Earlier this week, Canadian-American journalist and author Vauhini Vara joined us for the second session of the Ways to Meet AI series sponsored by UMD Arts for All and The Studio for Literary Technology. Vara read from her book "Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age."

Bhanu Kapil joins us for the next lecture in the Bebe Koch Petrou Lecture Series. Kapil is an award-winning writer and will present her talk titled “Notes on the Perimeter.” english.umd.edu/events/bebe-koch-petrou-lecture-writing-environmental-humanities-bhanu-kapil

Join ARHU Dean Stephanie Shonekan and a panel of ARHU experts for an engaging pop-up roundtable discussion on war and its impact on communities, democracies and futures. March 12 | 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. | Taliaferro Hall Learn more: arhu.umd.edu/events/arhu-...

Join us virtually on March 23 to discuss Sandra Newman's "Julia," a retelling of George Orwell's "1984." english.umd.edu/events/alumn...

Giving Day is finally here! Help support the meaningful work happening in the English Department. Give today! #GivingDayUMD givingday.umd.edu/campaigns/de...

Giving Day is next Wednesday (Mar 4). When you support the UMD English Department, you’re supporting students who are doing meaningful work right now in seminars, workshops, internships, research projects, and study abroad programs.

ARHU faculty gathered in Tawes for “Imagining Otherwise: A Panel Discussion on Environmental Futures and the Humanities.” The conversation centered on how the humanities help us rethink environmental futures, especially the slow, uneven harms that often go unseen in science and policy.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for Writers Here and Now! K. Iver read poems from their book "Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco." Lena Valencia shared from her short story collection "Mystery Lights." Thanks to MFA students Jupiter Berrysmith and Arielle Heiman for their introductions.

Giving Day is next Wednesday (Mar 4). When you support the UMD English Department, you’re supporting students who are doing meaningful work right now in seminars, workshops, internships, research projects, and study abroad programs.

This Black History Month, we celebrate Professor Emerita Merle Collins and her award-winning novel “Ocean Stirrings,” which recovers the overlooked life of Grenadian activist, and mother of Malcolm X, Louise Little. Read more here: tinyurl.com/ysx67huj

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate the launch of Professor Emily Mitchell’s short story collection "The Church of Divine Electricity." Special thanks to Lecturer Rachel Vorona Cote for moderating the conversation.

Have you listened to The Black Studies Podcast? Earlier this week, John Drabinski, professor in the Department of English and the Department of African American Studies, spoke with Clarissa Myrick-Harris, professor at Morehouse College. Listen now on Spotify or Apple Music.

On February 16, virtually join this month's Alumni Book Club session to discuss Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" (1950). The book imagines post-WWII America in a tech-driven future, where human advancements lead to both wonders and disasters. Learn more here english.umd.edu/events/alumn....

Welcome back! This semester started off a bit chilly, but there's a lot to look forward to. Stay up to date by visiting the English events calendar english.umd.edu/events

Join us Feb 4 at noon as we celebrate the release of Associate Professor of English Emily Mitchell's short story collection "The Church of Divine Electricity," winner of the Elixir Press Fiction Award. Learn more here: english.umd.edu/events/book-... Photo of Emily Mitchell by J. M. Tyree

Eleven UMD English students are gaining early access to the publishing industry through a competitive mentorship with Penguin Random House. Working alongside professional editors, they gain hands-on experience and real-world feedback. Read more here: english.umd.edu/news/11-engl...

Congrats to Doctoral Candidate Rashi Maheshwari for her acceptance as a 25-26 Arts for All Fellow. Rashi was invited to the 2026 a2ru Emerging Creative Summit, Rewilding: New Stories of Collective Wellbeing (Mar 5-8).

The first Alumni Book Club session of the year is happening on January 26. Join us virtually as we discuss Andrey Kurkov's Grey Bees (2018; trans. Boris Drayluk 2020). Learn more here: english.umd.edu/events/alumn...

