Each month during the academic year, we assemble a newsletter of the department’s recent publications, presentations, announcements, and awards.
As the second spring semester during COVID-19 comes to a close, we celebrate recent faculty and student success in research, scholarship, and creative activity.
Want to catch up on past successes or to find future announcements? Visit our archive of monthly newsletters Reading Matters as well as related blog posts.
Have news to report? Email us at english@ksu.edu.
— Karin Westman, Department Head
Publications
Daniel A. Hoyt, “We Swam Until the Sun Went Down” (essay). Manhattan Magazine, Winter 2020, pp. 12-14.
Tosha Sampson-Choma, “The Legacy of the Black Arts Movement in the Children’s Literature of Toni Morrison and Sherley Anne Williams.” Research on Diversity in Youth Literature, 3.1/3.2 (Winter 2020): https://sophia.stkate.edu/rdyl/
Thomas X. Sarmiento, “In Transit.” Sparked: George Floyd, Racism, and the Progressive Illusion, edited by Walter R. Jacobs, Wendy Thompson Taiwo, and Amy August. Minnesota Historical Society, 2021, pp. 49–52.
Presentations
Cydney Alexis, “Effective Writing Habits.” National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers — K-State Student Chapter. 27 April 2021. Online.
Tim Dayton, with Mark Van Wienen, “American Literature and Culture of WWI: A National Poetry Month Program.” National WWI Museum and Memorial, 20 April 2021. Online.
Philip Nel, “The Dr. Seuss Controversy: Racism and Children’s Literature.” Conversation with Joseph Dellosa. Palm Beach County Library, Belle Glade, Florida. 7 April 2021. Online.
“Dr. Seuss Is Not Cancelled: Racism, Culture, and Children’s Books.” Invited contribution to panel discussion on Dr. Seuss and Contemporary Children’s Literature featuring Michelle Martin, Pat R. Scales, and Guy Sims. Free Library of Philadelphia. 7 April 2021. Online.
Kara Northway, “Playwrights’ Letters from Prison, 1593-1613.” Invited contribution for “Shakespeare and the Common Good Atlanta,” a college class on Shakespeare for formerly incarcerated persons. 15 April 2021. Online.
“‘Sir, you mete me by the common measurer of poets’: Measures of Professional Work in Playwrights’ Letters, 1587-1675.” Meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America. 3 April 2021. Online.
Thomas X. Sarmiento, “Recognizing the Heartland of US Empire: Filipinxs, Queerness, and the Midwest” (keynote). Undergraduate Literature Conference, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO. 16 April 2021. Online.
Lisa Tatonetti, “Transforming Communities to Reflect Indigenous History, Present, and Future.” 48th Annual Symposium on the American Indian, hosted by the Center for Tribal Studies Symposium, Northeastern State University. 15 April 2021. Online.
“KSFB Information Session: The Marrow Thieves.” K-State First Book. 7 April 2021. Online.
Shirley Tung, “The Cult of Celebrity: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day.” American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 51st Annual Meeting. 10 April 2021. Online.
“Boswell’s Biographical Acts of Union.” American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 51st Annual Meeting. 9 April 2021. Online.
“Tabula Rasa to Terra Incognita: Landscape and Identity in the Enlightenment” (panel chair). American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 51st Annual Meeting. 7 April 2021. Online.
Awards
Daniel A. Hoyt’s Hanoi Rocks Will Live Forever was a finalist for the 2020 Spokane Book Prize.
Shirley Tung received the 2021 ASECS Innovative Course Design Award for ENGL 698 “The Cult of Celebrity: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day,” first announced here in December 2020 and presented at the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies 51st Annual Meeting on April 8, 2021. Her course materials will be published on the society’s web site on June 1.
Winniebell Zong (MA ’21) received a 2021 International Leadership Award from the K-State Alumni Association.
Announcements
English Department faculty and graduate students celebrated K-State’s 2021 Virtual Open House with poetry lightning talks by faculty and graduate students and a virtual Poet-in-the-Box: https://englishkstate.org/2021/03/04/virtual-open-house-2021/
In place of its annual awards banquet, the English Department celebrated the department’s award recipients online: https://englishkstate.org/2021/05/01/2020-2021-annual-awards/
News from Alumni
Charlesia McKinney (BA ’14) has been awarded a Diversity Dissertation Fellowship from Middle Tennessee State University. The award offers one year of residency and a commitment to teach two courses as she finishes her dissertation at the University of Kansas. Charlesia has also been awarded a Summer Research Fellowship from the University of Kansas.
Kenan Orhan [Dannenberg] (BA ’15) will publish his short story collection, The Birdkeeper’s Moral, with Random House.
K-State English 