Camille Bordas, the 2026 Blackburn Artist-in-Residence, graced us during her recent “Read & Greet” by reading from her forthcoming book of short stories, One Sun Only. It was only her second time reading from the collection publicly. She chose to read the collection’s title story, because she wanted to read a piece in its entirety—something a writer seldom gets to do.It wasn’t just about the length of the story, though: I wanted to read something written in first person, because when it comes to… read more about Blackburn Artist-in-Residence, Camille Bordas “Read & Greet” »
What makes people politically engaged? Can AI be creative? Why is it so hard to understand the effects of fiscal policy on individual households? How could something as simple as a postcard drive political reform? These are just a few of the questions the scholars joining Trinity College of Arts & Sciences this fall are exploring.They are now part of an extraordinary community of faculty whose pathbreaking research spans disciplines and expands our understanding of the world. Together, they embody what it means to… read more about Meet the New Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Faculty of 2025 »
Including an interview with Professor Timothy HeimlichIntense feelings, locations that seem to transcend time, connection – unmistakably features of Romantic lyrical poetry that captured the hearts of nations in the late 18thC. The world turned from investigating the internal to appreciating the external and, as the globe became more interconnected, beauty was everywhere. Nationalist pride became rooted in individuals who believed their country was the most beautiful, and one way to cement that beauty was through… read more about Duke Poets Society - The Romantics Edition »
As Halloween creeps closer, Duke students have more than just costumes and candy to look forward to — Trinity has a cauldron of classes brewed for spooky‑season scholars. If you’re ready to trade your pumpkin spice latte for something a little more spooky, gather your study group coven and prepare to summon your inner ghoul, because these classes prove that learning at Duke can be delightfully haunting. read more about Spooky Season 101: Courses to Get You in the Mood for Halloween »
My talk was an effort to take the measure of ideas about disaster and possibility from the past and see how we might learn from them today.- Professor Nathan K. Hensley, Georgetown UniversityRecently, Duke English hosted the third annual Tennenhouse-Armstrong Lecture. This year's guest lecturer was Blue Devil alum Nathan K. Hensley, who received his PhD in English from Duke University, and is currently a professor at Georgetown University. Hensley presented a lecture titled… read more about Reflection: Tennenhouse-Armstrong Lecture Featuring Nathan K. Hensley »
Duke Arts Studio offers creative and professional support for undergraduate student projects in the fields of arts, entertainment, and media. This year’s cohort includes ten students developing projects in sculpture, writing, documentary, fashion design, and art technology. Each student is paired with an arts industry professional who will mentor them for the academic year as they develop their project. Mentors are drawn from both Duke’s alumni community and from Durham’s vibrant creative… read more about Announcing the 2025-26 Duke Arts Studio Pairings »
Christopher Ouma, an associate professor of English at Duke, likes to take his students on journeys to Africa; not physical journeys, but ones of the imagination made possible by literature.“My courses are really scaled up ways of encountering Africa,” Ouma said. “When I first met my students in the class on contemporary African fiction, I wanted to give them not only Adichie [Nigerian writer and activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie], but a sense of Adiche’s generation, a whole generation of African writers. And I told them,… read more about Global Perspectives Feature: Christopher Ouma Brings the African Experience to Duke »
For Richard Jean So, joining Duke was the obvious choice. The associate professor of English and Rhodes Chair in Digital Humanities was drawn to the university’s strong commitment to interdisciplinary research and discovery. “Digital humanities is still a relatively new field,” So explains. “For Duke to invest in an area that many of its peer institutions are approaching with caution shows real boldness — Duke just feels ahead of the curve to me.” That same forward-looking spirit is reflected in So’s own research… read more about Richard So Charts New Territories in Digital Humanities »
