WKU News

Mar 24th, 2025

Nicholas Jenkins is the 2024 recipient of the Warren-Brooks Award for his book The Island: War and Belonging in Auden’s England, published by Harvard University Press.

Oct 25th, 2024

Third-year Creative Writing MFA Sydney Thier's short film, True Love Stays, won the Best Narrative Short Film award at the 3rd annual Sky Arts Film Festival last weekend.

Oct 16th, 2024

The WKU English Department hopes you will join us for the 28th annual Mary Ellen and Jim Wayne Miller Celebration of Writing on Sunday, October 27, in Cherry Hall 125 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., followed by a reception in Cherry Hall 101.

Mar 4th, 2024

Dr. Gary Saul Morson, Lawrence B. Dumas Professor of the Arts and Humanities at Northwestern University, is the winner of the 2023 Warren-Brooks Award, presented each year by the Robert Penn Warren Center at Western Kentucky University.

Sep 11th, 2023

Dr. Tobias Menely, professor of English at UC Davis, will deliver the Warren-Brooks Lecture at 3:30 p.m. Friday (September 15) at Cherry Hall 125.

Apr 11th, 2023

The WKU English Club held the 2023 Goldenrod Poetry Festival on Monday, April 3. The poet Dr. Emily Schulten served as the guest judge and workshop leader for the poetry contest and shared her own work at the festival.

Feb 13th, 2023

"Climate and the Making of Worlds: Toward a Geohistorical Poetics," written by Tobias Menel and published by the University of Chicago Press, has been selected as the 2022 winner of the Robert Penn Warren-Cleanth Brooks Award.

Dec 8th, 2022

Congratulations to the English Department’s very own, Dr. David Bell, whose novel She’s Gone has been listed as a New York Times Bestseller!

Nov 17th, 2022

Kaylee ben Yosef, a senior of the WKU English Department, obtained a paid internship position at Franklin Precision Industry (FPI) as a translator for Japanese employees.

Oct 6th, 2022

Jenny Kiefer, a WKU Creative Writing alum who graduated in 2011, is opening a bookstore in Louisville, KY for horror books and paraphernalia. Butcher Cabin Books is located at 990 Barret Ave, and its grand opening is October 15 & 16 from 12:00-7:00 pm.

May 2nd, 2022

On Thursday, April 28th, the WKU Department of English wrapped up the 2022 Creative Writing Reading series by hosting the 18th annual Goldenrod Poetry Festival.

Apr 29th, 2022

Congratulations to the 2022 department scholarship and award winners!

Apr 11th, 2022

WKU junior Joseph Shoulders was awarded the Stemmler/Dennis LGBT Award at the 2022 Sigma Tau Delta Convention in Atlanta. OTher WKU English majors who presented at the convention were Valerie Feldker, Eli Edens, Lizzy Roth, Kayla Spears, and Faith Yonts.

Apr 7th, 2022

The WKU Department of English held an award ceremony announcing the finalists and winners of the fifth annual High School Writing Contest on Saturday, March 26. Around 80 guests gathered in Cherry Hall to honor the high school students for their outstandi

Mar 29th, 2022

Gabe Feinn of Louisville is a senior Chinese major in the Chinese Flagship Program with minors in child studies and teaching English as a second language. For the second time, Feinn won the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for study abroad, w

Mar 14th, 2022

The WKU Department of English will recognize Ato Quayson for winning the Robert Penn Warren-Cleanth Brooks Award this fall. His book Tragedy and Postcolonial Literature won the award for outstanding literary scholarship and criticism.

Mar 3rd, 2022

Ellie Schueler, a senior majoring in English for Secondary Teachers, has won the Excellence in English/Language Arts Instruction award. The award is offered through WKU’s CEPT course, in which Schueler completed clinical teaching at Drakes Creek Middle

Feb 15th, 2022

Congratulations to Dr. Alex Poole for being selected as the Chair of the WKU Department of Modern Languages! Dr. Poole has taught for the WKU Department of English since August 2003. He is a strong advocate for language studies and has served as Interim D

Feb 15th, 2022

Brooke Larson, a junior from Cookeville, Tenn. is one of 19 WKU students who earned the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.

Feb 9th, 2022

Ato Quayson has been named winner of the 2021 Warren-Brooks Award for his book Tragedy and Postcolonial Literature. The award is presented each year by the Robert Penn Warren Center at WKU to honor an outstanding work of literary scholarship that embodies