Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 14h

The first PhD cohort in American Indian & Indigenous Studies includes MFA alum and poet Kachina Yeager. Cheers for the inaugural cohort!

2025-2026 American Indian & Indigenous Studies PhD Cohort

Join the Department of American Indian Studies in welcoming our first PhD cohort!

cla.umn.edu

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Reposted by UMN English

Mercedes Sheldon @mercedessheldon.bsky.social · 1d

Fab editorial by @umnenglish.bsky.social faculty.
"Majoring in English is by no means a bad investment of a student’s time and tuition dollars. ... While graduates with English degrees may start out earning less than peers in other fields, they out-earn them in the second half of their careers."

Counterpoint | Actually, English majors are thriving at the University of Minnesota

"As the chair of the English department, past English chair, and assistant dean of curriculum and instruction at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, we often find reports of the demise of ...

www.startribune.com

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 5d

MFA alum Elizabeth Foy Larsen produced the documentary MAGIC & MONSTERS, screening in person/online 10-24 through the Twin Cities Film Fest. After litigation that exposed decades of sexual abuse at Minneapolis' Children's Theatre Company, the film follows the survivors' campaign for accountability:

Magic & Monsters - Twin Cities Film Fest

twincitiesfilmfest.org

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 6d

Interested in an MFA in Creative Writing? Join us Oct 15 or 20 to hear from faculty and students re: our fully funded, three-year program. Since 2019, our students and alums have published more than 70 books! Register:
www.eventbrite.com/e/umn-creati...

White slide with colored graphic elements including shelf of books, photo of stone building. Text: UMN Creative Writing MFA Open House October 15th 10 am - 11 am & October 20th 6 pm - 7pm Location: ZoomOur Faculty: Douglas Kearney, Megan Giddings, Peter Campion, Kathryn Nuernberger, Aamina Ahmad, Julie Schumacher, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Kyrs Belc, Kim Todd Stop by one of our virtual open house sessions to meet faculty, ask questions, and learn about the MFA program!

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 6d

"the first half is a very traditional whaling narrative set at the end of the American whaling industry. Then about halfway through, it sort of turns into a fever dream"
- MFA alum Ethan Rutherford, FINALIST now for National Book Award!

MPR News @mprnews.org · 8d

Ethan Rutherford, a Minnesota-connected author, earned a National Book Award longlist spot for his surreal, environmentally charged debut novel “North Sun,” a lyrical whaling tale that blends history with myth.

When the sea went strange: A Minnesota connection to the National Book Awards

Ethan Rutherford, a Minnesota-connected author, earned a National Book Award longlist spot for his surreal, environmentally charged debut novel “North Sun,” a lyrical whaling tale that blends history ...

www.mprnews.org

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 7d

From alum Will Hermes, author of Lou Reed: The King of New York!

Will Hermes @willhermes.bsky.social · 19d

I'm teaching another writing class — live + interactive via Zoom — on Sunday Oct 12 at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT.

The last one (which focused on writing about music) was great fun. I'm stoked for this one. You can register below.

Writing a Life Story - Five Things I've Learned

Join me in this live two-hour class and discover the Five Things I’ve Learned about telling someone else’s story – in ways that both preserve and pay tribute to their personal history. When I was wri...

myfivethings.com

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 7d

Very excited that MFA alum Ethan Rutherford has been named a National Book Award finalist for North Sun! "With one foot firmly planted in the traditional sea-voyage narrative, and another in a blazing mythos of its own, this debut novel looks unsparingly at the cost of environmental exploitation"

2025 National Book Awards Finalists Announced

Twenty-five Finalists to contend for National Book Awards in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature

www.nationalbook.org

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 8d

It's #BannedBooksWeek, and here's Prof V. V. Ganeshananthan interviewing novelist Yiming Ma re: the dangers of state censorship and self-censorship:

Fiction/Non/Fiction Podcast @fnfpodcast.bsky.social · 12d

Fiction writer Yiming Ma joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and
@sugi.bsky.social to discuss his new novel These Memories Do Not Belong To Us and how terrifyingly easy it can be to live in a society in which censorship is the default.
@literaryhub.bsky.social
lithub.com/yiming-ma-on...

Yiming Ma on the Future of Censorship

Fiction writer Yiming Ma joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss his new novel These Memories Do Not Belong To Us. Ma, who was born in Shanghai and visited China frequentl…

lithub.com

Reposted by UMN English

American Library Association @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social · 9d

Censorship is so 1984. Read for your rights.

Today kicks off #BannedBooksWeek, and this year's theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, that censorship has no place in contemporary society, and that we must defend our rights.

https://www.ala.org/bbooks.

BANNED BOOKS WEEK Oct. 5-11, 2025. Censorship is so 1984 - Read for Your Rights. ala.org/bbooks. American Library Association

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 12d

MFA alum Tarik Dobbs has three poems in the Oct POETRY magazine, all in the tanka form:

October 2025

Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.

www.poetryfoundation.org

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 13d

Next week at Northrop Best Buy Theater, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson discusses new book Theory of Water, "a genre-bending exploration of that most elemental force—water—through Indigenous storytelling, personal memory, and the work of influential artists and writers"

Guy Stanton Ford Lecture: Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and the Theory of Water | Institute for Advanced Study

ias.umn.edu

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 14d

"I began the research for this book as a quest to answer the mystery of my family, and instead uncovered a largely unknown history—the practice of incarcerating girls for immorality in the first half of the 20th century and beyond" - BA alum Sheila O'Connor interviewed about her novel Evidence of V

One Book | One Minnesota: Evidence of V

YouTube video by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library

www.youtube.com

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 15d

“Father Mapple is in some strange, almost obscure way, a kind of negative double for Ahab.... he is the person who wants to bring a sense of proportion. Father Mapple kind of supplies a warning and a possible lens for a reading of the entire novel" - Retired Prof/novelist Charles Baxter on Moby Dick

Lapham’s Quarterly @laphamsquarterly.bsky.social · 18d

Charles Baxter visits The World in Time to talk with Donovan Hohn about the politics and the mysteries of charisma in Moby Dick. www.laphamsquarterly.org/content/epis...