Doctoral student Lisa Osei was one of five students selected to represent the College of Arts and Humanities at the launch event of UMD's Forward Campaign. Thanks to donor support, students can explore and advance scholarship in emerging fields. Together, we move #MarylandForward: forward.umd.edu

Undergraduate students presented their research last week at the Rites of Discovery: Science, Law, and Literature organized by Professor Ralph Bauer. Students discussed topics like trickster history in Gerald Vizenor's "The Heirs of Columbus" and Jean de Léry's notions of Barbarism in Europe.

Our Book Lab interns proudly presented their prints, zines, and creative projects at the Winter Wayzgoose, a traditional annual celebration for printers that dates back to the 16th century. Each student shared insights into the techniques and materials used to create their projects this semester.

At the final Writers Here & Now event of 2025, Professor Emily Mitchell & Visiting Poet Christopher Kondrich read selections from their latest works. Mitchell read from her newly released collection "Church of Divine Electricity." Kondrich read from his forthcoming poetry collection "Tread Upon."

Congratulations to M.F.A. student Tega Oghenechovwen, who was awarded the Elizabeth George Foundation Grant earlier this spring! The grant will support him after graduation as he continues researching and writing his upcoming collection of short stories. Read more: english.umd.edu/news/tega-og...

Please join us this Wednesday, May 7, at 6 pm in Ulrich Recital Hall for a Writers Here and Now event featuring our graduating MFA students! This event is free and open to the public.

Distinguished University Professor of English @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social has emerged as a leading voice on AI. Read our Q&A to learn more about how AI is transforming the way we communicate, educate and govern: english.umd.edu/news/how-matthew-kirschenbaum-sees-ais-impact

English Professor Amanda Bailey argues that Shakespeare's plays help us confront today's urgent debates about race, gender and power—not by offering easy answers, but by asking hard questions. Read more in our Q&A: english.umd.edu/news/why-we-still-read-shakespeare

Please join us next Wednesday, April 30 to hear Professor Cecilia Shelton speak about her book in progress! This talk discusses a case study analysis from Shelton's forthcoming manuscript, "Act Like You Know: Black Feminist Methodology in Technical and Professional Communication."

Join UMD English at Maryland Day this Saturday, April 26 at Tawes Plaza! We're hosting an abundance of fun literary-themed activities this year, including a banned book giveaway, word blocks, friendship bracelets and temporary tattoos. See the full schedule: english.umd.edu/events/umd-e...

Coming up tomorrow! Please join the Creative Writing MFA Program and the Center for Literary and Comparative Studies for "The Lyric Essay as Poetic Praxis," a craft talk by Camonghne Felix.

Join us tomorrow for a Vambery Lecture featuring Mauro Resmini! Titled "Affect of the Frontier: Resentment in the Postwar Hollywood Western," the lecture will interrogate cinema to trace the genealogy of one of the most ubiquitous affects in our contemporary socio-political landscapes: resentment.

Coming up this Wednesday: a Writers Here and Now event featuring alumni! Join us for a book launch, taking place at 4:30 p.m. in 2115 Tawes Hall, and a reading, at 6 p.m. in Ulrich Recital Hall. This event is free and open to the public.

Join us on Thursday, April 10, for an invited talk by Robin D. G. Kelley, Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nahs Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, titled “‘Freedom is a Place’: On War, Displacement, and Genocide in the 21st Century.” english.umd.edu/events/robin...

This Friday, a Local Americanists Works-in-Progress event featuring Professor Jennifer James (George Washington University), who will discuss her paper "Swamp Fever: W.E.B. Du Bois, Afro-optimism, Abolitionist Ecology and the Black Commons." More info: english.umd.edu/events/local...

