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Dean Family Speaker Series

The Department of English at Wake Forest University is proud to host the Dean Family Speaker Series. This series has been endowed by a generous gift from the Dean Family, and brings national authors and scholars to our campus. It encourages critical conversations and dialogue related to the study of literature. All talks are open to the public, and everyone is invited to attend. Our recent speakers have included Nancy Armstrong, Lauren Berlant, Wai Chee Dimock, Robert Levine, Jean Marcus, Fred Moten, Marjorie Perloff, Michelle Stephens, Ivy Wilson, Shannon Winnubst, and more.

For further information about the Dean Family Speaker Series, contact director Judith Madera.

Events

  • Wake Forest Alum Mackenzie Kozak to Publish Award-Winning Poetry Collection
    Congratulations to Mackenzie Kozack on her debut collection, no swaddle, which has been awarded the Iowa Poetry Prize and will be published in April 2025. We look forward to hosting her for a reading in the near future. Mackenzie Kozak is a poet living in Asheville, NC. She graduated from Wake Forest in […]
  • Our 2024 Doyle Fosso Scholarship Recipients
    Join us in congratulating Grace Ayzanoa, Hollis Comer, and Meg Campbell on their receipt of the Doyle Fosso Scholarship! These three talented and accomplished students are the inaugural recipients of the new annual award, which is established in memory of Professor Emeritus Doyle Fosso, a distinguished professor of English who taught at Wake Forest University […]
  • The Dean Speaker Series Presents Dr. David Sterling Brown: “Hear Me, See Me”
    Dr. David Sterling Brown will join us on February 20, 2025 to present his talk “‘Hear Me, See Me’: Sex, Violence, Silence and Othello.” The event will be in the Z. Smith Reynolds Library (room 404), and will be free and open to the public. Dr. David Sterling Brown is a tenured Associate Professor of English […]
  • Open for Submissions: 24-25 Academy of American Poets / Edwin G. Wilson Prize for Undergraduate Poetry
    The Department of English invites students from every discipline to submit their original poetry to Wake Forest University’s Academy of American Poets / Edwin G. Wilson Prize. The Prize, which was inaugurated in spring 2023, is awarded each spring to an outstanding Wake Forest undergraduate poet. The Prize was established by an anonymous donor in […]
  • Voices across America Presentation September 26
    Elizabeth Hanks will visit campus on September 26 from 3 to 4 PM to give a presentation in Greene Hall room 239. This presentation introduces the design, sampling, and data collection of a new corpus of spoken American English: the Lancaster-Northern Arizona Corpus of Spoken American English (LANA-CASE). The goal of the project is to […]
  • Study Abroad in London Summer 2025
    Join us in London this summer from May 27 to June 28 for Literature of the Witch, co-taught by Dr. Joanna Ruocco and Dr. Sarah Hogan! ENG 302 (D) / CRW 286 / WGS 377: This 3-credit study away summer course will introduce you to wide-ranging works of English literature-mostly by women writers–that portray the […]
  • Sawako Nakayasu to Speak on October 8
    On October 8, Sawako Nakayasu will visit the University to perform a public reading of original work. The event will be hosted at 5:30 PM in the Hanes Gallery; it will be free and open to the public, with a reception to follow. This event is presented by the Department of English, along with the […]
  • Dillon Johnston Writers Reading Series presents Steven Dunn and DrewShamir on October 2
    Steven Dunn and DrewShamir will visit the university on October 2 and will give a collaborative reading and performance. The event, located at the Hanes Art Gallery at 6:30 pm, will be free and open to the public. A reception will follow. Steven Dunn (a.k.a. Pothole, cuz he’s deep in these streets) is a Whiting […]
  • Welcome, Fall 2024 New Faculty!
    Jennifer Conlon, Visiting Assistant Professor, Writing Jennifer Conlon teaches first-year writing and poetry, and joined the Wake Forest Writing Program in 2024. They are the author of Taking to Water, chosen by Carl Phillips for the 2022 Autumn House Poetry Prize. Jennifer is from North Carolina and earned their MFA in poetry from Arizona State […]
  • “A Shore Thing” Reviewed by the New York Times
    The English Department is pleased to celebrate the review of Joanna Ruocco’s book. See below. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/27/books/review/new-romance-books.html A similar kind of alchemy happens in Joanna Lowell’s glorious A SHORE THING (Berkley, 368 pp., paperback, $19), where — brace yourself — the recent invention of the safety bicycle leads to a summertime […]