By Whitney Hale

Nicole Chung, author of the award-winning memoir “All You Can Ever Know,” will give the keynote speech at the 2019 Kentucky Women Writers Conference, scheduled for Sept. 19-22. The free public talk, presented in conjunction with University of Kentucky Libraries, will begin 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center.

“Nicole Chung's memoir about her search for her biological roots is a compelling, beautifully written book that demonstrates the importance of reading underrepresented narratives,” said conference director Julie Kuzneski Wrinn. “We like to rotate among poetry, fiction and nonfiction in our keynote.

By Whitney Hale

University of Kentucky juniors Shania Goble, of Inez, Kentucky, and Katie Huffman, of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, have been awarded English-Speaking Union (ESU) Scholarships presented by the English-Speaking Union Kentucky Branch. The scholarships will cover Goble and Huffman's expenses for summer study at Oxford University.

The Kentucky Branch of the English-Speaking Union awards a limited number of scholarships to qualified Kentucky college students for courses offered at institutions in the United Kingdom. Scholarship awards include tuition, lodging and meals for three-week courses at the recipient's chosen institution. Scholarships also include one week of lodging in London and a cash allowance. 

By Lindsey Piercy

Gurney Norman and Ed McClanahan. Photo by Guy Mendes.

Two prolific writers and educators, with ties to the University of Kentucky, will soon add another title to their impressive resumes. The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning has chosen Gurney Norman and Ed McClanahan as this year’s living inductees into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame. In addition, former UK Department of English professor Jane Gentry Vance will be inducted posthumously. 

Though accomplished in their own rights — Norman and McClanahan, who are longtime friends, both have literary careers focused on autobiographical fiction, and they both draw inspiration

The deadline for our Early American Literature's 2019 Book Prize has been extended, moved from February 1 to March 1, 2019.

Nominations for second or later books will be accepted through that date. For more information regarding the nomination process, please see our original announcement on the EAL website.

By Chris Crumrine, Amy Jones-Timoney, Kody Kiser, and Brad Nally

“To actually be in Washington, D.C. is unlike anything that you can experience in a classroom or here in Kentucky,” says Hayley Leach. “The hands-on experience is unlike anything you can get.”

That is the primary goal of the University of Kentucky’s WilDCats at the Capitol program — to provide students with unique opportunities in the nation’s capital; support them through organized housing, academic credit and financial aid; and provide a rewarding and professional experience that will serve them beyond graduation.

Over the last year, more than 40 UK students from multiple disciplines have walked the halls of Congress alongside elected officials and policymakers, gaining a dynamic academic and professional

Professor Caroline Wigginton of the University of Mississippi has been selected to receive the 2018 Early American Literature Book Prize, which is awarded in even calendar years to a first monograph published in the prior two years, and in odd years to a second or subsequent book. Wigginton’s In the Neighborhood: Women’s Publication in Early America was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2016.

According to prize committee members, In the Neighborhood “combines media studies with literary analysis to highlight women's expressive networks,” thereby “showing them to be savvy participants in complex, dense scenes of intercultural encounter.” The study’s innovative approach encourages readers to resist the tendency to think of early American women primarily in symbolic terms related to nationhood monolithically

The editors of Early American Literature are pleased to announce the fifth annual Early American Literature Book Prize, which will be given for an author’s second or subsequent academic monograph about American literature in the colonial period through the early republic (roughly 1830). The prize is offered in collaboration with the University of North Carolina Press, the Society of Early Americanists, and the MLA’s Forum on American Literature to 1800.

Monographs published in 2017 or 2018 are eligible for the 2019 prize, which carries a cash award of $2000.