Duke Poets Society: An interview with Professor Joseph Donahue, a current poet and English professor at Duke University. Professor Donahue has been with the English Department as a lecturer for over 14 years and specializes in teaching both the art of creating poetry and analysing and critiquing great poets’ works! This semester he is teaching English 220S: Introduction to the Writing of Poetry and English 390S-1: Special Topics in a Single American Author: Emily… read more about Duke Poets Society: An Interview with Professor Joseph Donahue »
British authors of the 18th century often were influenced by their natural surroundings, a parallel that resonates with Assistant Professor Timothy Heimlich, who joined the Department of English this fall. Heimlich’s inspiration to explore how Wales fits into the landscape of British literature came from an unlikely muse: Wisconsin. Growing up in the Milwaukee suburbs, Heimlich frequently rode his bike to Wales, a tiny village founded by Welsh immigrants in the 1840s. The forested route included street names like… read more about Timothy Heimlich Follows Wales into 18th Century British Literature »
As an English major and an avid reader, you will always find me pestering my friends on the day shopping carts open. Whether it's Arthurian romance tales or haikus – I want to take it. I want the classes at Duke with the biggest breadth and depth of literature across centuries and the globe. I have pieced together what I believe is a dream class journey for any aspiring English majors, minors, and those who are smart enough to take a chance on a course outside of their major!English… read more about Consuming the Literary Rainbow through Duke’s English Courses! »
Sophomore year is when things start to click, and the unknowns become the familiar. Classes feel more purposeful, friendships run deeper, routines develop and campus becomes home. As our four Trinity students return, the series picks back up to follow their next chapter focused on exploring new opportunities, choosing majors and finding momentum. Through stories, photos, videos and social updates, we’ll capture the energy as they lean in, step up — and hit their stride. read more about Trinity in Four Acts: Daniella Freedman »
Program introduces Duke faculty members to leadership roles, strategic focus areas read more about Four Selected as Provost Faculty Fellows for 2025-26 »
Marguerite Nguyen has been a Blue Devil basketball fan since elementary school. The daughter of Vietnamese refugees who fled Saigon in 1975, Nguyen developed an obsession for ACC basketball and would spend hours watching games in the family’s living room in southeastern Virginia. That early connection to Duke eventually brought her to campus to pursue a B.A. in English. “I knew I wanted to be an English major but didn’t necessarily know what I wanted to do with the major,” she explains. “With a lifelong love for… read more about Marguerite Nguyen: Scholarship Rooted in the Refugee Experience »
Professor Cynthia Dong joins Duke English for the 2025-26 academic year as a visiting professor. This fall she will be teaching English 390S – Film Comedy. She joins the department from McGill University. Senior Duke English major Trisha Santanam, ’26, recently interviewed Professor Dong. Trisha: Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little about the academic topics that interest you?Professor Dong: I’m a film historian coming to Duke University from McGill… read more about Meet Cynthia Dong, Visiting Duke English Professor »
Graduate students at Duke University’s John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI) are redefining poetry’s place in academic settings. Tessa Bolsover and Michael Cavuto are building a deeply interdisciplinary, community-centered approach to poetry as co-conveners of the Contemporary Poetics Working Group (2023-2025). Its primary mode of engagement upends conventional lines separating academic study from artistic thought. read more about Building Community Through the Solarities Contemporary Poetry Series »
This fall, the Duke English department will have three new additions to its faculty. The department welcomes Professors Marguerite Nguyen, Associate Professor of English; Professor Richard Jean So, Associate Professor of English; and Professor Timothy Heimlich, Assistant Professor of English.Associate Professor of English - Marguerite Nguyen Professor Nguyen, a Duke English alum, joins the department from Wesleyan University. Her studies have focused on American… read more about New Duke English Faculty Members »
Novelist, short story writer and academic Camille Bordas will join Duke English as the '25-26 Visiting Blackburn Artist-in-Residence. Bordas will be the department's third Visiting Blackburn Artist-in-Residence. She has taught at the University of Florida and written for notable publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Tin House, Chicago Magazine, and LitHub.Each Blackburn Artist-in-Residence selection is an author who also has teaching experience, at least one published book, has other… read more about '25-26 Visiting Blackburn Artist-in-Residence, Camille Bordas »
