychological or practical usefulness of the award.” Merrill Moore Prize for Fiction: Katerina Grace Krizner (Tallahassee, Florida) Merrill Moore...
PhD student Emilka Jansen receives Vanderbilt Award for Doctoral Discovery
Apr. 17, 2026—PhD student Emilka Jansen has been awarded the Vanderbilt Award for Doctoral Discovery. Granted by the Graduate School, Vanderbilt Awards for Doctoral Discovery (VADD) are designed to help graduate students with outstanding potential to accelerate progress on their research, proceed to candidacy, and/or complete their dissertation research in a timely manner. Awarded funding can be used...
MFA alum Edgar Kunz named Guggenheim Fellow
Apr. 17, 2026—MFA alum Edgar Kunz (’15) was named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow. Edgar Kunz is the author of two books: Fixer (Ecco, 2023), a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, and Tap Out (Ecco, 2019), which the Washington Post called “a gritty, insightful debut.” Kunz has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, Hawthornden Foundation,...
Melissa Range to join Vanderbilt Reading Series – April 16
Apr. 9, 2026—VU Literary Prize Winner Melissa Range will join the Vanderbilt Reading Series, after publishing her new collection of poems, Printer’s Fist, with Vanderbilt University Press in April 2026. The Reading Series and The Press will co-host the event. Thursday, April 16 Alumni Hall 202 – 23rd Ave N, Nashville, TN 6:00 Literary Salon & Reception...
2025 Creative Writing newsletter now available
Nov. 13, 2025—The newsletter can be viewed by clicking here. PDF Version