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Award-winning novelist and educator Marlon James recently visited the Duke English Department as the Reynolds Price Guest Author. During his time on campus, James conducted a writing workshop with more than a dozen of Duke's undergraduate creative writers. Then he gave a reading that evening, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A. Duke English's creative writing committee had invited Marlon James to campus for a reading in 2020; however, the event was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While waiting to… read more about Marlon James’ Visit with Duke English as Reynolds Price Guest Author »

One of the main goals for a creative writer is to keep the reader interested.  There are different ways to do this, and in Professor Amin Ahmad's Intro to the Writing of Fiction – "Writing the Unspeakable"-- class, his students learn different strategies by studying the work of contemporary authors. The course is designed for students who want to master the craft of creative writing. I don’t believe that writers are little geniuses who sit alone in rooms and wait for inspirations—I really think that writers need… read more about The Uncertainty Found in Suspense Writing »

During the 2022 Fall semester, Professor Mesha Maren used a David L. Paletz Course Enhancement grant to invite three writers to her "Creative Writing: Autofiction & First-Person" class virtually. “By bringing Juliet Escoria, Scott McClanahan, and Julián Herbert into my classroom (via Zoom) to give lectures and answer questions, I hope to help students to understand how a text is crafted through drafting and revision and the ability for students to place their own writing in the context of the canon. I was able to… read more about Review: Fall 2022 David L. Paletz Creative Writing Guest Series »

We invite you to consider registering for a new English course, ENG 290S.02 American Environmental Poetry, meeting MW 1:45-3:00PM with visiting professor Sharon Kunde. The course comes with codes CCI, EI and ALP and counts for Area III for English majors.  American Environmental Poetry – Sharon Kunde For centuries, poets have been writing about the environment: celebrating its beauty, learning from it, projecting ideas onto it, and finding meaning in it. But recently, humans’ relationship with the environment has… read more about Spring 2023 English Course: American Environmental Poetry »

Before she was a poet, Tsitsi Jaji was a pianist. The Bacca Foundation Associate Professor of English grew up surrounded by song in her native Zimbabwe. Her father conducted choirs. Her mother introduced her to the piano at age 5, and Jaji went on to study piano performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She has accompanied a well-known tenor and composed music for an African modern dance troupe. She joined jazz bands and small combos and played at cocktail bars for tips during graduate school, and later wrote… read more about Fellowship Enables English Professor to ‘Bring Poetry and Music into Dialogue’ »

Duke English recently hosted its first "Fiction Open House," and more than two dozen students attended. Creative writing faculty members met with students to discuss courses offered by the department and future offerings. This event served as an opportunity for students to learn about writing fiction and the courses Professors Mesha Maren, JP Gritton, and Amin Ahmad will teach next semester. The idea for the "Fiction Open House" came from an experience Professor Maren had during her… read more about Students and Faculty Exchange Ideas  »

If you missed the Medicine, Humanities, and Business (MHB) Celebration featuring double-Duke alum (BA/MD) and Silicon Valley startup CEO of QuadrantEye, Dr. Quinn Wang, below is a recorded version of the event.  From Dr. Wang herself: “Remembering how lost and confused I felt as an undergrad, I took the opportunity to say the things that that version of Quinn really needed to hear. My talk, titled "The Big Leap," delved into the intersection of literature, medicine, race, and startups. As I chronicled my journey from… read more about Recording: Fall 2022 Medicine, Humanities, and Business Celebration Featuring Dr. Quinn Wang »

Healthcare startup founder and Dr. Quinn Wang will talk about her career path on Nov. 5 as part of a celebration of medicine, entrepreneurship and the humanities. Wang earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Duke in 2010 and an M.D. from the Duke School of Medicine in 2015.  read more about Duke Alumna to Explore Intersection of Health and Humanities at Student-Organized Event »

My name is Morgan Biele (Creative Writing Minor) and I am a Senior, Pre-Med, Health Humanities enthusiast, and an eager registered attendee and planner for the Medicine, Humanities, and Business celebration happening this fall. At this event, happening on the fifth of November, Dr. Quinn Wang M.D. will be speaking about her start-up, Quadrant Eye, and will delve into her experience practicing medicine in an interdisciplinary way. I am so excited to hear from Dr. Wang, and also to watch… read more about Join Us Nov. 5 for the Medicine, Humanities, and Business Celebration »

Congratulations Professor Douglas Jones on earning tenure. Douglas Jones is associate professor of theater studies in the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences with secondary appointments in English and African & African American Studies. He joined Duke faculty in 2022 and is a 2022-23 Thomas Langford Lectureship awardee. read more about Duke Awards Tenure to Faculty in a Wide Range of Fields »

Dr. Quinn Wang will be the guest speaker at Duke’s Fall 2022 Medicine, Humanities and Business Celebration on November 5, 2022.  Dr. Quinn Wang graduated from Duke in 2010 with high distinction and received the English department's award for "Most Original Honors Thesis” for her thesis Through the Lens of Medicine: Landscapes of Violence in Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (1985), All the Pretty Horses (1992), and No Country for Old Men (2005). Following her undergraduate… read more about Q&A with English Alum Dr. Quinn Wang, Co-Founder & CEO of Quadrant Eye  »

Miller with her admission to the Georgia Court of Appeals Staci Miller '11, associate city attorney for the city of Atlanta, shared how her Duke English major helped her as a young black woman in the field of law. Miller was an English and Spanish double major with a minor in psychology at Duke and received her law degree from the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law in 2015.  After receiving her juris doctor Miller served as a law clerk for the Lexington-… read more about Q&A with English Alum Staci Miller, ‘11 »

There’s a lot of talk throughout higher education about how to attract students of color and students without a legacy background into graduate studies and academic careers, particularly in fields such as the social sciences, arts and humanities. While other programs have been seeking solutions, the Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship has been doing this work successfully for several decades, benefiting both Duke faculty and students. Candis Watts Smith Now, Duke is looking to grow… read more about Mellon-Mays Fellows: Building Opportunities for Students, Diversity in the Academy »

Changes to the Duke English Department's administration came with the new fiscal year. Department Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) positions transitioned on July 1. The department would like to thank our departing Chair, Robert Mitchell, and DUS Corina Stan.  After four years, Professor Robert Mitchell was succeeded as Department Chair by Professor Charlotte Sussman. Mitchell served as Chair during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the department to make significant adjustments and look for new ways… read more about Sussman and Vadde New English Department Officers »

“Keep a Dickens novel around you always. You’ll laugh; you’ll cry; you’ll be eager to know what happens next.” Michael Malone, former Duke professor of theater studies and English who died on August 19, as remembered by Deborah Jakubs, university librarian emerita. As part of a celebration of the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens in 2012, Malone delighted an audience in the Gothic… read more about In Memoriam: Michael Malone »

J.P. Gritton wasn’t always interested in mystery writing. The assistant professor of the practice in creative writing has since changed his mind, not only teaching students to appreciate the role of the genre but incorporating the hallmarks of mystery writing into his own works. His debut novel, Wyoming — a Kirkus best debut book of 2019 — tells the story of a struggling Colorado man in the 1980s through the blending of mystery, crime and literary fiction elements. In a recent interview, Gritton reflects on a mystery… read more about J.P. Gritton Reflects on the Ubiquity of the Mystery Genre »