The deadline for nominations is March 1, 2019. Please send a single copy of any books nominated for the 2019 prize to:

EAL Book Prize

c/o Professor Marion Rust

Editor, Early American Literature

Department of English

University of

Early American Literature seeks conference reviewers for SSAWW 2018, ASA 2018, MLA 2019, SEA 2019, MELUS 2019, ASECS 2019, ALA 2019, NAIS 2019, and the Charles Brockden Brown Society Conference 2019. Conference reviews cover panels relevant to EAL’s readership, encompassing the overall range of the event and addressing key themes of particular interest to the reviewer. Conference reviews are generally 1500-2000 words in length, but can be longer or shorter depending on the scope of the event.



We welcome reviewers at all ranks who study early American literature and encourage recommendations for other conferences with an early American literature presence. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to Michelle Sizemore michelle.sizemore@uky.edu by January 15, 2019 for

Early American Literature seeks conference reviewers for SSAWW 2018, ASA 2018, MLA 2019, SEA 2019, MELUS 2019, ASECS 2019, ALA 2019, NAIS 2019, and the Charles Brockden Brown Society Conference 2019. Conference reviews cover panels relevant to EAL’s readership, encompassing the overall range of the event and addressing key themes of particular interest to the reviewer. Conference reviews are generally 1500-2000 words in length, but can be longer or shorter depending on the scope of the event.

We welcome reviewers at all ranks who study early American literature and encourage recommendations for other conferences with an early American literature presence. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to Michelle Sizemore michelle.sizemore@uky.edu by January 15, 2019 for conferences that

Early American Literature seeks conference reviewers for SSAWW 2018, ASA 2018, MLA 2019, SEA 2019, MELUS 2019, ASECS 2019, ALA 2019, NAIS 2019, and the Charles Brockden Brown Society Conference 2019. Conference reviews cover panels relevant to EAL’s readership, encompassing the overall range of the event and addressing key themes of particular interest to the reviewer. Conference reviews are generally 1500-2000 words in length, but can be longer or shorter depending on the scope of the event.

We welcome reviewers at all ranks who study early American literature and encourage recommendations for other conferences with an early American literature presence. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to Michelle Sizemore michelle.sizemore@uky.edu by January 15, 2019 for conferences that

By Ellie Wnek

While the format may have expanded to a festival from a fair, one thing is still the same — University Press of Kentucky (UPK) and University of Kentucky authors and editors will fill Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Book Fair Nov. 17.

For the first time, a full week of readings, luncheons, cocktail parties, trivia and panel discussions were presented leading up to the book fair as part of the inaugural Kentucky Book Festival, including a young adult literature panel held on the UK campus featuring one of the university’s own students. The week of literary events will culminate this weekend at the 37th Kentucky Book

By Ryan Girves

Last week, University of Kentucky graduate and undergraduate students competed in the final rounds of the 5-Minute Fast Track Research Competition and the 3-Minute Thesis Competition (3MT). While two final winners prevailed, research also came out ahead.

Research is one of the foundations of the university — creating solutions to some of the world's most pressing issues. Research is also one of the great opportunities provided to students at UK. 

Often, when we think of research, a scientist with smoking beakers comes to mind, but that does not always have to be the case. The 5-Minute Fast Track Research Competition, for undergraduate students, and 3MT, for graduate students, aim to change the stereotype surrounding research, while also providing students with an opportunity to present their research to an audience in a way that is

By Torrie Johnson

The SEC (Southeastern Conference) Faculty Travel Program will support more than 100 SEC faculty members during the 2018-2019 academic year, the league office announced Monday. Nine University of Kentucky faculty members will participate. Established in 2012 by the SEC provosts, the program is designed to provide financial assistance from the SEC office that bolsters intra-SEC collaboration.

Identified participants will travel to other SEC universities to exchange ideas, develop grant proposals, conduct research and deliver lectures or performances. Areas of interest for this year’s class include music, engineering, anthropology, law, medicine and African-American studies, among others.

“The SEC Faculty Travel Program has been a tremendous resource for faculty at universities across the SEC,” said Ellen Reames, associate professor at

The editors of Early American Literature are pleased to announce the fifth annual Early American Literature Book Prize, which will be given for an author’s second or subsequent academic monograph about American literature in the colonial period through the early republic (roughly 1830). The prize is offered in collaboration with the University of North Carolina Press, the Society of Early Americanists, and the MLA’s Forum on American Literature to 1800.

