The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

Last Tuesday, the 2026-2027 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, Raina J. León, visited Professor Michael Dowdy's Literary Theory Class for a hybrid performance and discussion of her work. Raina J. León visits Professor Michael Dowdy's Literary Theory class. Dr. León began class with a reading of her poem, "After the Cinema," an imagining of a Black immortal's reaction to the portrayal of vampires on screen. With its focus on how the past converges onto the present, the poem served as a perfect introduction to Dr. León's broader body of work, which focuses on, among other topics, cultural preservation, speculative future-casting, and living archives.  Dr. León described how her archival work in particular featured prominently in her project "Swing Mezzo: Ancestral Reclamation Through Jazz, Poetry, and Projection." The project aimed to recover the legacy of Doris Rheubottom (1899-1985), a Black jazz vocalist who lived in the Germantown neighborhood of Phila...

Last Friday, 2nd year English MA students Gia Allgoode and Mia Familetti presented their research in 3 Minute Thesis-style oral presentations at Villanova's annual Research Symposium. Gia's presentation, titled "Reading Three Voices in Harmony," analyzed medieval mystical texts through three different "voices:" the literary, the social, and the religious. Mia's presentation, titled  “' It Matters What You Call A Thing': The Effect of Linguistic Interference on Trauma Narratives,'" analyzed Iranian poet Solmaz Sharif's poetry collection Look to " uncover how governmental linguistic [re]construction after 9/11 disrupts the ability to integrate traumatic events into personal narrative...." Congratulations Mia and Gia! Gia Allgoode presents "Reading Three Voices in Harmony" Mia Familetti presents "It Matters What You Call a Thing"

  Professor Emily Skillings' second poetry collection  Tantrums in Air is the focus of a new audio podcast available  here . “Does the poet know? Or was it maybe her idea?” So wonders an anonymous Amazon reviewer of Professor Emily Skillings’ first book, now re-printed almost verbatim in Professor Skilling’s second poetry collection, Tantrums in Air . I had the chance to hear Professor Skillings read the poem, titled “A potentially good Book Soaked in Offensive Perfume - ★☆☆☆☆,” as part of a larger discussion about her work and her new residency at Villanova. Having worked previously as an adjunct professor in the New York area, Professor Skillings joined the English department at Villanova this fall. “Most semesters I was teaching at three different schools at the same time, so it’s really wonderful to have a home base,” Professor Skillings says.   Given the recent 100 year celebration of Langston Hughes “The Weary Blues” event, which Professor Skillings co-hoste...

Raina J. León, Poet Laureate of Philadelphia Raina J. León, PhD, the 2026-2027 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, will visit Professor Michael Dowdy's Literary Theory course on Tuesday 7:30pm-9:30pm, November 10 to do a hybrid talk/reading/performance.  The event is open to all MA students! Raina J. León's body of work spans across v isual art, poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and scholarly work.   Per her website, Dr. León is "a founding editor of The Acentos Review , the co-founder of Wild Indigo Poetry Reading Series, the author of black god mother this body , and co-founder of StoryJoy, Inc. with Dr. Norma Thomas." You can read more about Dr. León and her work at her website .

Professor Kamran Javadizadeh recently participated in the Stonington Literary Festival, a three-day event that took place from October 2-4 and celebrated the poet James Merrill and his work. Since Merrill's death in 1996, his former home in Stonington, Connecticut has played host to a writers-in-residence program, in which Professor Javadizeh participated in 2022. For this year's festival, which marked the centennial of Merrill's birth in 1926, Professor Javadizadeh and other former writers-in-residence were invited back to participate in panels, readings, and other events such as musical performances and tours. Professor Javadizadeh served as the moderator for the "Poetic Afterlives" panel featuring poets Ange Mlinko and Rosanna Warren in which the group discussed Merrill's legacy. In a follow-up email, Professor Javadizadeh told me about the scope of the conversation. " A hot topic for us was how Merrill’s reputation as an urbane, technically virtuosic,...

Villanova Student Theatre's upcoming production of The Great Gatsby is almost here! The show will run from 11/5-11/14 and has several students in the English department involved, including: Will Jeffery ('27) as Nick Carraway, Vix McCoy ('27) as Ms. McKee, Annabel Everitt ('27) as Daisy Buchanan, Yasmina Szymczak ('29) as the Assistant Stage Manager, and Charlotte Insley ('27) on stage crew.  Annabel Everitt shared with Dr. Jean Lutes:  "I think all English students would enjoy this show. Gatsby is a North American classic that so many students have read and loved. This is a great opportunity to relax and enjoy a well-loved story before finals, especially now that we are in the thick of fall. 'Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall' ." Below is the show's poster and a QR code for more information (audience members are asked to please wear green):   

Looking for an opportunity to share some of your own creative writing, or to perform a piece from an artist you love?  The Gender and Women's Studies Program welcomes you to their Open Mic Night on Friday, November 6th from 6:00pm-7:00pm in the Seminar Room at 102 Garey Hall. Pizza and beverages will be provided! Please fill out the form to RSVP by clicking on this link or scan the QR code on the poster.  The event will be hosted by English MA student and GWS graduate assistant Juliana Zeller. Feel free to contact her directly at jzeller@villanova.edu with any questions. - Nikola Stojcic MA '28

 By  Alexis Stakem, MA ‘28 Julia Reagan MA '26 Julia Reagan ‘26 MA has always loved being a student; she is, in her own words, “hungry for information.” Her intellectual journey has brought her to Villanova in multiple ways: first as an MA student, and now as an instructor of undergraduates in the ACS program. Prior to starting at Villanova in the fall of 2024, she had already earned an MA in German, focusing on German literature, from UC Berkeley. Reagan spent a year living in Germany after receiving a Fulbright scholarship, taking literature courses at various universities and studying political fairy tales from the 1930s – which were a response to the political frustration and electoral gridlock Germany was encountering during the Weimar era. Coming to Villanova felt to Reagan like an opportunity to tie up a “loose end” or scratch “an unscratched itch” because of its emphasis on studying English literature.  These threads soon multiplied, as a new interest of Reagan’s ...

Dr. Lauren Shohet gave the plenary address at the Conference on John Milton, a biennial gathering of Miltonists from all over the word which was held this year in Provo, Utah. Her talk, entitled "What is my archive?" suggested we think about "archive" as a term that encompasses not only collections of rare books or documents, but also digital archives and also--more abstractly--whatever texts researchers deem relevant for studying a particular problem.  From Britannica During this talk, Dr. Shohet proposed that re-considering a problem's "archive" can create fresh questions (especially useful, she said, for junior researchers), then explored the multi-temporal, mutual constitution of archived item, finding aid, and researcher that constellate in the process of archival research.   

Next Friday October 30th, English MA students Giammalva Allgoode and Mia Familetti will share their research at Villanova's Graduate Research Symposium in the form of 3 Minute Thesis-style oral presentations. Stop by to hear about some of the exciting work our English graduate students are doing! Gia is set to present at 2:27pm. Her thesis presentation is titled "Reading Three Voices in Harmony." Mia is set to present at 2:34pm. Her thesis presentation is titled  “' It Matters What You Call A Thing': The Effect of Linguistic Interference on Trauma Narratives." You can read more about Gia and Mia's theses here . - Nikola Stojcic MA '28