Episode 14: Charles Baxter on “The Sermon”

The latest episode of The World in Time.

www.laphamsquarterly.org

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 19d

MFA alum Fenton will be reading from his new novel 6 pm tonight at @nextchapterbooksmn.bsky.social

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 19d

"Adaptability, curiosity, and adventuresome thinking—traits encouraged by a liberal arts education—can lead to work you might never predict"
BA alum Jason Heaton describes a career of writing about adventure travel and gear:

Finding Depth

By Jason Heaton

www.minnesotaalumni.org

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 21d

Happy pub day and cheers to MFA alum Kevin Fenton, whose novel Cyan Magenta Yellow Black won the Big Moose Prize from @blacklawrence.bsky.social
"Stylish, smart, and big-hearted...lovingly summons the Minneapolis Saint Paul of December of 1993, just before the internet changed everything"

Cyan Magenta Yellow Black - Black Lawrence Press | Black Lawrence Press

Winner of the 2024 Big Moose Prize Stylish, smart, and big-hearted, Cyan Magenta Yellow Black lovingly summons the Minneapolis Saint Paul of December of 1993, just before the internet changed everythi...

blacklawrencepress.com

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 22d

Recent English alum Zayna Amanat was selected to "scout and evaluate intellectual property (IP)" for Netflix adaptations this past summer, which involved reading "multiple novels, short stories, graphic novels." Takeaway? "There are more ways to use my editorial skills that I didn't know about...."

Behind the Screens: Insights from a Netflix Internship

Zayna Amanat used skills honed in her literature and media culture classrooms to identify and pitch stories that could be adapted into movies and TV shows.

cla.umn.edu

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 26d

Co-signed and co-sponsored. Next Wed hear from the co-editors of the great anthology of essays, poems, and artwork from migrants, refugees, and Dreamers:

Immigration History Research Center @ihrc-umn.bsky.social · Sep 11

Join us for a special evening with Reyna Grande and Sonia Guinansaca Sept 24 at 6pm at Best Buy Theater, Northrop in Minneapolis. More info and registration at z.umn.edu/rosales2025
@umncla.bsky.social @umn-amst.bsky.social @umnenglish.bsky.social @umn-amst.bsky.social

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 27d

And a panel Friday with Rissi Palmer of Color Me Country Radio and CLA profs on the West Bank:

Amplifying Inclusion: A Conversation with Rissi Palmer of Color Me Country Radio

This roundtable features Rissi Palmer, the celebrated Black woman country artist and host of Color Me Country Radio. She has been making waves in mainstream country music since the 2007 single “Countr...

cla.umn.edu

UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 27d

Including a free event this afternoon on "Black Food Politics, History, and Transformation" in our building, with the Liberal Arts Engagement Hub
#FarmAid40 #UMNCLA

Will Jones @willpjones.bsky.social · Sep 13

Starting Tuesday, 9/16, @farmaid.org and several UMN departments are collaborating on an amazing line-up of film screenings, discussions, and musical events at and near the University of Minnesota. Most are free and all are open to the public. Check out and share the list here:

Farm Aid 40 Events – Farm Aid

www.farmaid.org

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 27d

Tonight at 7 pm: BA alum Sheila O’Connor talks about her MNBA-winning novel Evidence of V with Mubanga Kalimamukwento for One Book Minnesota book club! Online and free:

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: One Book | One Minnesota - Evidence of V. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

Conversation between Sheila O'Connor and Mubanga Kalimamukwento

us06web.zoom.us

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 28d

From alum Kate Hopper, author of Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood and Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers:

Kate Hopper @mnkatehopper.bsky.social · 28d

I still have a few spots open in my Motherword & Words online class starting next week, including two scholarships for BIPOC women. Join me and write the stories you need to write!

#writersky
#motherhood
#writingcommunity
#amwriting

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · 28d

Congrats to MFA nonfiction student Julia Oschwald Tilton who won the prose Epiphany 2025 Breakout Writers Prize!
Judge Hilary Leichter noted:
”‘Fertile’ is a beautiful example of the way a single word, when examined carefully, can contain multiple registers of beauty, pain, and promise"

2025 Breakout! Writers Prize Winners — Epiphany Magazine

Winners of the 2025 Breakout! Writers Prize: Julia Oschwald Tilton in prose, and Alice Liang in poetry

epiphanyzine.com

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UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · Sep 12

Congrats to MFA alum Ethan Rutherford on making the National Book Award fiction longlist! North Sun is his debut novel after two story collections:

2025 National Book Awards Longlist for Fiction

The ten contenders for the National Book Award for Fiction

www.nationalbook.org

UMN English @umnenglish.bsky.social · Sep 11

Minneapolis and St Paul: Join us in person next Thurs for a free reading by the legendary poet CAConrad. Eileen Myles wrote admiringly of "the fullness of their exposition...deeply informed by love, and a tenderness for the ravages and tumult of existence"

CAConrad Reading

The Edelstein-Keller Visiting Writer series presents the poet and author of The Book of Frank.

cla.umn.edu

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