Check out: Supporting Faculty and Students in the Face of Today’s Threats to Higher Education @ 2026 MLA Annual Convention Room 715A Now!

Really looking forward to this roundtable on "Digital Humanities and Contemporary Book Studies"! It's one of the most exciting research areas out there, in my very biased opinion. And I *might* even share a hot take about Heated Rivalry...

Join us on 1/27 at 2 p.m. ET for a free webinar about what we gain from reading & teaching banned books and how we can respond to censorship. With @becalzada.bsky.social, Shireen Campbell, @samcohen.bsky.social, & Sonya Douglass—moderated by @paulakrebs.bsky.social. webinars.mla.org/webinar/why-...

Banned books webinar from @modernlanguage.bsky.social with @paulakrebs.bsky.social, @becalzada.bsky.social, Shireen Campbell, Sonya Douglas, and me webinars.mla.org/webinar/why-...

Very excited about this first online sighting of ENGLISH MAJORS AT WORK: CAREER AND LIFE PATHWAYS: www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/english-majo...

Excited and nervous to chair an online panel at #MLA2026: When do we need to know what is AI and what is student writing? How can we know? Nothing too ambitious, right? With @hollyjhassel.bsky.social @leoflores.bsky.social, Liz Losh, and Sarah Z Johnson +

In the last couple of years, we have published collections on Dracula, teaching in prisons, Margaret Atwood, social justice, Yuyachkani's human rights theater, and much more. What teaching volume might you put together?

Commmunity college faculty and staff at #MLA26, come to the cash bar for you and for grad students who want to learn about CCs. mla.confex.com/mla/2026/mee...

Grad students--wanna connect with some friendly folks from community colleges and learn what CC careers are like? At #MLA26, come to mla.confex.com/mla/2026/mee...

Subscribe to The Long Game. I have never been in a more friendly, welcoming, and knowlegeable online community. The chats welcome non-experts, and it's ok to lurk.

If you're on the program for #MLA26, please be sure to register for the convention. A couple hundred of you are currently not registered (this happens every year). Don't make me come to your session with the registration ipad!

Buried in 15th graf: “Analysts also cite recent economic challenges related to Trump’s tariffs. A backlash from Canadian consumers and provinces…has virtually stopped the sale of American whiskey in what was once among the industry’s biggest export markets.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/d...

Here it is, the final regular #ScholarSunday thread of 2025, my 255th thread of great public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

What a dream it would be to work on that collection!

Love this from Education Under Secretary Nicholas Kent, via IHE: Kent pledged to “end the practice of using accreditation as a political weapon,” and acknowledged that in return, “we might be accused of weaponization, but those accusations will be false.” mailchi.mp/d853d23f0c60...

Elizabeth Gaskell is still underrated. I could listen to Juliet Stevenson read North and South all night. And have.

Greetings check this out: Amplifying voices is a new Cambridge grant to help under-represented scholars publish. Apply!!! www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

We are all lucky Tricia Matthew thinks so carefully about Austen and her world

And watch this: www.britannica.com/video/why-do...

US Customs and Border Protection is seeking to add to the form I-94, requiring applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years. Submit comments to [email protected] by 2/9. MLA did, defending the right to privacy and free speech for anyone in the US, however brief their stay.

The legal fight over Virginia board appointments is over. The 22 Youngkin picks rejected by Democrats will not join their respective university boards, handing Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger a chance to immediately reshape VA higher ed. www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...

If I wanted to learn about how cotton became rags which then became paper in C18 and 19 England, what would I need to read?

“The new forms cannot fully substitute for the actual physical objects in which those earlier texts were embodied at particular times in the past.” Thirty years old and ever more timely, regarding primary records: www.mla.org/content/down... @modernlanguage.bsky.social @paulakrebs.bsky.social

Nice example of how literary expertise can help us understand the conditions of the world we're living it.

Among the many professional development sessions at #MLA26 is this one, on working with (or in) your campus Office of Research to find out what's available for #humanities research. Come to Toronto. mla.confex.com/mla/2026/mee...

