February 2023 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Cover image for Issue 108 of Quarterly West (2023), where Traci Brimhall's poem "Will & Testament" appears 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 … Continue reading February 2023 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Early Local Indigenous Cultures and Histories: English Students visit Flint Hills Discovery Center

Students from ENGL 640 “Going Native: Literatures from Turtle Island” during our visit of the Flint Hills Discovery Center on 28 January 2023 (from left to right in back: Tucker Newsome, Kaleb Roberts, Erica Martin, Kyla Barry, Cassidy Hartig, Achilles Seastrom; from left to right in front: Cecilia Pick, Evan Saltare, Merissa Christensen, Mayci Armstrong, … Continue reading Early Local Indigenous Cultures and Histories: English Students visit Flint Hills Discovery Center

Alumni Spotlight: Elizabeth Schroll

Elizabeth (Symm) Schroll (MA '13) When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them that I play with words. My official title at the human-scale publishing company where I work is copy editor, but I’ve had authors refer to me as a fairy godmother, a wizard, a savant. The thing is, … Continue reading Alumni Spotlight: Elizabeth Schroll

AFTLS and Love Letters to Romeo and Juliet

Faculty and graduate student presenters bask in a K-State purple glow of success following their lightning talks (11 Feb 2023) On Saturday, February 11, in McCain Auditorium's Kirmser Hall, faculty and graduate students shared a series of lightning talks, "Love Letters to Romeo and Juliet," in advance of the performance of Shakespeare's play that same … Continue reading AFTLS and Love Letters to Romeo and Juliet

Winter 2022-2023 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Opening paragraph for "Constricted" (Bending Genres, 2022) by Ania Payne 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 … Continue reading Winter 2022-2023 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Undergraduate Research in English Literature: Vital Practice

Students in ENGL 310 "Introduction to Literary Studies" share their research at the public symposium, “Who Painted the Lion? Talking Back in/as Literature,” held at the Manhattan Public Library on 2 December 2022. Every semester the English Department offers multiple sections of English 310, “Introduction to Literary Studies,” a course that welcomes English majors and … Continue reading Undergraduate Research in English Literature: Vital Practice

Spring Preview

Spring Lilacs in Manhattan, KS (2022) Welcome to the spring semester! We hope that you are keeping well and safe as 2023 gets underway. Here are some of the events -- some online only, some HyFlex, some only in person -- that we're looking forward to in the months ahead. Please join us for community, … Continue reading Spring Preview

How to Build a Hopeful Future: Reject Citizenship

A scene from the epilogue of Mockingjay, Part 2 Today we share the fourth of six pieces of public writing selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Graduate Studies in English” -- and the first selection from Section A of ENGL 801, taught this fall by Cameron Leader-Picone: a piece of public scholarship … Continue reading How to Build a Hopeful Future: Reject Citizenship

Secular Nightmares: Mental Health and the Absence of God in Parker Finn’s Smile

Promotional image for Parker Finn's 2022 film Smile Today we share the third of six pieces of public writing selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Graduate Studies in English”: a piece of public scholarship (700-1,000 words) which tailors an academic paper and its scholarly intervention of 10-12 pages for a general-interest audience. … Continue reading Secular Nightmares: Mental Health and the Absence of God in Parker Finn’s Smile

Can YA Fiction Predict the Future? Political Mimicry in Kiera Cass’s The Selection Series

Original illustration by author Kiera Cass of her characters America and Maxon from Happily Ever After: Companion to the Selection Series (2015) Today we share the second of six pieces of public writing selected for publication from an assignment in ENGL 801 “Graduate Studies in English”: a piece of public scholarship (700-1,000 words) which tailors … Continue reading Can YA Fiction Predict the Future? Political Mimicry in Kiera Cass’s The Selection Series