Congratulations to Prof. Taylor Black, one of the four Duke Scholars honored with the 2025-26 Langford Lectureship Award. read more about Four Duke Scholars Honored With Langford Lectureship Award »
Jarvis McInnis, associate professor of English, is an interdisciplinary scholar of African American and African Diaspora literature and culture. His first book, “Afterlives of the Plantation: Plotting Agrarian Futures in the Global Black South,” was released by Columbia University Press in May. In it, McInnis rethinks the plantation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a repurposed site of agrarian worldmaking and a critical space for the reimagining of Black futures.We caught up with McInnis to find… read more about Looking South for the Roots of the Harlem Renaissance: Jarvis McInnis Examines “Afterlives of the Plantation” »
Not sure what to read on vacation? From sci-fi (The Dispossessed) to satire (Oreo) to a short story collection (Long Distance), here’s a list of recommendations from professors at the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. read more about Dear Reader: Here’s What Duke Faculty Are Reading This Summer »
When David Lynch died, the internet filled with quotes from him. I usually cringe at these sudden and predictable proliferations of soundbites that become nearly meaningless in their ubiquity. The point in moments like this is to show that you are the kind of person who posts a David Lynch quote, the quote itself is secondary at best, you might as well just post a square with the words “David Lynch Quote.” This time though, there was one quote that made its way through to me, that stuck in my brain, looping. “Ideas are like… read more about The Risk of Serialized Reality: On Big Fiction and The New Seriality »
New summer reading from Duke authors include timely books on race, history and political polarization; useful books on finance, health and mentorship; and good reads of poetry and fiction. Plus: for the kids, there’s a primer on subatomic particles. Catch up on more than 20 new Duke books. read more about Summer Reading: Duke Authors’ Hot New Books »
All historical periods are created twice: first in their own age, and again in the work of their interpreters. But this truism applies in a special sense to the Renaissance, an era whose intellectuals developed a new orientation to history, before becoming the whetstone on which one generation of historians after another honed their ideas. It is this double story that Ada Palmer tells in Inventing the Renaissance: The Myth of a Golden Age, a quirky, meandering, and cumulatively brilliant popular history of the… read more about How Should We Think About the Renaissance? »
Jorge Mato Frontela, Miguel Cohen Suarez, Fletch Rydell and Trisha Santanam were chosen by a faculty committee chaired by Professor Erika Weinthal of the Nicholas School of the Environment. The award honors students who have a strong GPA and a record of original, independent study and show promise of entering a scholarly career. read more about Four Undergraduates Whose Research Studies Are Winning Acclaim »
Marrying into a wealthy family that also comes with a job opportunity sounds pretty great — until a dark secret comes to lightThat's the premise behind Amin Ahmad's mystery A Killer in the Family, PEOPLE can exclusively announce. The book is forthcoming next year from Henry Holt and Company, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers.Muslim bachelor Ali Azeem thinks he’s made it big when he joins an arranged marriage with Maryam Khan, the daughter of one of New York’s wealthiest tycoons. Ali leaves his hometown of… read more about A Man Uncovers His In-Laws’ Twisted Secrets in Amin Ahmad’s "A Killer in the Family" »
As their first year at Duke winds down, we’re checking in with our Trinity undergrads to see how they navigated the challenges of campus life, coursework and newfound independence. Four common themes emerged across their individual experiences — balance, adjustment, connections and growth — shaping a year defined by new beginnings and meaningful discoveries. read more about Trinity in Four Acts: First-Year Wrap-up »
Join Duke English as we review our 2024-25 Academic Year. Please click here to access our annual e-newsletter. read more about 2025 Duke English e-Newsletter »
ESTABLISHING A SCIENCE AND CULTURE NETWORK AT DUKESTEFANI ENGELSTEIN, PROFESSOR OF GERMAN STUDIES; ROBERT MITCHELL, PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH; CATE REILLY, ANDREW W. MELLON ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LITERATUREThis project seeks to bring together scholars who investigate the sciences from a variety of theoretical and historical perspectives as a set of cultural… read more about Seed Grants Aim to Improve Faculty Experience »