News & Announcements

The English Department and the College of Humanities at the University of Utah are very pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Vincent Cheng Prize in English for the best papers by English majors and minors at the University of Utah during calendar year 2024. There were a large number of submissions, and we would like to commend all the entrants for the many excellent papers submitted. From among all these fine papers, we selected two winners for the Best Paper award and singled out four others for Honorable Mention designation. The winners for Best Paper and a $250 award are: Emily Gonzales for "Games as Language and Social Codes in Austen's Novels" and Marisela Perez Romero for "The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy: Patriarchal Oppression and Predatory Men in Zofloya." The following four students were awarded an Honorable Mention designation: Mia Bailey, Sam Debenham, Samantha Everton, and Kote Lien. The awards were selected by a judging committee consisting of Professors Justin Carpenter, Vincent Cheng, Matt Potolsky, Lisa Swanstrom, and Sam Tett. Congratulations to the award winners for their terrific essays!

Wainstein's book, titled Grant Us Eyes: The Art of Paradox in Bloodbourne, examines the challenging narrative of the game Bloodbourne. Michael W. Clune, Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities at Case Western Reserve University, praises Wainstein's work: "Grant Us Eyes shows us new dimensions of art, and new modes of experience, in FromSoftware's masterpiece. The sophistication, clarity, and intensity of Wainstein's book sets a new standard for writing about games." Hear more in a discussion between Wainstein and Clure in this podcast: https://tannerhumanities.podbean.com/e/bloodbourne-and-the-aesthetics-of-video-games-with-nathan-wainstein-and-michael-w-clune/

Alex Kellgreen, a Communications major and English minor, recently had an article published in the online journal Ecological Citizen. His reflective piece, "A condemned cathedral: Thoughts on Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire," was based on texts he encountered in a course with Professor Alf Seegert.

Congratulations to Lindsey Webb! Her book /Plat/ was just named one of the best poetry books of 2024 by The New York Times. Reviewer Elisa Gabbert praises Plat's "fascinating spatial sensibility" and architectural thinking, musing, "I keep returning to these pages, with their little blocks of language like small rooms, to pass again through their estrangement."

Rekdal's new book, titled Real Toads, Imaginary Gardens, demonstrates how to observe the building blocks of a poem—including its diction, form, imagery, and rhythm—and construct an interpretation of its meaning. Using guided close readings and nearly 40 creative and critical “experiments,” this book shows how a poem takes shape through the intersection of all its lyric elements. Drawing on the work of poets from William Shakespeare to Jericho Brown, Real Toads, Imaginary Gardens reveals how to read and write critically, and how to appreciate—and achieve—the exhilarating craft of poetry.

Lindsey had her piece Plat reviewed in the LA Book Reviewer on Oct. 28, 2024. Click here to see the full review.

The London Seminar in Literature & Culture offers students an unparalleled opportunity to immerse themselves in the rich history and culture of one of the world's most iconic cities. Led by esteemed faculty members from the Department of English, the program combines rigorous academic study with hands-on cultural exploration.

Tanner Humanities Center Director and English professor, Scott Black, along with Associate Director, Robert Carson published an opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune commenting on diverse literature.

Congratulations to graduate student Kieron Walquist, winner of the 2024 National Poetry Series Competition for his poem, Our Hands Hold Violence!

Elizabeth Callaway, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of English and affiliated faculty in the Environmental Humanities Graduate Program, and Rebekah Cummings, MLIS, Director of Digital Matters at the Marriott Library, have received an award from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to hold a three-week Summer Institute for Higher Education at the University of Utah.

Read her poem in The New Yorker.

Congratulations to Erin O’Luanaigh, PhD candidate in Literature and Creative Writing (Poetry), who delivered a paper at the XXIX International James Joyce Symposium in Glasgow, Scotland, 14-19 June 2024 titled “ ‘Where there is a reconciliation, there must have been first a sundering’: Reading Ulysses as a Cavellian Comedy of Remarriage.” At the Symposium banquet, the selection committee announced that Erin’s paper had won the prize for “Best Graduate Student Paper” at this year’s symposium.

Ramona W. Cannon Award for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities recognizes one College of Humanities faculty member and/or graduate student teacher each year. Congratulations Lindsey!

The Calvin S. and JeNeal N. Hatch Prize in Teaching is provided by an endowment given to the University of Utah by Mr. and Mrs. Hatch. The purpose of the prize is to recognize an outstanding teacher at the University of Utah and to “make a contribution to teaching, the dissemination of knowledge, and to improve our ability to communicate with each other.” Congratulations Vincent!

Congratulations to Paisley Rekdal for being included in NPR’s list of “Books We Love 2023" in the “Seriously Great Writing” section.

Robert A. Goldberg Endowed Faculty Prize in Humanities recognizes faculty whose record in teaching and research reflects high merit and provides a stipend to support the faculty member’s ongoing projects. This award honors Goldberg’s forty-year career as an inspiring teacher, devoted mentor of countless graduate students, a prominent scholar of American political history and, for thirteen years, director of the Tanner Humanities Center.