English Department

Welcome to the English Department at Bowling Green State University. One of the largest and most diverse departments on campus, the English Department offers degree paths and minors in Literature, Creative Writing, Rhetoric and Writing, and other areas. Students in English take classes with passionate and committed teachers who have dedicated themselves to the study of language and literature and the creation of original works of scholarship, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Our graduate programs complement our undergraduate programs and provide additional opportunities for professional development. There has never been a better time to develop the skills offered by the study of English. Critical thinking, creative expression, breadth of mind, an aptitude for understanding cultural differences, the capacity to perform research, and the ability to write with clarity and grace, are in demand from employers.

We hope you’ll join us and write here!

FEATURED

                 Event: SAEED JONES/                
                  Legacies of James Baldwin                 

On Wednesday, March 12th, acclaimed poet, cultural critic, and educator Saeed Jones visited BGSU and gave a reading and talk on the Legacies of James Baldwin.

Saeed Jones, reading from Home Out There

Jones is the author of HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES, winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and the poetry collection PRELUDE TO BRUISE, winner for the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry. His most recent book ALIVE AT THE END OF THE WORLD won the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Poetry. Jones is the 2024-2025 artist-in-residence in the Media, Health and Medicine program at Harvard Medical School. He also hosts the podcast, Vibe Check, with Sam Sanders and Zach Stafford. 

During Jones's visit, he met with Professor Abby Cloud's undergraduate Literary Editing and Publishing course, visited the James Baldwin archive in Jerome Library, gave an interview with the Institute for Culture and Society's BG Ideas podcast, and had dinner with graduate students and faculty in the English Department. Throughout his talk, he read selections from his forthcoming memoir, Home Out There, as well as from his poetry collection, Alive At the End of the World, and addressed the ways in which Baldwin's life and work continue to speak to our contemporary moment.

James Baldwin pictured left, and Dr. Ernest Champion pictured right, 1979

Organized by Associate Chair, Dr. Rachel Ann Walsh, Jones's visit was held in honor of BGSU's James Baldwin Centennial celebrations. James Baldwin (1924-1987) was a Writer-in-Residence in the English Department and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Ethnic Studies at BGSU between 1978-1979.

Jones's visit was sponsored by Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences Ethnic and Cultural Arts Program, Ethnic Studies Department, Department of History, Center for Student Connections and Opportunity/Multicultural Affairs, Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Office of Student Engagement and Success, Department of Theatre and Film, University Libraries, Department of World Languages and Cultures.

           Event: Shakespeare Behind Bars           

presented one-man show Othello's Tribunal

Since 1995, Shakespeare Behind Bars (SBB) has offered theatrical encounters with personal and social issues to incarcerated, post-incarcerated, and at-risk communities, allowing them to develop life skills that will ensure their successful integration
into society.

On Saturday, November 16, 2024, SBB producer Curt Tofteland and actor Sammie Byron presented the riveting one-man show "Othello's Tribunal" to a full house in the Eva Marie Saint Theatre within the Wolfe Center for the Arts on BGSU's main campus.

Prior to the show, the producer and actor participated in a discussion panel with faculty from English and Theatre & Film including Department Chair Dr. Stephannie Gearhart and College of Arts & Sciences Dean Dr. Ellen Schendel, as well as 28 students in ENG 3010/H (Shakespeare) who had studied "Othello", "The Tempest", and the "Shakespeare Behind Bars" documentary prior to seeing the performance.

The discussion covered themes in Shakespeare’s "Othello" that resonate with "Othello’s Tribunal"; the philosophy of SBB; and BGSU’s mission regarding the public good.

Event sponsors: BGSU's Department of English; Department of Theatre & Film; and the Ethnic Cultural Arts Program of the College of Arts and Sciences.

               Announcing the Spring 2025              
              Distinguished Visiting Writer!            

The Creative Writing Program is excited to welcome Distinguished Visiting Writer Tara M. Stringfellow to campus for the upcoming Spring 2025 semester!
Stringfellow is a former attorney, a Northwestern University MFA graduate, and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee whose debut novel and national bestseller Memphis was a Read with Jenna pick and longlisted for the Women’s Prize in Fiction. Most recently, Stringfellow published Magic Enuff, a collection of poetry.

A cross-genre artist, Tara was Northwestern University’s first MFA graduate in both poetry and prose. Her work has appeared in Collective Unrest, Jet Fuel Review, Minerva Rising, Women’s Arts Quarterly and Apogee Journal, among others.

Tara will be teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate level at BGSU this spring.  

Our students and faculty are incredibly excited to get to know Tara, and to work with such a wonderful author!

                LISTEN: BG Ideas Podcast                    

Teaching James Baldwin Today

Dr. Rachel Ann Walsh, Associate Teaching Professor and Graduate Coordinator in English, and Dr. Thomas Edge, Associate Teaching Professor in Ethnic Studies, share their experiences teaching James Baldwin to a wide range of students.

       MFA Poetry Alum Erin Carlyle Interviewed on NPR's
"All Things Considered"

Author Erin Carlyle and her new poetry collection "Girl at the End of the World" were featured this week on Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) radio program's "All Things Considered," an NPR (Natinoal Public Radio) network radio show.

The Department of English is incredibly proud of Erin, who completed both an MA in Literary and Textual Studies (2014) and an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry, 2019) at BGSU!

Erin's collection can be found at Driftwood Press and the NPR Interview can be found at https://tinyurl.com/Erin-Carlyle-NPR-Interview

   The Department of English is now Green Office Certified!

The @bgsuenglish office space on the second floor of East Hall collects and Terracycles contact lenses through a local optometrist; collects and repurposes grocery bags by donating them to the Falcon Food Pantry; and has started an indoor plant propagation program. An obsolete filing cabinet has been repurposed into a receptacle for recycling dead batteries, old light bulbs, empty ink cartridges, and electronic waste--all of which the Office of Campus Sustainability collects to recycle separately from our commingled recycling stream. The office saves energy by removing 2/3 of the overhead light bulbs in rooms that are otherwise too bright and are the 18th office at BGSU to become officially Green Office Certified for the first time.

Shoutout to Danielle Burkin, the department's Senior Administrative Secretary, who initiated the process and whose efforts greatly boosted the Green Office score to an impressive 90%. It's great to have another office dedicated to sustainability and helping @officialbgsu get one step closer to our Climate Action Plan goals!

To learn more and begin the application process for your office, department, or lab space on campus, click the Green Office Certification button on the left side of this page!

                  MFA  Candidate Receives                 
Hank Fellowship

Congratulations to Jane Elizabeth Wageman! Jane Wageman, a rising second-year MFA candidate in Fiction, received one of Loyola University Chicago's prestigious Hank Fellowships in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. This summer fellowship will allow her to develop her novel, The Mind is a Real Thing. As Wageman writes, "this is a novel that explores questions about knowledge and uncertainty through the story of a large Catholic family in the Midwest. In the novel, the family acts as a natural site to examine how shared belief can diverge radically, as the various family members relate to their faith in distinct ways. The family also serves as a context for the characters to grapple with knowledge: how well they know one another, but also the degree to which they know themselves. A seemingly minor car accident serves as a catalyst for these questions. No one is physically harmed, but it prompts the son who was driving to wonder whether he unconsciously willed the crash, while also precipitating the mental breakdown of his mother. As the narrative depicts the aftermath of the accident and delves into the past, it raises questions about the nature of the mind, the degree to which we control and know our own thoughts, and the tensions between belief and doubt."