The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

Last week, our graduate students met with Dr. Yumi Lee for the final graduate writing workshop of the semester, “Writing the Graduate Seminar Paper.” As a conclusion of these workshops, Dr. Lee presented students with a slideshow that detailed what a seminar paper is, different approaches to writing the paper, and how to handle the various steps that go into creating a seminar paper. After presenting the slideshow, students met in pairs to discuss where they were currently at in their paper-writing process, as well as particular challenges students were facing. Upon reconvening, students reviewed their takeaways with the group and provided personal advice to each other.  “Our workshop on seminar papers last week was part of an ongoing effort to support grad students in the writing process,” Dr. Lee explained. “Academic writing and research can be a lonely endeavor, and we’re hoping to create spaces for students to get together and talk, share their experiences and questions, and bu...

Villanova English major Ben Marcoulier '27, English MA student Julia Reagan '26, and Dr. Crystal J. Lucky presented together Friday, November 7th at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers 2025 Conference in Old City, Philadelphia. The roundtable highlighted the public humanities project Taught by Literature ( https://www.taughtbyliterature.org/ ), which works to honor the legacy of Black author and activist Alice Dunbar-Nelson. Taught by Literature was founded by Dr. Jean Lutes, Denise Burgher, and Dr. Brigitte Fielder to make Alice Dunbar-Nelson’s work digitally available and to support educators in teaching early Black women intellectuals in their classrooms, from kindergarten to college. Bringing together undergraduate and graduate students and professors, Taught by Literature invites Black women educators to present their work for a broader audience, engages students in the archives and the process of textual recovery, and works with public school teachers to d...

This past summer, many of our faculty traveled and gave talks all around the world. We’ll be featuring a few of them in the coming weeks—this time, we’ll be focusing on Dr. Kamran Javadizadeh, who traveled to the UK and spoke about poetry in Oxford and Cambridge. Professor Javadizadeh was invited to give a lecture on June 5th at the American Literature Research Seminar in Oxford, and he presented on ‘The National Poetry Crisis.’ Dr. Javadizadeh drew from the conclusion to his forthcoming book for his talk, which centered on a poetry festival which had been organized at the Library of Congress in the fall of 1962, and which happened to coincide with the Cuban Missile Crisis. “After the first day of the conference,” explained Dr. Javadizadeh, “President Kennedy came on television and announced that there were these missiles in Cuba. The Poetry Festival was happening in the Library of Congress, which is right next to the capitol building itself.” The festival’s setting, and its status...

Novelist and editor Jason Rekulak captivated his audience with stories about his journey from English graduate to editor and writer in Philadelphia. In conversation with Dr. Joe Drury and Dr. Adrienne Perry, Rekulak discussed the success of  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies  and its film adaptation, the creative process behind writing books, literary fandom, and the realities of life as a writer and editor. 

Our very own subject librarian Sarah Wingo will be facilitating a workshop on literary text analysis using NLTK and Python on November 5, 2025, from 12-1 p.m. We encourage you to attend and add to your digital humanities skills! No coding experience is necessary.

 The authors (and one translator!) who will be appearing as part of Lit Fest 2026 have been announced and can be viewed over on the English department's website .  We hope to see you at the readings!

  ENG 8260: Medieval Romance Dr. Brooke Hunter CRN 34350 Thursday from 5:20 pm to 07:20 pm Romance—the mode of literature that tells stories of chivalry, ladies, and love—shaped medieval ideas about everything from racial and cultural identity to best practices for flirting. Focusing on the romances of King Arthur and other English heroes, this course will consider three main questions: how romances structure the experience of love, sexuality, and gender; how romances shape the practice of religion and notions of religious and racial otherness; and how romances construct ideas about peoples ( nationes ) and political power. Half of the course reading will be in Middle English, including the cannibalistic crusader sieges of  Richard Coer de Lyon , several works by Geoffrey Chaucer, and a selection from Thomas Malory’s exhaustive collection of Arthuriana,  Le Morte d’Arthur . We will also read several works of early Arthuriana in translation, including Geoffrey of Monmo...

 The English Department is proud to share the release of Dr. Lauren Shohet's new edited collection,  Queering Early Modern Death in England: Figuration, Representation, Matter.  This new collection, edited by Dr. Shohet and Dr. Christine Varnado of the University of Buffalo, analyzes a variety of celebrated texts, including  The Duchess of Malfi ,  The Alchemist ,  The Spanish Tragedy ,  The Winter's Tale ,  Richard III , and  A Midsummer Night's Dream , using queer theoretical methodologies to offer fascinating insights regarding early modern conceptualizations of humanity, embodiment, and temporality, among others. Dr. Shohet and Dr. Varnado utilize queer logics to suggest poignant understandings of early modern death as non-dualist, non-linear, a-teleological, and fruitfully muddled, showcasing the fascinating expansiveness of death through a queer lens. A worthy addition to the collection of anyone interested in questions of queernes...

