For members of the UA Department of English, Dr. Steven Trout is well-known for his role chairing the Department through the challenges of an ongoing pandemic. However, his work on war and remembrance—specifically in terms of Modernist literature, and in broader cultural studies—is extensive and impressive. His most recent works, both published in 2020, are The Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Angel Fire: War, Remembrance, and an American Tragedy, and Portraits of Remembrance: Painting, Memory, and the First World War, a […]

Read More from The Work of Dr. Steven Trout: A Study of Memory and Conflict

Syllabus diversity; class accessibility; inclusivity and accommodation: These concerns are front and center in higher education. For The University of Alabama Department of English, Lauren Cardon and Jenifer Park have helped develop programming to show practical ways that teachers can address these concerns, both in the classroom and in the campus community. Cardon and Park are co-coordinators of the Diversity Initiative. The project began as a goal of 2019-2020 department chair, David Ainsworth “to promote efforts to integrate more diversity […]

Read More from Lauren Cardon and Jenifer Park: Helping Build Diversity in the Classroom and Community

Dr. David Ainsworth is an associate professor of seventeenth century British literature as part of the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance studies here in UA’s Department of English. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This past year, Professor Ainsworth served as interim chair of the Department of English. Prior to his departmental leadership, Ainsworth served as the first communications director of the Milton Society of America from 2013-2017. His latest book, Milton, Music, and Literary Interpretation: Reading through […]

Read More from Of Milton, Music, and Literature: A Conversation with Professor David Ainsworth

Tell us about your background. Why did you decide to attend UA? I’m an English and finance double major from Peachtree City, GA. I wanted to go to a big school out of state but still stay close to home. I’m also a National Merit Finalist, which means that I get 10 free semesters of tuition, and that definitely played a role in me deciding to come here! When and why did you began to write prose?  I began writing […]

Read More from UA Undergraduate, Lota Erinne, Wins Greer Marechal Memorial Award in Fiction

Alexus M. Cumbie is a senior at the University of Alabama studying Political Science and Business Management with a specialization in Human Resources. On campus, she serves as President of the NAACP, Education Advancement Chair to the Theta Sigma Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and the Vice President of the Anderson Society. Cumbie is a member of the Mortar Board, Elliot Society, and the XXXI honor societies. Her poetry has appeared in the American Library of Poetry. She […]

Read More from UA Undergraduate, Alexus Cumbie, Wins Greer Marechal Memorial Prize in Creative Non-Fiction

“My job,” says Michael Martone, “is to open up spaces of wonder and delight and surprise for the audience.” This comment comes as Martone is set to retire from UA this spring, after more than four decades teaching creative writing. But the work—the writing and responding to other people’s writing—will continue, he insists. What will go is the constant ping of e-mail and the response to surveys that request just 20 more minutes of his time. But the writing will […]

Read More from On Retirement and the Work that Comes After: Michael Martone

Wendy Rawlings’ new collection of short stories, Time for Bed, opens with a devastating story. In “Coffins for Kids!” a mother goes in search for the perfect casket after her daughter is killed in a school shooting reminiscent of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. The story ends, not with the casket, burial, or even closure for the mom or reader. Instead, we are left on the floor of the shooting range at NRA headquarters while two strangers […]

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Dr. Andy Crank is an associate professor of American literature in the Department of English at The University of Alabama. He received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been a featured contributor to the BBC and speaker on PBS’s Great American Read. He also is the host of his own podcast called The Sound and the Furious. Dr. Crank has written on James Agee, Sam Shepard, and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. […]

Read More from Appreciating Randall Keenan: A Conversation with Professor Andy Crank