English and Global Literatures

Upcoming Events:

• Sep 30
  

  Harriet Clark in Conversation with Prof. Louise Yelin

  Time:  6:00pm

  Harriet Clark has received fellowships from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the Wallace Stegner program. She was a Jones Lecturer in Creative Writing at Stanford University and is the winner of the 2023 Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for her short story “Descent.” Her debut novel, The Hill, which was published in 2026, tells the story of Suzanna Klein, a young girl whose mother, a political radical, was sentenced to prison for her role in a bank robbery when Suzanna was a baby. A novel about politics and prison life, among many other things, The Hill has been described in the New Yorker as “superb” and praised for its “lucidity” and “honesty and unillusioned wit.”

• Oct 13
  

  Kaveh Akbar in Conversation with Prof. Anthony Domestico

  Time:  6:00pm

  Kaveh Akbar is the author of the novel Martyr! (2024), which was shortlisted for the National Book Award and was named one of the New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year. He also is the author of two poetry collections, Pilgrim Bell (2021) and Calling a Wolf a Wolf (2017). His poems have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Paris Review, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. He was the founding editor of Divedapper, and since 2020, has served as poetry editor for the Nation. Born in Tehran, Iran, Akbar is the Roy J. Carver Professor of English at the University of Iowa. His work has been translated into over thirty languages.

• Oct 29
  

  “This Dude Sucks: H. P. Lovecraft and the Problem of Problematic Influences”: A Lecture by Victor LaValle

  Time:  6:00pm

  Victor LaValle is the author of one short story collection, five novels, two novellas, and two comic books. His most recent novel, Lone Women (2023), was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and the Locus Award, was longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, and was named a best book of the year by, among other places, Time, NPR, and the New York Times Book Review. His novella The Ballad of Black Tom (2016) won the Shirley Jackson Award and the British Fantasy Award and was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards. His novel The Changeling (2017) has been adapted for Apple TV+, while he himself adapted his novel The Devil in Silver (2012) for AMC and served as its creator and showrunner. LaValle has been the recipient of numerous awards including the World Fantasy Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the American Book Award. He lives in the Bronx with his wife, the writer Emily Raboteau, and their kids. He serves as the Chair of the Graduate Writing Program at Columbia University.

• Nov 9
  

  Dan Chiasson in Conversation with Prof. Monica Ferrell

  Time:  6:00pm

  Dan Chiasson is the author of five books of poetry, including Bicentennial (2014) and The Math Campers (2020), and a book of literary criticism. His recently published book of nonfiction, Bernie for Burlington: The Rise of the People’s Politician, was named one of Lit Hub’s most anticipated books of 2026 and was described in the New Yorker as “revelatory.” A longtime contributor to the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books, Chiasson is the Lorraine Chao Wang Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at Wellesley College.