Elizabeth Dodd, Naomi Wood, and Michele Janette at their joint retirement celebration at the K-State Alumni Center (26 March 2026) On Thursday March 26, we gathered at the Alumni Center, with concurrent live-stream, to celebrate the contributions of Elizabeth Dodd, Michele Janette, and Naomi Wood, three of our faculty members who are retiring this May … Continue reading Our Thanks to Elizabeth Dodd, Naomi Wood, and Michele Janette
A scene from The Rubber Ducky is a Hand Grenade, one of the entries for the 2025 48-Hour Film Challenge Since our blog debuted in 2017, we have published 600+ posts. While some of you may have been with us from the start (thank you, loyal readers!), others may have joined us more recently. As … Continue reading From the Archive: Lights, Camera, Quack-tion!
Cameron Leader-Picone has published Transit Lit: Fictions of Migration in Twenty-First-Century African Immigrant Literature (Northwestern UP, 2025) Each month during the academic year, we assemble a newsletter of the department's recent publications, presentations, announcements, and awards. We're happy to recognize the recent successes in research, scholarship, and creative activity outlined below. Want to catch up … Continue reading February 2026 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
Laura Thacker (BA '12, MA '14) The most beautiful thing about studying English is the ability to step outside of yourself and experience a new perspective. In a 1964 interview, James Baldwin said, “You think your pain and heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Laura Thacker
Location: 2nd Floor, English Counseling Services BuildingObject: Whiteboard (March 2026)Observations: 1) Since 2023, the whiteboard on the 2nd floor of ECS has continued to pose questions, ask for opinions, and prompt stories. 2) For the past three weeks, it has been collecting suggestions for "a song that makes you happy." 3) While the responses were … Continue reading Found Object: Songs That Make You Happy
Dr. Sianne Ngai Celebrated literary theorist Sianne Ngai will discuss her most recent book, Theory of the Gimmick, at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 6 via livestream in the K-State Union’s Wildcat Chamber. The event will also be presented via Zoom; registration for the Zoom option is available at tinyurl.com/ngaikstate. This hour-long conversation is the … Continue reading 35th Annual Cultural Studies Symposium with Dr. Sianne Ngai
Jamie H. Gilson (BA '14, MA '16) Before I came to Kansas State, before I found the room for Greg Eiselein’s class on my first day, before I convinced my academic advisor to let me take “Intro to Literary Studies” as an undeclared major, before I taught Expository Writing I & II, and well before … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Jamie Gilson
Since our blog debuted in 2017, we have published 500+ posts. While some of you may have been with us from the start (thank you, loyal readers!), others may have joined us more recently. So, we're highlighting periodically some of the posts that have garnered a lot of views or that address topics of continuing … Continue reading From the Archive: Alumni in Children’s Literature
English Department faculty and students attend opening night of "Wuthering Heights" (13 Feb 2026) On February 13, a group of intrepid undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty from K-State’s Department of English ventured out to the local cinema to watch one of this year’s most talked about literary adaptations, Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” (2026). Settling in … Continue reading Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights”
(Image: Asdal Stock Image 86 from the Frutiger Aero Archive) Today we share the fourth of six pieces of public writing selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Graduate Studies in English” — and the first selection from Section A of ENGL 801, taught last fall by Cameron Leader-Picone: a piece of public … Continue reading Anxiety and Aesthetics: The Frutiger Aero Aesthetic
K-State English 