DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

English department seniors Yong-Yu Huang and Ella Waffner have both received prestigious appointments as Franke Fellows at the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, to pursue research on their honors theses.  Yong-Yu’s project on postcolonial migration narratives will be directed by Prof. Kalyan Nadiminti, and Ella’s project on witchcraft as political speech in early-modern drama will be directed by Prof. Jeffrey Masten.

Professor Kelly Wisecup, the Arthur E. Andersen Teaching and Research Professor, has been named this year's Beatrice Shepherd Blane Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute.  During her year in Cambridge she will pursue research on her book project—tentatively entitled Sovereignty on the Page--exploring the intertwined histories of Indigenous birchbark bookmaking and environmental protest.

Kira Tucker, a 2023 graduated of the Litowitz Program in Creative Writing and English, is one of the winners of the 2025 National Poetry Series Competition for her book Wildest.

Three authors, alumni of the English Department’s undergraduate creative writing program, returned to Northwestern for the 17th Annual Writers’ Fest. Poet Tracy Fuad, fiction writer Mary South, and nonfiction writer Eric Dean Wilson gave craft talks and readings, reflecting on how their years at NU influenced their journeys as authors.

JK Anowe, a second-year poet in the Litowitz Program in Creative Writing and English, has been awarded a 2025 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a program now in its 27th year. The Fellowship's recipients represent remarkable contributions across fields like medicine, law, engineering, the arts, public service, and science.

Litowitz MFA+MA in English and Creative Writing

This program offers intimate classes, the opportunity to pursue both creative and critical writing, and close mentorship by renowned faculty in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Our three-year curriculum gives students time to deepen both their creative writing and their study of literature. Students complete two degrees concurrently --an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English.

• About the MFA+MA degree program
• Writing Faculty publications

MA in English Literature

Designed to be completed in one year and flexible in its requirements, our Master's in Literature allows students considerable freedom in choosing courses in English and in related disciplines. Most are planning to move on to Doctoral study elsewhere, improve their credentials as teachers in secondary schools and community colleges, or to take their experience into the business and publishing sectors.

• About the Master's degree program

PhD in English Literature

Our PhD program offers advanced study and research in literary history, criticism, and theory, with excellent opportunities for study between both disciplines and departments. Courses within the department cover major genres, periods, authors, and a broad range of methodological and theoretical approaches. Significant support in professional development and on the job market are cornerstones of the program.

• About the Doctoral program