Next Tues, MFA alum @kristincollier.bsky.social launches her NF debut What Debt Demands: Family, Betrayal, & Precarity in a Broken System--with assists from authors Zeke Caligiuri (current MFA student), @sunyungshin.bsky.social @mkdordiggsy.bsky.social and @jenbowen.bsky.social!

NBA Fiction finalist--and MFA alum--Ethan Rutherford on the best writing advice he ever received: "Trust the reader. Your job as a writer isn’t to reproduce, but suggest, the world"

Next Wed, Prof Kathryn Nuernberger celebrates the publication of her third essay collection, Held, which is inspired by symbiotic mutualism. Congrats! Nuernberger is also the author of three poetry collections. www.eventbrite.com/e/milkweed-b...

Congrats to Prof @katnuernberger.bsky.social, who today publishes her third essay collection! Held: Essays in Belonging focuses on symbiotic mutualisms, mutual aid, and ways of being together in a time of climate crisis. @sarabandebooks.bsky.social

Prof and poet Douglas Kearney is leading a group reading tomorrow, Tues, at @loftliterarycenter.bsky.social with poets from Cave Canem's MN Regional Workshop "Pattern/Constraint/Sound." Free with registration: loft.org/events/patte...

You can hear Brandon Kilbourne read from Natural History this Wednesday at the U's @bellmuseum.bsky.social! @graywolfpress.bsky.social events.tc.umn.edu/event/25210-...

Next Wed, Prof Kathryn Nuernberger celebrates the publication of her third essay collection, Held, which is inspired by symbiotic mutualism. Congrats! Nuernberger is also the author of three poetry collections. www.eventbrite.com/e/milkweed-b...

Who was a possible muse for Shakespeare’s Dark Lady sonnets--and how has the "speculative Dark Lady tradition" inspired today's Black women artists? Cool event from the School of Music with Alisha Lola Jones:

CBI & UMN Anthro are delighted to host Nov. 14th lecture (noon to 1pm, Andersen Lib. 120) by Yale U. Prof. of Anthropology & CBI Research Fellow @lmesseri.bsky.social Lisa Messeri!! "IN THE LAND OF THE UNREAL" Free talk & lunch, reg. req. Registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #HISTSCI

This Saturday, Prof Emeritus John Wright and Curator of the Givens Collection Davu Underwood Seru will discuss their paths as interdisciplinary scholars working in academia and in off-campus communities--and within the broader Black Studies tradition:

MFA alum Edward McPherson, who just published Look Out: The Delight and Danger of Taking the Long View, stopped by today to talk with students and Prof Kim Todd. Hanif Abdurraquib called Look Out "rich, hyperfocused, and overwhelming in its generosity"

Fab talk by Ocean Vuong last night, hosted by @umnenglish.bsky.social. He shared that he draws hope from his students, a generation who act in response to what they learn. I also loved when he commented on the novel as technology. I’ll be exploring this very idea in the spring!

A heartening evening last night with Ocean Vuong! Also thought-provoking, funny, and moving. That last standing ovation of the packed Great Hall was a joy. Thanks to all who attended!

"Where [journalists] are saying, 'How do we regain the trust of the public?' We don’t. We just ask the public to distrust equally" Jelani Cobb interviewed by Prof @sugi.bsky.social

"Redolent with insights into the ethical quandary of history-making, as well as the author’s own sense of awe at the full sweep of the human story, this is a wonder" @publisherswkly.bsky.social Happy pub day to MFA alum Edward McPherson with Look Out: The Delight & Danger of Taking the Long View

A week from today we're presenting Sarah Thankham Mathews, author of All This Could Be Different! The debut novel was a National Book Award finalist, and Lauren Groff called it "spiny and delicate, scathingly funny and wildly moving." Free, no registration necessary:

If you or someone you know is thinking about applying to MFA programs this year, at Minnesota we are fully funded for 3 years including covering your student fees, 1-1 teaching (mostly creative writing) with chances to teach in the summer, you can join the union, and live in a major city.

And: As one of our UMN alums, a successful cookbook author, noted, "My college background in English has nourished me far beyond career preparation, enabling me to live a full, rewarding life both in my work and in my personal pursuits"

PhD student Addison R. Cox has been looking at Black spec fiction from authors like Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, and N.K. Jemisin, examining "the relationship between sound/music, race, and literature. What does Black music sound like and, more importantly, how do we know and interpret this?”

BA alum and poet Ed Bok Lee is reading at the 14th annual BEYOND BARS: Voices of Incarceration student reading Oct 25 at 7PM! Many English alums and faculty are mentors and instructors with Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. An amazing event free and open to the public, in person and online:

The first PhD cohort in American Indian & Indigenous Studies includes MFA alum and poet Kachina Yeager. Cheers for the inaugural cohort!

Fab editorial by @umnenglish.bsky.social faculty. "Majoring in English is by no means a bad investment of a student’s time and tuition dollars. ... While graduates with English degrees may start out earning less than peers in other fields, they out-earn them in the second half of their careers."

MFA alum Elizabeth Foy Larsen produced the documentary MAGIC & MONSTERS, screening in person/online 10-24 through the Twin Cities Film Fest. After litigation that exposed decades of sexual abuse at Minneapolis' Children's Theatre Company, the film follows the survivors' campaign for accountability:

Interested in an MFA in Creative Writing? Join us Oct 15 or 20 to hear from faculty and students re: our fully funded, three-year program. Since 2019, our students and alums have published more than 70 books! Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/umn-creati...