Rescheduled from February! Please join us this Thursday for "Blackout in Gaza," a talk by Professor Nadia Yaqub of UNC Chapel Hill. This talk is co-sponsored by @wgss-umd.bsky.social, Persian Studies and Arabic Studies. More info: english.umd.edu/events/blackout-gaza

Please join us on Zoom this Wednesday, March 26, for "Apocalyptic Ecologies: Medieval Literature at the End of the World" by Professor Shannon Gayk of the University of Indiana. More info: english.umd.edu/events/marsh...

AI? Ecology? Poetics? Black joy? Sign. me. up. Join us this week as we welcome the renowned artist and technologist Curry Hackett to AADHum, for a campus workshop + the second event in our ongoing series at @busboysandpoets.bsky.social Hyattsville!

George Pelecanos's advice to new and aspiring writers: read voraciously and live a full life! Read more takeaways from the UMD alum, an acclaimed crime novelist and co-producer of “The Wire” and other HBO series, who visited UMD yesterday! today.umd.edu/renowned-cri... @umdenglish.bsky.social

Announcing the 2025 DC Queer Studies Symposium 🌈🎓 LAG: Labor, Aesthetics, Geopolitics, invites scholars @asliz.bsky.social, Kwame Edwin Otu, Lucina Ramberg, Cole Rizki, and Tara Asgar on April 3-4 to focus in on geopolitics in queer studies. Learn more and RSVP at go.umd.edu/DCQS2025 #academicsky

Today is UMD Giving Day! The Department of English has four great funds to support this year:

Coming up next Friday: the 18th annual GEO Conference! The conference will be held in person in Tawes Hall from 9 am to 6 pm. More info: english.umd.edu/events/geo-c... 📷: The Processional, Romare Bearden (1983). Courtesy of The Driskell Center, University of Maryland.

Please join us next Thursday at 5 pm for a lecture by Professor Ulka Anjaria of Brandeis University titled "Language as Violence or Possibility: Caste and Gender in the Writings of Urmila Pawar." This event is part of the Bebe Koch Petrou Lecture Series. More info: english.umd.edu/events/langu...

Join us for a Writers Here and Now event featuring Karen Solie and LaToya Watkins next Wednesday, February 26! The reading will take place at 6 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. More info: english.umd.edu/events/writers-here-and-now-karen-solie-latoya-watkins

John Ernest, the Judge Hugh Morris Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at the University of Delaware, will deliver the Stringer lecture next Tuesday! More info: english.umd.edu/events/john-ernest-art-impossible-african-american-and-american-literary-studies-threatening-times

Banned Book Madness 2025 has begun! Visit our Instagram Stories @umdenglish and vote for your favorite banned books. More info: english.umd.edu/banned-book-madness-2025

An interdisciplinary creative writing workshop co-taught by English Lecturer Edward Daschle is immersing students in the world of quantum energy and steampunk science fiction. today.umd.edu/quantum-steampunk-creative-writing-course-explores-the-science-of-science-fiction

Made possible by a 2024 Teaching Innovation Grant, NarraSpace at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities is a new immersive storytelling lab redefining scholarship with VR, spatial audio, gaming and more. english.umd.edu/news/step-na...

Happy first day of classes! We're ready to kick off a great spring semester! 📚

Congratulations to English Ph.D. student Lisa Osei, who was selected to receive the Edward Guiliano Global Fellowship by the Modern Language Association! Osei's project is titled “Sankofa’s Cosmic Adansikro: Mapping out Afrofuturist Worlds through Interactive Web Game Design.”

Congratulations to English Ph.D. students Alice Bi and Oluwafunmilola Fadairo and creative writing M.F.A. student Somto Ihezue, who are among the recipients of the Fall 2024 UMD Arts for All ArtsAMP Graduate Student Research Grants and Collaborative Student MicroGrants! arts.umd.edu/articles/fal...

The National Endowment for the Arts recently interviewed poet Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, associate professor of English and director of the M.F.A program in creative writing, about the use of AI and technology in their work. www.arts.gov/stories/blog...