By Madison Dyment

Congratulations to DaMaris Hill, associate professor of creative writing and English literature in the College of Arts & Sciences, on the success of her book of poetry, “A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing.” The book recently reached the #1 Best Seller spot on the Amazon African American Poetry list, also gracing the overall Amazon Best Seller list. 

The poetry serves as Hill’s response to the complex nature of our cultural times while also drawing inspiration from past generations. 

“As smart as I was, I don’t think I really had all the knowledge and stamina to really endure this cultural situation without becoming extremely depressed, but I knew that the people who lived before me lived through similar situations, so those are the people that I looked to for clarification and inspiration,” Hill said. 

With personal

By Lindsey Piercy

Although students are excited to start their journey in higher education, there is often a feeling of apprehension. One of the most anxiety-producing tasks? Registering for classes.

Choosing from a variety of professors, scheduling your courses and getting enough credit hours can be extremely stressful. That's why the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky has spent the last three years rethinking and restructuring the process.

Dean Mark Kornbluh takes great pride in offering innovative core classes — courses that were originally designed with freshmen in mind. “We want to make sure our incoming students start their college career on the right foot, with all

By Lori Adams

The University of Kentucky has released its Dean's List for the spring 2019 semester. A total of 6,562 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance. 

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade-point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes. Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting: www.uky.edu/PR/News/DeansList/.

The University of Kentucky is increasingly the first choice for students, faculty and staff to pursue their passions and their professional goals. In the last two years, Forbes has named UK among the best employers for diversity and

By Whitney Hale

The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that seven recent UK graduates and four doctoral students have been offered Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships. The UK recipients are among approximately 2,000 U.S. students who will travel abroad for the 2019-20 academic year.

Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected based on academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The program operates in more than 140 countries.

This year's UK students offered Fulbright grants, from a university record 37 applications, are:

By Rebecca Longo

Top, l to r: Eli O’Neal, Chase Carleton, Melynda Price (director). Middle: Claire Hilbrecht, Josh Ehl, Carson Hardee. Front: Aileen Tierney, Hannah Thomas, Bria Northington, Daniela Gamez. Not pictured: Will Kueshner, Nicole Blackstone, Megan Yadav.

The University of Kentucky Gaines Center for the Humanities has selected 12 undergraduate students as new scholars for the Gaines Fellowship Program.

The Gaines Fellowship is presented in recognition of outstanding academic performance, demonstrated ability to conduct independent research, an interest in public issues and a desire to enhance understanding of the human condition through the humanities. Founded in 1984 by a generous gift from John and

By Ryan Girves

Award winners are from left, front row: Jennifer Osterhage, Rachel Carr, Anna Voskresensky, Benjamin Braun, Suzanne Smith. Back row: Abraham Prades-Mengibar, Luc Dunoyer, Shane Clark and Sarah Wilson. Not pictured: Amy Taylor. Mark Cornelison | UK Photo.

The University of Kentucky recognized exceptional faculty and teaching assistants with the Outstanding Teaching Awards during the 2019 UK Faculty Awards Ceremony held Thursday, April 18.

The Outstanding Teaching Awards annually recognize faculty and graduate teaching assistants who go above and beyond what is expected and demonstrate outstanding performance in the classroom or laboratory. Selected via nomination, candidates were reviewed by a selection committee empaneled by the Office for Faculty Advancement and the 

By Lindsey Piercy

Frank X Walker with his son, Kumasi. The painting features Walker's mother and one of his sisters. Photo by Shauna M. Morgan.

If you were to walk into the dining room of Frank X Walker's Lexington home, it wouldn't look like your typical space for hosting dinner parties. Instead, it's been converted into a studio and a nursery, where Walker now spends the majority of his time. The room is often filled with the two things he is most passionate about — work and family.

For Walker, an English professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, last summer marked the beginning of a new era — an era ignited by pain and fueled by passion.

"After my

By Whitney Hale

The Kentucky Women Writers Conferencehas named three finalists in its Prize for Women Playwrights, which honors new theatrical work. Now in its fifth biennial cycle, the prize seeks to bring more plays by women to the stage, through a collaboration among the Kentucky Women Writers, partnering producer and director Eric Seale, and guest judge Ifa Bayeza. The winner receives a world premiere production for a paying audience in November 2019 at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center, with royalties, plus a cash prize of $500.

Finalists are:

“Bite the Apple” by Linda Manning, of Bronx, New York. Cinderella, in a

By Mack McCormick and Whitney Hale

By Ryan Girves

Eighteen University of Kentucky students are making their way to the State Capitol Building in Frankfort, Kentucky, to present their research at the 2019 Posters-at-the-Capitol event. This one-day annual event is held to show Kentucky legislators the importance of undergraduate research and scholarly work in Kentucky. The governor proclaims this day to be Undergraduate Research Day across the Commonwealth.

"Posters-at-the-Capitol is a platform whereby undergraduates from across the Commonwealth’s eight public institutions proudly showcase their undergraduate research projects," said Evie Russell, assistant director at the Office of Undergraduate Research. "Each year, University of Kentucky students look forward to communicating their research achievements to Kentucky Legislators and their peers."

The work presented by students

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