  Next week, on Tuesday, September 9th, from 6-7 p.m. in Falvey Library 205, Villanova English, Honors, and the Writing Center will co-sponsor a roundtable discussion: Who Writes Better: Robots or Me? The discussion will feature Professors Megan Quigley, Kimberly Takahata, and Stefan Perun (Associate Director for Digital Learning Pedagogy). In keeping with the theme of this roundtable, here is what Microsoft Co-Pilot has to say about Megan Quigley (the following may or may not be true): Professor Megan Quigley is an Associate Professor of English at Villanova University, where she is also affiliated with Irish Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies. Her academic focus is on British and Irish literary modernism, and she has made significant contributions to the study of authors like T.S. Eliot, Henry James, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf. She is the author of the book  Modernist Fiction and Vagueness: Philosophy, Form, and Language , which explores the intersection of literary...

  Left-hand row, front to back: Gia Allgoode, Ava Galal, Kieva Mark, Mia Familetti, Jacqueline Moyer, Emma Kearney Right-hand row, front to back: Maggie Murtha, Sean Karlen, Tate Gibbons, Renie Christensen, Guadalupe Martinez, Allison Hicks Not pictured: Tatiana Campos-Teixeira, Christopher Supplee, Sonia Singh

From our friends over in Humanities and Theology & Religious Studies: The Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Conference (PMR) at Villanova University invites you to participate in its 50th International PMR Conference October 24-26, 2025 at the Inn at Villanova University. As always, the PMR makes an OPEN CALL to scholars, institutions, and societies to propose Papers, Panels, or Sponsored Sessions in all areas and topics in LATE ANTIQUITY/PATRISTICS, BYZANTINE STUDIES, MEDIEVAL STUDIES, ISLAMIC STUDIES, JEWISH STUDIES, and RENAISSANCE & REFORMATION STUDIES. The PMR committee this year makes a special invitation to scholars from all disciplines in these fields to address our plenary theme: In the Abyss of this Darkness … In the Deep Quiet of the Godhead: Mysticism, Mystery, and Trinitarian Life in Times of Crisis For the 50th gathering of the Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Conference at Villanova University. Featuring Sarah Coakley, FBA McDonald Visi...

The 15th Annual Thesis and Field Exam Symposium was held in SAC 300 on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, and featured research presentations by Ariel Hooks, Nosike Okafor, Jaxon Parker, Samantha Philipps, and Jeanbry Torres.  Ariel Hooks presented on a thesis comparing the noir novel Laura (1942) with the videogame Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea (2013-14), and argued that both narratives provide avenues through which their "dangerous, monstrous female heroine can travel to assert authority over her aesthetic portrayal and her voice."  Ariel's audience followed up with a variety of questions, including one about the difference between a reader and a player. Ariel responded that she thinks there isn't much difference--"it's just someone fully engaging with the art that they're presented with."  Nosike Okafor presented on "T he Liberatory Function of Death in the Poetry of Ernest Jones." Jones was a Chartist, who, according to Nosike, felt for the pl...

Our very own Lisa Sewell will be reading, along with Ethel Rackin, at Main Point Books, on Thursday, April 10th, in celebration of National Poetry Month. We hope you will be able to make it!

The Shakespeare Association of America just announced that Professor Alice Dailey and Professor Chelsea Phillips's production of Thomas Kyd's  The Spanish Tragedy won honorable mention for the Shakespeare Publics Award. Per the Association's website , "This award recognizes pioneering and/or culturally significant efforts to foster, engage, support and sustain broad and diverse Shakespeare publics through teaching, scholarship, performance and/or activism." All the Association's prizes will be awarded at their annual conference, next month in Boston. Congratulations, Dr. Dailey and Dr. Phillips! You can read more about The Spanish Tragedy on the project's website . courtesy of spanishtragedy.villanova.edu

  Fall 2025 Course Descriptions ENG 8000 What’s Hot? Introduction to Theory Across the Discipline of English Dr. Michael Dowdy CRN 27943 Tuesday 5:20-7:20 pm This course will be run as a seminar in which each week, a different graduate faculty member will introduce you to a body of theory that is particularly important within current discussions in their field of specialization. What are some of the major theoretical approaches in medieval studies today? Early modern studies? What about 19th-century American literature and British literature? Modernism? Postcolonial Studies? Irish Studies? Contemporary literature? This class is an attempt to bring you immediately into dialogue with a wide variety of theories that are shaping literary study today. The course is intended to be a lively opportunity to meet most of the English faculty members who teach at the graduate level and to engage in dialogue about and analysis of the contemporary state of literary theory. Assignments wil...