English Department
Check out Professor Akhil Sharma's article "A Passage to Parenthood" in the January 31 issue of The New Yorker. One of the reasons I began thinking about I.V.F. was that I was overflowing with love for my wife and wanted a place to put that love. read more about A Passage to Parenthood »
Mesha Maren’s day jobs are novelist and university professor. But she’s just as passionate about her side gig teaching writing to the incarcerated. Suspenseful, seductive Perpetual West (Algonquin) unearths the secrets in a marriage as Elana searches for her missing husband, Alex, in a Mexico that challenges her fixed notions about love, language, and culture. Via Alana’s odyssey, the novel probes deeper themes, from fluidity of desire to the rigidity of racism to familial bonds. There’s a tang… read more about "Be the Change" - We Pay Tribute to Changemakers »
In this interview with the Duke Entertainment, Media & Arts Network (DEMAN), Sofía Manfredi ‘15 shares how she created a career in comedy post-graduation. “Duke provided a lot of room to write, workshop, and publish, both in class and in campus publications,” she says. read more about Q&A with Sofía Manfredi ‘15, Former Staff Writer, Netflix’s Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj »
The Duke Graduate School has announced the recipients of its 2022 Dean's Awards, which recognize outstanding efforts by graduate students, faculty, and departments/programs in mentoring, teaching, and creating inclusive spaces for graduate education. The recipients will be recognized during a virtual reception on March 30. More details about each recipient will be posted closer to the event. Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Each faculty award winner receives a $3,000 prize, while each student recipient gets $2,000… read more about Congratulations to Prof. Joseph Winters, 2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Winner »
The Duke Graduate School has announced the recipients of its 2022 Dean's Awards, which recognize outstanding efforts by graduate students, faculty, and departments/programs in mentoring, teaching, and creating inclusive spaces for graduate education. The recipients will be recognized during a virtual reception on March 30. More details about each recipient will be posted closer to the event. Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Each faculty award winner receives a $3,000 prize, while each student recipient gets $2,000… read more about Congratulations to Emma Davenport, 2022 Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching Winner »
Sidney Poitier, who was the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor, has died at age 94. Mark Anthony Neal, the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African & African American Studies, says the actor was a “trusted racial interlocutor” who provided a “template” for other Black men. “There's a scene in the 1963 film ‘Lilies of the Field’ where Sidney Poitier, who earned his first Oscar for his performance and the first for a Black American, painstakingly teaches a group of German nuns the song ‘Amen… read more about Sidney Poitier ‘Carried a Unique Burden of Representation,’ Professor Says »
This semester Professor Faulkner Fox had the opportunity to finally include a field trip to see a play in-person in her creative writing course, "Plays that Change the World." Professor Fox designed "Plays that Changed the World" as an opportunity for students interested in playwrighting to learn that plays are more than just stage productions. As part of the course, she planned to include at least one field trip to attend an in-person production. However, the first time the course was offered in the fall of 2020, it had… read more about Class Field Trip: "Peace of Clay" at Raleigh Theatre »
Writer Caryl Phillips, Professor of English at Yale University, returned during Fall Semester 2021 as the Blackburn Writer-in-Residence in the English Department at Duke. During his visit, Phillips participated in a roundtable discussion, visited Duke English classes, and read from his work along with two English faculty members. The Fall 2021 residency kicked off with a roundtable discussion focused on the topic “Race from an International Perspective.” The panel consisted of three Duke… read more about Caryl Phillips, 2021 Blackburn Writer-in-Residence Visit »
As the semester draws to a close and we approach the two-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic, we take a close look at how learning and classroom environments adapted to the pandemic. Even as students returned this semester to in-person learning, many of the lessons from 18 months of remote learning continued to shape the classroom experience. Faculty and students together used the pandemic to reimagine the traditional classroom. read more about Inside Class 'Room' Learning »
Duke English and the Rhodes Information Initiative at Duke (IID) held a “Digital Humanities Open House,” featuring presentations by three English faculty members and two undergraduate students. Astrid Giugni, Lecturing Fellow in English, and two of her students presented two projects supported by the Data+ Program. Associate Professor of English Aarthi Vadde presented her Fictionality and Fandom After the Social Web project. Julianne Werlin, Assistant Professor of English, focused her presentation on her … read more about “Digital Humanities Open House” Invites Collaboration Between Literature and Quantitative Methodology »
Check out some of the PhD student research being supported by The Graduate School's fellowships in 2021. read more about Fellowship Snapshots 2021 »
This week's episodes of Novel Dialogue features novelist Caryl Phillips and critic Corina Stan, Associate Professor of English at Duke University. read more about Stitching the Past to the Present: Caryl Phillips speaks with Corina Stan (JP) »
Duke Alumni Engagement and Development announced 81 honorees for its 2021 awards. The awards, presented each fall, honor outstanding achievement and commitment to Duke and its alumni around the world. Awardees will be honored during Homecoming Weekend, Nov. 5-7, 2021. read more about New Alumni Awardees Announced, Including New Changemaker »
There are times when a Duke author has knowledge to share but it just won't work as a scholarly publication. The books below all address large issues, from fighting tyranny to facing death, but they come through the personal stories of the authors. These books, along with many others, are available at Duke University Libraries, the Gothic Bookshop or the Regulator Bookshop. No Cure for Being Human (and other truths I need to hear), by Kate Bowler Kate Bowler believed that life was a series… read more about 10 Duke-Authored Memoirs Have Stories to Tell »
Moderated by Dr. Ranjana Khanna, professor and director of the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute here at Duke, the panel discussion “What Can the Humanities Contribute to the Global Energy Transition?” explored the potential of humanities fields to help supplement perspectives offered by the sciences, teaching us about new ways of living for a greener world. read more about Will the Humanities Save the World? »
This fall, Welsh novelist Sophie Mackintosh, American poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi, and Mexican novelist Fernando Flores visited Professor Maren’s English 290S class, “World Building: From Genesis to Lil Nas X.” Students had the opportunity to ask these authors questions about elements of their writing. Each writer shared their experiences with working through pieces from beginning to end, including how they overcome writer's block or editing concerns. Professor Maren explained why she selected these particular writers… read more about In English 290s, Conversations with Authors Enhance Assigned Readings »
In summer 2021, Duke Ph.D. students continued to grapple with COVID-19 and pandemic-related disruptions. Some were able to make research trips that had been postponed, while others sought out alternative means of conducting research, accessing source material, making progress on their dissertations, and gaining important new skills and experiences. read more about Summer Research Snapshots 2021 »
StudioDuke is a two-semester creative lab and mentorship program providing students the opportunity to take their advanced, ongoing creative projects to the next level. StudioDuke is a collaboration between Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship, DEMAN (Duke Entertainment, Media & Arts Network), and Duke Arts. Students are matched with creative industry professionals (including Duke alumni) for one-on-one mentorship. The fifth year of this arts mentorship program pairs twenty students with professional mentors to… read more about 2021-22 StudioDuke Student Cohort »