"the first half is a very traditional whaling narrative set at the end of the American whaling industry. Then about halfway through, it sort of turns into a fever dream" - MFA alum Ethan Rutherford, FINALIST now for National Book Award!

From alum Will Hermes, author of Lou Reed: The King of New York!

Very excited that MFA alum Ethan Rutherford has been named a National Book Award finalist for North Sun! "With one foot firmly planted in the traditional sea-voyage narrative, and another in a blazing mythos of its own, this debut novel looks unsparingly at the cost of environmental exploitation"

It's #BannedBooksWeek, and here's Prof V. V. Ganeshananthan interviewing novelist Yiming Ma re: the dangers of state censorship and self-censorship:

Censorship is so 1984. Read for your rights. Today kicks off #BannedBooksWeek, and this year's theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, that censorship has no place in contemporary society, and that we must defend our rights. https://www.ala.org/bbooks.

MFA alum Tarik Dobbs has three poems in the Oct POETRY magazine, all in the tanka form:

Next week at Northrop Best Buy Theater, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson discusses new book Theory of Water, "a genre-bending exploration of that most elemental force—water—through Indigenous storytelling, personal memory, and the work of influential artists and writers"

"I began the research for this book as a quest to answer the mystery of my family, and instead uncovered a largely unknown history—the practice of incarcerating girls for immorality in the first half of the 20th century and beyond" - BA alum Sheila O'Connor interviewed about her novel Evidence of V

“Father Mapple is in some strange, almost obscure way, a kind of negative double for Ahab.... he is the person who wants to bring a sense of proportion. Father Mapple kind of supplies a warning and a possible lens for a reading of the entire novel" - Retired Prof/novelist Charles Baxter on Moby Dick

MFA alum Fenton will be reading from his new novel 6 pm tonight at @nextchapterbooksmn.bsky.social

"Adaptability, curiosity, and adventuresome thinking—traits encouraged by a liberal arts education—can lead to work you might never predict" BA alum Jason Heaton describes a career of writing about adventure travel and gear:

Happy pub day and cheers to MFA alum Kevin Fenton, whose novel Cyan Magenta Yellow Black won the Big Moose Prize from @blacklawrence.bsky.social "Stylish, smart, and big-hearted...lovingly summons the Minneapolis Saint Paul of December of 1993, just before the internet changed everything"

Recent English alum Zayna Amanat was selected to "scout and evaluate intellectual property (IP)" for Netflix adaptations this past summer, which involved reading "multiple novels, short stories, graphic novels." Takeaway? "There are more ways to use my editorial skills that I didn't know about...."

Co-signed and co-sponsored. Next Wed hear from the co-editors of the great anthology of essays, poems, and artwork from migrants, refugees, and Dreamers:

Including a free event this afternoon on "Black Food Politics, History, and Transformation" in our building, with the Liberal Arts Engagement Hub #FarmAid40 #UMNCLA

Tonight at 7 pm: BA alum Sheila O’Connor talks about her MNBA-winning novel Evidence of V with Mubanga Kalimamukwento for One Book Minnesota book club! Online and free:

From alum Kate Hopper, author of Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood and Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers:

Congrats to MFA nonfiction student Julia Oschwald Tilton who won the prose Epiphany 2025 Breakout Writers Prize! Judge Hilary Leichter noted: ”‘Fertile’ is a beautiful example of the way a single word, when examined carefully, can contain multiple registers of beauty, pain, and promise"

Congrats to MFA alum Ethan Rutherford on making the National Book Award fiction longlist! North Sun is his debut novel after two story collections:

Minneapolis and St Paul: Join us in person next Thurs for a free reading by the legendary poet CAConrad. Eileen Myles wrote admiringly of "the fullness of their exposition...deeply informed by love, and a tenderness for the ravages and tumult of existence"

Prof Katherine Scheil discusses Anne Hathaway's epitaph and legacy. Scheil is the author of Imagining Shakespeare's Wife.

This Great Gatsby exhibit looks intriguing, opening Saturday at @artsmia.bsky.social Next stop after the pilgrimage to Mia's "Cream of the Crop" State Fair seed art showcase!

Celebrate National Read a Book Day by reading a short book...such as Prof Julie's Schumacher's comic campus novel Dear Committee Members! [Certified lol* so be mindful about where you read it.] *Thurber Prize for American Humor

Looking to read a new literary magazine? Prof (and poet) Peter Campion is the EIC of REVEL, which won a 2025 @clmporg.bsky.social Best Magazine/Debut Firecracker Award! Prof Campion interviewed about REVEL:

First year? Transfer? Interested in English/Creative Writing? Pick up swag, bagels, and info at our annual open house! The UMN Learning Abroad Center, student group FUSE, and Tower lit mag will be around to answer Qs. (If you already know it all, just come say hey.) 10am-12pm Wed Sept 10

"Brotherless Night is a beautifully rendered portrait of a family shattered by war, and of a young woman who endures with courage when everything she loves is at risk" Prof @sugi.bsky.social's novel makes another recommended list: @crimereads.bsky.social