The University of Kentucky English Department is a powerhouse of literary success and scholarly achievement, featuring award-winning and world-renowned authors. Their celebrated novels, award-winning monographs, thought-provoking essays and inspiring poetry have captivated audiences and set new standards in the literary world. In addition, our graduate students are also making significant strides in the field as they undertake exciting research, explore new frontiers,and make valuable contributions to the field and push the boundaries of scholarship and the literary canon.
 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Andy Doolen published Traitor: The Life and Assassination of John Dunn Hunter, American Radical with Johns Hopkins University Press in 2025. John Dunn Hunter was many things: a frontier hero, a writer, a celebrity at home and abroad and, ultimately, the victim of a deadly conspiracy. A reviewer notes, “Doolen has reanimated Hunter for the twenty-first century and has done so with a rollicking style and deft attention to narrative that will no doubt instruct and entertain a host of readers." For more, click here.

Shauna M. Morgan’s book of poetry, Ground Provisions, was published in 2025 by Peepal Tree Press, the leading publisher of Caribbean and Black British writing in the United Kingdom. It was shortlisted for the 2026 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, Poetry Category, and made the Forward Prizes for Poetry shortlist for the 2026 Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection. With lush language and imagery, Ground Provisions takes readers on a sensory journey across landscapes of the body and earth. It grapples with notions of heritage and inheritance and provokes questions about identity in the making of diasporas and the formation of multi-ethnic realities. Read more from the publisher here.

Hannah Pittard's sixth book was published in July 2025 and became one of the most talked-about literary releases of the season. The New Yorker suggested it might be "the top book-club pick of the summer." If You Love It, Let It Kill You follows Hana P., a Kentucky novelist and professor who comes apart after learning that her ex-husband's debut novel will feature an unflattering version of her, —a premise that borrows freely from Pittard's own much-publicized divorce and its aftermath. The New York Times recommended the book on four separate occasions. Beyond an editor's rave review, the paper ran a multi-page profile of Pittard that appeared on the cover of the Arts section. The novel also landed her on the Joyce Carol Oates Prize longlist for a second time. Film rights have since been optioned by Marisa Tomei. For more, click here.