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Vanderbilt University Press Announces 2025 Winner of the VU Literary Prize
Jul. 22, 2025—Vanderbilt University Press has announced Melissa Range as the 2025 winner of the VU Literary Prize. Spearheaded by General Editor Major Jackson, the prize committee reviewed over two hundred and fifty submissions in advance of the jurists Victoria Chang, Dana Levin, and Gregory Pardlo, who selected nine semifinalists. From these semifinalists, Jackson chose the winning manuscript. Printer’s Fist is...
2025 Morgan Award: Winners Announced
Jul. 7, 2025—The Vanderbilt Writing Studio has announced the winners of the 2025 Henrietta Hickman Morgan Memorial Award for First-Year Writers. 1st Place Jiayu Huang “Red” (fiction) 2nd Place Justin Schwab “Statehood, Supplies, and the New South: Constructed Images in the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition’s Promotional Map” 3rd Place Shayda Oliaei “The Inexpressible In-Between” (non-fiction) Honorable Mention David You “Personhood, Value,...
Amanda Little Featured on Vanderbilt’s Podcast to Discuss ‘How Stories Spark Change’
Jun. 27, 2025—Amanda Little, writer-in-residence within the Department of English, recently joined Provost C. Cybele Raver as a guest on Vanderbilt’s ‘Quantum Potential’ podcast. They discussed how journalism can highlight the tipping points humanity faces and how people-first storytelling can move us from observation to action (Vanderbilt). Little says, “There’s a free-fall in the way that we’re...
Director of Creative Writing Major Jackson Featured in Vanderbilt Magazine
Jun. 18, 2025—Major Jackson, the Director of Creative Writing in Vanderbilt’s Department of English, was recently featured in Vanderbilt Magazine. He provided his expertise on how to read a poem, encouraging readers to feel the poetry in their body, not worry too much about analysis, and so on. To experience a poem,” Jackson says, “is also to...
Assistant Professor Lydi Conklin Releases Debut Novel
Jun. 3, 2025—Creative Writing Assistant Professor Lydi Conklin has released their debut novel, Songs of No Provenance, with Catapult. Songs of No Provenance tells the story of Joan Vole, an indie folk singer forever teetering on the edge of fame, who flees New York after committing a shocking sexual act onstage that she fears will doom her...
Creative Writing MFA Alum Lara Hughes Wins 2025 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers
May. 29, 2025—Lara Hughes (MFA ’22) was recently awarded the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. Twelve debut writers were chosen for originality, craft, and pushing the boundaries of the genre. Their exceptional short stories will be published by Catapult in the annual anthology Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America Dau Prize. Hughes’...
2025 Merrill Moore Prize: Winners Announced
May. 12, 2025—Three recent Department of English graduates have been awarded the 2025 Merrill Moore Prize. This distinction is voted on by Vanderbilt’s creative writing faculty and conferred by the English Department. The award is presented to a graduating senior who is selected based on “literary promise and the psychological or practical usefulness of the award” to...
Creative Writing MFA Alum Max McDonough Wins St. Lawrence Book Award
Apr. 22, 2025—Max McDonough (MFA ’17) recently won the St. Lawrence Book Award with his debut poetry collection, Python with a Dog Inside It (Black Lawrence Press). Congratulations, Max! Set on the marshlands of working-class southern New Jersey, Python with a Dog Inside It traces the tangled story of two gay brothers as they endeavor to survive their...
Creative Writing MFA Alum Rita Bullwinkel Wins Award in Literature from The American Academy of Arts and Letters
Mar. 14, 2025—On March 6, The Academy of Arts & Letters announced that Rita Bullwinkel (MFA ’16) is the recipient of the 2025 Addison M. Metcalf Award of $10,000. This award honors “a young writer of great promise.” The literature awards will be presented at Arts and Letters’s annual Ceremonial in May 2025. Congratulations, Rita! The American...
March 20, 7 PM – Fiction Reading with Adam Ross
Mar. 3, 2025—On Thursday, March 20, Fiction Author Adam Ross will visit Vanderbilt for a book signing and a reading of his latest novel Playworld. The book signing begins at 6:30, followed by the reading at 7pm. Adam Ross is the author of the short story collection Ladies and Gentlemen, and the novels Playworld and Mr. Peanut, which was selected as...