Monographs published in 2017 or 2018 are eligible for the 2019 prize, which carries a cash award of $2000. 

The deadline for nominations is February 1, 2019. Please send a single copy of any books nominated for the 2019 prize to:

EAL Book Prize

c/o Professor Marion Rust

Editor, Early American Literature

Department of English

By Sarah Jayne Johnson

In the summer of 1816, a group of friends gathered on Lake Geneva to see who could tell the most terrifying tale. An 18-year-old Mary Shelley was among the group. She told the frightening story of a young scientist who creates a grotesque monster in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Victor Frankenstein and The Creature were born that night — the rest is history.

On Oct. 24, the University of Kentucky’s Department of English and the English Honors Society Sigma Tau Delta invite the public to join in a celebration of this monumental narrative for the 200th anniversary of "Frankenstein."

"Frankenstein" is simultaneously the first science-fiction novel, a gothic horror and a tragic romance all sewn into one

By Mack McCormick and Whitney Hale

University of Kentucky Associate Professor of English and University Press of Kentucky author Crystal Wilkinson’s novel, “The Birds of Opulence,” has been named the winner of the 2016 Appalachian Writers Association's Appalachian Book of the Year for Fiction. The multigenerational novel follows four generations of women in a bucolic southern black township as they live with and sometimes surrender to madness. This marks the fourth award “The Birds of Opulence” has won, including the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, the 

By Mack McCormick and Whitney Hale

University of Kentucky professor, University Press of Kentucky author and former Kentucky Poet Laureate Jane Gentry (1941–2014) has been named the recipient of Appalachian Writers Association’s 2017 Appalachian Book of the Year for Poetry for her posthumous collection “The New and Collected Poems of Jane Gentry,” edited by Julia Johnson, professor of English.

The AWA’s mission is to recognize and promote writing about the Appalachian region. The association works to celebrate writers who are living or have lived in

By Nick Harling

The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences has named the first recipients of its Inclusion Fellows program, an initiative for faculty interested in actively orchestrating and advancing efforts to build a more inclusive campus.

Fellows can develop and implement scholarly, community-building, pedagogical, mentoring and networking events, initiatives or programming. The fellowship period serves as a professional development opportunity for the fellows, as it enables them to enhance their responsibilities and bring forth new ideas and measures that will positively affect students.

“The overall goal of the Inclusion Fellows Program is to draw on and support faculty to create sustainable change to enhance inclusivity within the college,” Cristina Alcalde, associate dean of inclusion and internationalization, said. “Over the course

By Trey Melcher and Jenny Wells

Na'imah Muhammad and Nedjma Kalliney discuss their writings in a session of the "Giggles, Guts, and Glitter" creativity workshop. Photo courtesy of Anna K. Stone.

DaMaris B. Hill, an assistant professor of creative writing and English literature in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, recently hosted a writing and creativity workshop for young women of color. The workshop was made possible by a "Girls of Color: Voice and Vision" grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women.

The purpose of the project was to elevate the voices and lived experiences of these young women by sharing personal stories and creating art.

"A project that educates black girls about accessing voice, feminist

By Julie Wrinn

Chris Green (’93 B.A.) majored in English for the usual reason: he loved to read. His path to that degree, however, and to his success as a partner in the internationally prominent New York law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, was unusually long and circuitous.

“I was really introduced to serious writing by Bill Floyd, one of my all-time favorite teachers. He taught us Yeats in the eighth grade,” recalls Green. “Since then, I’ve loved poetry, especially the modern poets.” The doors Floyd opened proved to be the high point of Green’s early academic career, however, because he “back-slid” in high school.

Thanks to his SAT scores, Green was admitted to Princeton, but he lasted only three semesters. “It was an intensely challenging academic environment, and my study skills weren’t on par with my classmates.” He worked hard but couldn’t manage his