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, The Grief Artist. Sarabande Books, 2026.
“How to Write with Ghosts: New Experiences to Resurrect the Past” (essay). Poets & Writers, 26 Oct 2026.
Presentations
Traci Brimhall, Reading from The Grief Artist. Watermark Books. Wichita, KS. 2 Nov. 2026
Reading from Love Prodigal. Bethel College. Newton, KS. 2 Nov. 2026.
Reading from The Grief Artist. Northwest Missouri State University. Maryville, MO. 22 Oct. 2026.
Much Madness is Divinest Sense Writing Workshop. Johnson County Library Staff Day. Overland Park, KS. 12 Oct. 2026.
Theresa Merrick Cassidy, “Storytelling in Scientific Writing” (invited). American Chemical Society Annual Conference, Midwest Chapter. Kansas State University. Manhattan, KS. 25 Oct. 2026.
“AI Literacy in STEM Understanding, evaluating, and using generative AI in the K-12 classroom” (invited). Kansas Association of Teachers of Science Annual Conference. Emporia State University. Emporia, KS. 17 Oct. 2026.
“Normal, Revolutionary, or Against the Natural Order of Things? Teaching in an AI World: Literacy, Learning, and Human Judgment” (invited keynote). USD 383 Professional Development Day. Manhattan, KS. 12 Oct. 2026.
Mary Kohn, Photo preservation and Digitization Workshop. Riley County Genealogical Society (with Riley County Historical Society). Manhattan Public Library, 18 Oct. 2026.
Tanya González, “Latinx Gothic & the Afterlives of Colonial Violence” (moderator). 2026 Sturgeon Symposium: Changing Words, Changing Worlds. Lawrence, KS. 16 Oct. 2026.
“Multicultural Gothic Roundtable” (panelist). 2026 Sturgeon Symposium: Changing Words, Changing Worlds. Lawrence, KS. 15 Oct. 2026.
Philip Nel, “Interrupting Childhood Time: Improvisation, Desire, and Alternative Youth Temporalities” (session chair). American Studies Association Conference. Chicago, IL. 22 Oct 2026.
Thomas X. Sarmiento, “An Improvised Heartland: Conceptualizing an Asian American Midwest” (panelist). American Studies Association Conference. Chicago, IL. 22 Oct 2026.
Mariya Vaughan, “One Interest, Endless Connections: Student Success Through Living-Learning Communities,” ACUHO-I Residence Education Conference, Minneapolis, MN. 28 Oct. 2026.
Research and Creative Activity from Alumni
Tolu Daniel (MA ’23) has been named Editor-at-Large for Saraba’s nonfiction while contributing more broadly to the magazine’s evolving editorial vision. In this role, he will help shape Saraba’s nonfiction publishing, working with writers and commissioning work across the breadth of the form – from essays and criticism to memoir, cultural writing and more experimental approaches to nonfiction.
Kase Johnstun (MA ‘01) will publish Watching Sundown: A Book in Essays with Unsolicited Press. The collection was a finalist for the 2026 Permafrost Nonfiction Annual Book Prize.
