undergraduate
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...
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...
Graduating Seniors Reading – April 24
Apr. 20, 2026—On Friday, April 24, the Creative Writing Program will celebrate our graduating seniors with a reception and reading of new work, featuring Cady Butcher, Sorin Caldararu, Eva Cheraisi, Eleni Ertel, Katerina Krizner, Colleen Newman, Tam Obisesan, Nicole Reynaga, and Jacqueline Welsh. Friday, April 24 Central Library Community Room 6:00 PM Reception 7:00 PM Reading...
Poet Prageeta Sharma to join Vanderbilt Reading Series – February 19
Jan. 28, 2026—Thursday, February 19 Book-signing, 6:30 PM Reading, 7:00 PM Vanderbilt Special Collections Library 1101 19th Ave South Nashville, TN 37212 Prageeta Sharma is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently, Onement Won (Wave Books, 2025) and Grief Sequence (Wave Books, 2019). Her honors and awards include a 2025 NEA Creative...
Mitchell S. Jackson to join Vanderbilt Reading Series – February 12 (new date)
Jan. 6, 2026—Thursday, February 12 Book Signing, 6:30 PM Reading, 7:00 PM Vanderbilt Special Collections Library 1101 19th Ave South Nashville, TN 37212 (Due to weather, this reading has been postponed from January 29.) Mitchell S. Jackson is the winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing...
Creative Writing program hosts poets Didi Jackson and Patrick Paridee Samuel
Dec. 4, 2025—Vanderbilt’s Creative Writing Program hosted a salon on November 13 with assistant professor Didi Jackson and fellow poet Patrick Sharidee Samuel. They discussed their recent collections, My Infinity and And Another Thing. Following the salon, graduate and undergraduate students participated in a book-making workshop and produced their own work. For upcoming events, visit the...
Marie-Helene Bertino joins Gertrude C. & Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series
Nov. 14, 2025—Novelist and short story writer Marie-Helene Bertino joined the Gertrude C. & Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series on November 6 with her novel Beautyland, an American Book Award winner and National Book Critics Circle finalist, which follows Adina Giorno, born with unusual perception to a single mother in Philadelphia. The arrival of a fax machine enables her...
Join us for English trivia and Fresh Mex – October 22
Oct. 21, 2025—