Department of English
Choose English and Write Your Own Future!
The English Department allows you to write a degree program that will help you reach your career goals as you choose one of our six undergraduate concentrations: African American Literature, Creative Writing, ESL, Language and Linguistics, Literature, and Professional Writing.
In addition to our 300 undergraduate students, we have over 100 graduate students, pursuing Masters' Degrees, MFAs in Creative Writing, Graduate Certificates in ESL and African-American Literature, and PhDs.
English graduates succeed as lawyers, teachers, web designers, writers, administrators, journalists, and business professionals. With online degree programs and a variety of classes, the English major is flexible. English also works great as a second major or minor.
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Department of English News
- The Department of English MFA Program will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2019! Make sure you check out the program here, the amazing faculty members Cary Holladay,Alice Bolin, Marcus Wicker, and Courtney Santo, and stay tuned for more celebration!
- Department of English Professional Writing Professor Dr. Liz Lane has just been named a Principle Editor for a new journal, Spark: A 4C4Equality Journal. "Spark will be an online-only, open-access, peer-reviewed journal published annually. It will provide a forum for activist students, teachers, and researchers in writing, rhetoric, and literary studies to articulate the public and disciplinary value of their social justice pursuits. Ultimately, the work published in Spark speaks to the power of intersectional and collaborative efforts working for political change." Congratulations Dr. Lane!!
- Creative Writing Professor Alice Bolin's book Dead Girls: Surviving an American Obsession is being featured on the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2018! Check it out here and join us in congratulating Alice! Dead Girls has also been nominated for an Edgar Award in the category "Best Critical/Biographical". Congrats!
- Professor Cary Holladay's new book, Brides in the Sky: Stories and a Novella will be available in early 2019. Join us in congratulating Professor Holladay and make sure you check it out!
Department of English Upcoming Events
An African-American Read-In Featuring Marcus Wicker
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library; Wednesday February 20th 5:00pm-7:00pm
Join us for a Black History Month celebration featuring award-winning poet Marcus Wicker as well as readings by faculty and students from the University of Memphis and Memphis Public Library Staff!
2018 WordSmith Olympics: Words Matter
University Center Ballroom; Sunday, February 24th 2019
The time has come for our annual writing competition for Memphis-area 7th-12th graders! For over 40 years, the University of Memphis Department of English has hosted the area's best student writers in grades 7-12 for a day to celebrate the joys of the written word. For more information and updates, check out the WordSmith Facebook page!