As anyone who knows me can tell you, I’m obsessed with fairy tales—particularly with animal/monster groom tales. Using a paper I wrote for the lovely Anne Philips during my undergrad as the background for my graduate project, I have taken my love of fairy tales to a new level. My project focuses on two 21st-century … Continue reading Grad Student Spotlight: Brittany Roberts
As a person, I spend most of my time watching way too much television and reading way too much fanfiction. As a scholar…I do pretty much the exact same thing. Most of my research centers around how young people (and particularly young people with marginalized identities) are represented in YA literature and on television, … Continue reading Grad Student Spotlight: Mandy Moore
Another Super Bowl has come and gone, and we're pretty sure the "Dirty Dancing" ad won? We're just kidding, Eagles fans! We know all about the actual game. Despite those "sportsball" jokes you see spinning around some English departments, the words of literature and the world of sports come together more often than you think. In fact, … Continue reading Forget the Super Bowl: Here are Some Super Writers
Jennifer Brown (B.A. ‘93, M.A. ‘95), Jera McGraw (B.A. ‘98), Carly Stithem (B.A. ‘14, M.A. ‘16), and Brooke Williams (M.A. ‘11) share their career paths at the 2017 Alumni Connections Career Panel. When completing our 2017 Alumni Survey, graduates could signal interest in assisting us with a career panel or online visit for graduate and … Continue reading A Strong Foundation
There’s this troubling question I’ve been getting since my second book came out. Maybe I should have seen it coming, but my first book, which is stories and not a novel, came out with a small press and didn’t get the fanfare. There were no interviews or Q&As at reading events. So I was caught … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: R. Dean Johnson
I cannot tell a lie. The books I use and read most are at home in an entire other set of bookshelves 🙂 In many ways, the books in this picture are like a look through the intellectual history of my life. I wrote my dissertation on images of the 1890 Ghost Dance … Continue reading Shelfie Thursday: Lisa Tatonetti
Some people read from the back of the room. Most, from the front. A few just stood where they were sitting. Some used the microphone; some said, “Can everyone hear me without the mic?” (We could, always.) People read from books, from print-outs, from phones. In another context, all these particulars might not have mattered. … Continue reading Today We Fight
For my M.A. thesis, I'm writing a novella, a political thriller set in Kansas, which is a goofy idea. Not because political threat isn’t real in Kansas, but because no one ever writes political thrillers set in Kansas! It follows a guy named Hollis—the assistant campaign manager to a congressman who is running for governor. … Continue reading Grad Student Spotlight: Peter Williams
On December 9, 2017, Kevin Rabas (M.A. '98) provided the commencement address for the College of Arts and Sciences at Kansas State University. Below is the text of his speech. Many thanks to Kevin for allowing us to share it here. (You can view his presentation through the university's archived video as of 22:40.) … Continue reading Return to the Arts
As a holiday gift for you, we asked members of the Kansas State English Department to name their favorite "literary" song, and, well, at least a couple of them couldn't pick just one, so maybe you've been extra good this year? Here are the results—the department's literary playlist, via Spotify, that ranges from Coltrane to … Continue reading On Keats and Beats: The Kansas State English Department Literary Playlist
K-State English 