Love those #humanities op-eds! Gene Jarrett, @humanitiesall.bsky.social board member, @mlanews.bsky.social member, and @princeton.edu dean, in the Inky: share.inquirer.com/8dVqH3

📣 Call for Papers – The EUROCALL Review 👉 “Openness in Language Education: Global practices and research, pedagogical innovation and critical resistance” 📅 Submission deadline: 4 May 2026 📘 Planned publication: Autumn 2026 Please share widely! ❓Reach out if you have any questions!

State Dept takes over international ed initiatives from Education Dept. In its "Fact Sheet," State Dept gives 5 examples of funded 2024 projects that "deviated from the core mission of supporting international education for global competitiveness." All 5 involved research related to trans issues.

State Dept takes over international ed initiatives from Education Dept. In its "Fact Sheet," State Dept gives 5 examples of funded 2024 projects that "deviated from the core mission of supporting international education for global competitiveness." All 5 involved research related to trans issues.

Exciting new pub from @modernlanguage.bsky.social Exec Council member Virginia Ramos

Keep an eye out for SO MUCH 1:1 MENTORING at the Professional Development Hub! Great opportunity for grad students to get advice on everything from CVs to journal publishing and more!

Yeah, we don't have those hotel suite interviews anymore. Instead, we offer tons of professional development programming for graduate students. If you're a chair or DGS or just care about grad students, consider sending a group to the convention at a reduced rate. www.mla.org/Events/2026-...

More than 150 registrations already from the U of Toronto for #MLA26! Other Ontario universities, I'm sure your lang and lit faculty can match that! @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social @wilfridlaurieruni.bsky.social @uwaterloo.ca @uottawa.ca @torontomet.bsky.social

Underfunding public higher education may not affect the kids of state legislators, who go to private colleges, but it irrevocably reduces the options for most students in the state, who rely on their regional institutions. Read this, by @robinderosa.net robinderosa.net/higher-ed/i-...

Hi writers! I’m looking to assign a couple of features for Slate before the end of the year. If you have anything in mind that you think would be a fit please send me a pitch! Jenée.Desmond- [email protected] or dm me. RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!

Use external reviewers who are trained to look not just at curriculum but also at working conditions for full and part-time faculty, demographics of students and faculty, recruitment, retention, and more. Learn to be a reviewer like that: mla.confex.com/mla/2026/mee... mla.confex.com/mla/2026/mee...

One of the shapers of MLA's work on AI for research and writing, @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social, is featured in the Chron's AI issue: www.chronicle.com/article/how-...

Very proud to have worked on this statement of the Modern Language Association with @annamillsoer.bsky.social and other colleagues on the MLA’s task force on AI in Research and Teaching. It is a direct call for faculty input into Ed Tech decision-making, especially AI: www.mla.org/Resources/Ad... 🧵

We know you haven’t had time to plan for this—that’s the point! It starts tomorrow. Just sign up now

Sign up! Starts tomorrow!

Are you a department chair who needs to do some planning to try to stay ahead of all this uncertainty? Enroll in this workshop series, which starts Tuesday. Five terrific facilitators. You’ll learn a ton. Tell your dean you need this. www.mla.org/Resources/Ca...

Are you a department chair who needs to do some planning to try to stay ahead of all this uncertainty? Enroll in this workshop series, which starts Tuesday. Five terrific facilitators. You’ll learn a ton. Tell your dean you need this. www.mla.org/Resources/Ca...

Yesterday was @mlanews.bsky.social VP Herman Beavers’s birthday, and at the Executive Council dinner he was serenaded with Happy Birthday in nine (!) different languages.

www.raceandregency.org/podcast We have a podcast!

which English or literature/ language departments around the country have the strongest insta accounts?

We're looking for grad students who might want to work as volunteers at #MLA26 in exchange for free registration. We'll make sure you get plenty of time to go to sessions! www.mla.org/Events/2026-...

Professional development opportunities at #MLA26, in person and online. www.mla.org/Events/2026-...

Almost 100 virtual sessions in tons of different areas. If you can't come to Toronto, it doesn't mean you can't come to #MLA26. Register before Thursday for lowest rates.