March 2026 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

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 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

Traci Brimhall, “Deus Ex Machina” and “Retrieval” (poems).New England Review, vol. 47, no. 1, 2026, pp. 122-123.

“Anniversary” and “Thy Will Be Done” (poems). Pleiades, vol. 45, no. 2 and vol. 46, no. 1, Winter 2025 / Spring 2026, pp. 228-230.

“The Devil’s Crown” (essay). Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 101, no. 3, 2025, pp. 122-128.

Anne Longmuir. “Correspondence, Sociability, and Elizabeth Gaskell.” Routledge Companion to Elizabeth Gaskell, edited by Elizabeth Ludlow and Rebecca Styler, Routledge, 2026, pp. 23-36. 

Philip Nel, “Effective Use of Visual Material.” A Practical Companion to Children’s Literature Studies: Conducting Research and Building a Career, edited by Kimberley Reynolds, Matthew Grenby, and Emily Murphy, Bloomsbury, 2026, pp. 157-159.

“Copyrights and Permissions for Published Work” (co-written with Elina Druker). A Practical Companion to Children’s Literature Studies: Conducting Research and Building a Career, edited by Kimberley Reynolds, Matthew Grenby, and Emily Murphy, Bloomsbury, 2026, pp. 161-163.

“Blogging Case Study no. 2: Find Your Voice and Use It.” A Practical Companion to Children’s Literature Studies Conducting Research and Building a Career, edited by Kimberley Reynolds, Matthew Grenby, and Emily Murphy, Bloomsbury, 2026, pp. 175-177.

Ania Payne, “Neighbor or Researcher? Fluid Positionality in Community-Engaged Research.” Storied Practices: Positionality in Writing Studies, edited by Kristine Acosta, Michelle Cowan, Rebecca Rickly, Nancy Small, and Erica M. Stone, WAC Clearinghouse, 2026, pp. 157-158.

Thomas Xavier Sarmiento, The Heartland of U.S. Empire: Race, Region, and the Queer Filipinx Midwest. Temple UP, 2026.

D. K. Smith, Strategies of Failure in the Early Modern Sonnet. London: Routledge, 2026.

Presentations

Traci Brimhall, “Ad Astra Per Aspera: Kansas Bookshelf Celebration of America 250.” State of Kansas Libraries. 25 March 2026. Online.

Poetry Reading. Wednesday Night Poetry @ AWP. Baltimore, MD. 4 March 2026.

Nava Eghdami, “Temporal Wounds: Dickinson and the Philosophy of Repetition.” The American Literature Association’s American Poetry Symposium. Salem, MA. 27 March 2026.

Daniel A. Hoyt, “What Would Really Happen? Crafting Scenes Your Reader Believes” (panelist). AWP Conference. Baltimore, MD. 7 March 2026.

Fiction reading. “Sips of Madness.” Baltimore, MD. 5 March 2026.

13th Annual Rock and Roll Reading (organizer and curator). Metro Baltimore. Baltimore, MD. 4 March 2026.

Thomas Xavier Sarmiento, Graduate Alumni Research Panel (invited panelist). Department of American Studies, University of Minnesota. 26 March 2026. Online.

Awards

Cydney Alexis received a 2026 Commerce Bank and W.T. Kemper Foundation Undergraduate Outstanding Teaching Award.

The following students in English received awards for their poetry from Current Voices: A Celebration of Water and the Arts, hosted by the Kansas Water Institute: 

Mara Aberle (BA ’26), winner, Foreign Language Poetry.

A.J. Ellis (MA ’27), winner, Graduate Student Poetry.

Rylan Jackson (BA ’26), winner, Undergraduate Student Poetry.

Kaleah McClure (BA ‘27), co-runner up, Undergraduate Student Poetry.

Miracle Okpala (MA ’26), runner-up, Graduate Student Poetry. 

Announcements

Karin Westman represented Kansas State and the College of Arts and Sciences in Washington, D.C., on March 10 for the 2026 Humanities Advocacy Day, visiting with congressional staff to lobby elected officials for funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Title VI/Fulbright-Hayes, and the National Archives (NARA).