April 2026 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

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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

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Publications

Traci Brimhall, “Learning How to See” (poem). The Nation, 7 April 2026, p. 80.

“Dreams in April” (poem). The Atlantic, 5 April 2026: https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/04/poem-traci-brimhall-dreams-in-april/686678/

“Two Truths and a Lie” (poem). Ploughshares, vol. 52, no. 1, Spring 2026, p. 46.

“Contender” (poem). The Pushcart Book of Twenty-First Century Poetry and Prose. Ed. by Philip Schultz and Bill Henderson, Pushcart Press, Wainscott, 2026.

Mark Crosby, “Blake in the Marketplace, 2025.” Blake An Illustrated Quarterly, vol. 59, no. 4, Spring 2026: https://blakequarterly.org/index.php/blake/article/view/416/743

“‘an immense number of verses on One Grand Theme’: Blake’s Milton, An Introduction.” William Blake’s Milton, Poetas do Mundo series, trans. Juliana Steil, Editora Universidade de Brasília, 2025: https://loja.editora.unb.br/literatura/milton-um-poema-em-dois-cantos-9365/p

Marci McMahon, Marie T. Mora, and Ala R. Qubbaj, eds., Advancing Latinas in STEM Academic Careers. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2026.

Philip Nel, Lissa Paul, and Nina Christensen, editors, Λέξεις-Κλειδιά για την Παιδική Λογοτεχνία. [Keywords for Children’s Literature, Second Edition, in Greek.] With a new foreword for this edition. Greek translation by Ioanna Vrachoritou. Scientific Editor: Vasiliki Vasiloudi. Βιβλιοπωλειο Gutenberg, 2026: https://www.dardanosnet.gr/product/lexeis-kleidia-gia-tin-paidiki-logotechnia/

Naomi Wood, review of Kristen Poole’s Philip Pullman and the Historical Imagination: Seventeenth-Century Literature, Science, and Religion in His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust.  Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 50 no. 2, 2025, pp. 250-252.

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Presentations

Traci Brimhall, readings at:

• Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands, Great Bend, KS. 26 April 2026.
• Botanica, Wichita, KS. 22 April 2026.
• A. Times Book Festival, Los Angeles, CA. 18 April 2026.
• Nature of Our Times Reading, Online. 11 April 2026.
• Nature of Our Times Reading, Online. 8 April 2026.
• Scissortail Poetry Festival, OK. 3 April 2025.

Nava Eghdami (MA ’26), “When Time Stops: Emily Dickinson, Memory, and the Poetics of Spectral Temporality.” 2026 Popular Culture Association (PCA/ACA) National Conference. Atlanta, GA. 10 April 2026.

Tanya González, “State of Higher Education Now” (Plenary session, invited panelist). LatinaXo Studies Association. U of Texas, Austin. 28 March 2026.

Michele Janette, “War Crimes and Word Choice: A Case Study in Using a Danish Translation Assignment to Teach the Vietnam War.” Asian American Studies Annual Conference. Honolulu, HI. 3 April 2026.

 “CAALS Sponsored Roundtable: Continental Drift: A Critical Conversation and Poetry Reading with Mai-Linh Hong” (respondent). Asian American Studies Annual Conference. Honolulu, HI. 2 April 2026.

Rachel Koontz (MA ’27), Mia McCormick (BA ’27), Kara Northway, and Montana White (BA ’27), “Decentering Shakespeare: Literary and Pedagogical Plot Twists in Early English Drama” (roundtable). Cavalier Conference on Writing and Literature. Johnson County Community College. Overland Park, KS. 10 April 2026.

Kara Northway, “‘Because the idle mind is an ocean of thoughts’: The Shared Scribblings of Early English Actors.” Meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America. Denver, CO. 2 April 2026.

Ruth Okon (MA ’27), “Juju as Technology and the Reconfiguration of Socio-Economic Order: Africanfuturism in Akata Witch.” ChALC Conference. Manhattan, KS. 25 April 2026.

“The End of Human War: Autonomous Weapons and Technological Dystopia in War Machine.” K-State Grad Forum. Manhattan, KS. 22 April 2026.

Lisa Tatonetti with Tai Edwards, Flooding Kaw Nation: Submerged Cities, Desecrated Graves, and Kaw Lake (film Showing and Talk Back). Kaw Library and Learning Center, Kaw City Oklahoma, 18 April 2026.

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Awards

Mary Adeyemo (MA ’26) received a 2026 Patricia Boze Libraries Memorial Scholarship for her contributions to K-State Libraries as a Library Ambassador.

Ruth Okon (MA ’27) received a 2026 M & H International Scholarship from the K-State Alumni Association.

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Announcements

Twelve English majors have been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa: Mara Aberle (BA ’26), Macey Adams (BA ‘26), Jo Benson (BA ‘26), Carly Bond (BA ‘26), Luke Clifton (BA ’27), Lee Ellwood (BA ’26), Emily Haines (BA ’26), Sarah Hemenway (BA ’26), Rylan Jackson (BA ’26), Jaidyn Koehler (BA ’26), Mia McCormick (BA ’27), and Emma Stacy (BA ’27).

Nava Eghdami(MA ’26) will be attending the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany’s English Ph.D. program starting this fall. She received a full assistantship.

Faezeh Rostami (MA ’26) will be attending Texas Tech University’s English PhD program, with a focus on Film and Media Studies, starting in Fall 2026. She was awarded the Graduate Recruitment Fellowship and a TA position as well.

Sixteen English majors and M.A. students were inducted into Sigma Tau Delta.

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