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Featured Stories

Professor Susannah Gottlieb’s “Auden and the Muse of History” (2023 finalist for the Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism) has been shortlisted for the Modernist Studies Association's Book Prize.
Columbia University has announced the election of three new members to the 19-person Pulitzer Prize Board, a group that includes Natasha Trethewey, herself a 2007 Pulitzer Prize recipient.
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As part of the Conversations with the Dean Faculty Speaker Series, Chris Abani and Dean Adrian Randolph discuss “ubuntu,” a concept that recognizes our interconnectedness, the importance of an English major in today’s world, and the Program in African Studies, which holds the largest collection of African and Africana books and artifacts outside of Africa.
Watch the Conversation
Maria Dikcis (PhD Northwestern, 2021) has been named an ACLS Leading Edge Fellow, a program made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. Under its auspices, Dikcis will be working as the Communications Manager of the City Bureau, a nonprofit civic journalism and media lab here in Chicago.
more on the Leading Edge program
An interview with Suzanne Scanlon (MFA+MA Northwestern, 2023) about her 2024 book, Committed: On Meaning and Madwomen, appeared in New York Magazine's The Cut
Read the interview

Charif Shanahan is one of four poets nationally to receive the 2024 Whiting Award. “Designed to recognize excellence,” the prestigious award is given annually to ten early career writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama, "based on early accomplishment and the promise of great work to come.”

Shanahan's poetry collection, Trace Evidence, was also a finalist for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, longlisted for 2023 National Book Award for Poetry, and winner of the Publishing Triangle’s Thom Gunn Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry.

Our Programs

 

Undergraduate

 

Graduate

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.

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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.

Apply to the Master's 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.

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News and Upcoming Events

 

Featured Department Events

 

Events

 
Feb
6
2025
Claudia Rankine Reading

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM, Evanston

The Litowitz MFA+MA Graduate Program in Creative Writing and English is proud to present a reading by Claudia Rankine. The event is fre...

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News

 
Charif Shanahan serves as Poetry magazine guest editor for summer 2023

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