Review of the New Faculty Publications Lunch Series

During the 2025-26 academic year the Duke English department launched a lunch series to welcome our newest faculty, sparking engaging conversations between the 2025 arrivals and English PhD candidates that spotlighted each professor's research. For the series the three newest additions to the Duke English Faculty, professors Timothy Heimlich, Marguerite Nguyễn, and Richard So, were paired with Duke English PhD candidates with whom they sat down and discussed their literary work over lunch with other members of the Duke community in attendance.

The series began in Fall ‘25 with its first session: a conversation between Professor Tim Heimlich and PhD candidate Britt Edelen. They explored Professor Heimlich's book, Wales, Romanticism, and the Making of Imperial Culture, released in December 2025.

“I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to discuss my new book, Wales, Romanticism, and the Making of Imperial Culture, in the supportive and inquisitive company of Duke students, faculty, and staff. Being paired with Britt Edelen to do anything is an opportunity too good to pass up; Britt's thoughtful and incisive questions opened new ways of thinking about work that I'd long since felt was settled. The follow-up discussion with the wider Duke English community, facilitated by Britt's searching engagement with the book, was the kind of thing a scholar dreams of: focused questions on specific moments within the book opened onto wider discussions about pedagogy, advising, the state of the field, and the purposes and methods of humanistic research more generally.” - Professor. Heimlich

For Edelen, the experience offered more than just a window into Professor Heimlich’s book; it also sparked new ideas about transforming graduate research into something greater.

“Speaking with Tim about his recent book project was a great way to learn about not only his work and his approach to literary scholarship, but also an insightful lesson on how a book emerges from ideas developed in graduate school. His work and his comments in the lunch series embodied a commitment to cross-disciplinary community and education that Duke English thrives on!” - Britt Edelen, PhD candidate

The series continued with a conversation between faculty member Marguerite Nguyễn and PhD candidates Jane Harwell and Joelle Troiano. Together, they explored Professor Nguyễn’s forthcoming article, Between Refuge and Refuse: New Mediums/Methods for Theorizing Refuge(e) Environments, set to appear in a 2026 special issue of the Amerasia Journal. 

“I really enjoyed the lunch series. It was a great way to get to know people from across the department and feel more rooted and at home here. I loved that the conversational structure with Jane and Joelle brought out a range of perspectives on issues of archives, translation, and the overall importance of literary studies in comprehending the world around us”. - Professor Nguyễn

While reflecting on their experiences, both PhD candidates noted that participating in this discussion with Nguyễn enriched their academic journeys.

"Participating in the New Faculty Lunch Series with Jane and Professor Nguyen was truly a delight. I remembered Professor Nguyen’s work from her campus visit last spring and was excited by what she was doing, but hadn’t crossed paths with her much since her arrival at Duke because of our different fields of focus. I was so glad for the opportunity to get to know her, to read her work in progress, and to learn from her about her process as a writer and scholar…This was an incredibly generative way to do so and to open up the conversation to so many others." - Joelle Troiano, English PhD candidate

Harwell highlighted the unique value of the department’s commitment to hosting a series like this:

"The event was such a meaningful way to connect with new faculty’s work when outside of coursework. It was really great to engage with ideas outside of my usual research scope and approach Marguerite’s research with genuine curiosity." - Jane Harwell, ‘26, PhD

The lunch series wrapped up with a conversation between Professor Richard So and PhD candidate Jay Butler, which explored Professor So’s new book, Fast Culture, Slow Justice: Storytelling and Social Movements in the Digital Age.

“It was a cool opportunity to discuss my work with colleagues from a range of different interests, fields, and backgrounds, seeing how my ideas could connect with topics and themes I hadn’t yet thought of. The event, I thought, was successful because it shows how as a department we can engage with other people’s work meaningfully and substantially, even when topically it’s far from what we do. I really felt the feedback and comments I received, especially from Jay, were insightful and interesting.” - Professor So

Butler shared that participating in the faculty-student discussion series was rewarding, not just for the chance to lead the conversation with Professor So, but also for the opportunity to explore a field beyond his focus.

“I found it so compelling to engage with Richard to think through questions that sit at the intersection of literature, data, and contemporary culture. The conversation opened up methodological questions alongside political and historical ones. His approach to data science as cultural analysis challenged some of my own assumptions about what counts as “reading” or interpretation in literary studies. Coming from a more traditional humanities background, I was especially struck by how productive it was to bring these perspectives into dialogue. Our discussion ranged from the role of genre in digital spaces to the tension between rapid circulation (“fast culture”) and the slower processes through which meaningful social change occurs. Rather than feeling like a divide between disciplines, it felt like an exciting shared inquiry into how culture operates under new technological conditions. Conversations like this make clear how important it is to create spaces where different fields can meet—to exchange ideas, but also to rethink the frameworks we take for granted to understand culture, politics, and media today. I’m grateful to have been part of it, and I left with a deeper appreciation for interdisciplinary dialogue, and I'm excited to go to the next one!” - Jay Butler, English PhD candidate

Duke English looks forward to continuing the lunch series, offering more opportunities to spotlight faculty research. Stay tuned for future announcements.