Summer Reading Recs
Four W&L professors share their must-reads to help you round out your reading list.
English Archive (120 Stories)
Interdisciplinary Innovation
Three new Spring Term Abroad courses allow the liberal arts ethos to shine as professors in different disciplines combine forces.
Four Years in Focus
Senior Ryan Doty reflects on his time at Washington and Lee and the experiences he’ll carry with him into his next chapter.
Wan-Chuan Kao Receives Fellowship at the Suzy Newhouse Center for Humanities
The associate professor of English will perform research leading to a new monograph at the Wellesley College-based academic center next year.
W&L’s Nona David ’26 Selected for U.S. Teaching Assistantship to Austria
An aspiring educator, David looks forward to combining her love for education and language-learning.
W&L’s Staniar Gallery Presents ‘This Earthen Door’ and ‘The Blue of Distance’
The combined exhibition, featuring the work of artists Amanda Marchand and Leah Sobsey, will open April 27, with an artist’s talk by Sobsey slated for May 13.
POSTPONED | W&L Hosts 21st Annual Tom Wolfe Weekend
The weekend’s seminar will feature award-winning author George Saunders discussing his new novel, “Vigil.”
W&L’s Laura Brodie to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading
Brodie’s April 1 reading will also celebrate her 25 years at W&L, ahead of her retirement in May.
W&L Professor Chris Gavaler Publishes New Book
The professor of English authored a book titled “The Color of Paper,” which was released in February.
Brooks Fischer ’97: The Value of the Humanities in Business
Fischer returned to campus on March 18 to share how he used his English major as a building block to his successful career as managing partner at Yates Insurance and to impart to students the benefit of exploring the humanities and the arts.
W&L Adds New Creative Writing Major
Washington and Lee's new creative writing major helps students hone their craft.
W&L’s Lesley Wheeler to Host Writing Workshop
The Jan. 29 workshop is open to the public and designed for writers of any genre.
Emily L. King Featured on Connecticut Public Radio’s ‘The Colin McEnroe Show’
The visiting assistant professor of writing and English appeared on the weekday radio program to discuss her expertise on the interplay of honor and vengeance in literature.
Jane Harrington is the Next Speaker in the Anne and Edgar Basse Jr. Author Talk Series
Harrington will talk about her new book, “Women of the Fairy Tale Resistance,” on Nov. 13.
Meet Reagan Reiferson ’26
Reiferson has found her "homes" on campus in her sorority and the Outing Club.
Lesley Wheeler Featured in Best American Poetry 2025 and Publishes Book Chapter
The English professor’s poem “Sex Talk” and essay “Talkin’ New York” were highlighted in larger collections.
Author Matthew Gavin Frank to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
Frank will read from his new book “Submersed: Wonder, Obsession and Murder in the World of Amateur Submarines” at the Oct. 2 event.
Meet Ryan Doty ’26
Doty's many creative pursuits range from research in the chemistry lab to taking photos around campus.
Domnica Radulescu Headlines First Beyond the Page: Milestone Works by Faculty Event
The Edwin A. Morris Professor of Comparative Literatures will discuss her forthcoming book, “My Father’s Orchards.”
‘W&L After Class’ Podcast Releases New Episode Featuring Lena Hill
The Washington and Lee University provost and professor of English speaks to serendipitous opportunities of the liberal arts.
Former Shenandoah Contributors to Give Annual Shannon-Clark Lecture at W&L
The Sept. 25 lecture will feature Ukrainian poet Julia Kolchinsky and poet and essayist Jaswinder Bolina.
In Memoriam: Heather Ross Miller, Thomas H. Broadus Jr. Professor of English Emerita
The famed author worked for Washington and Lee University for 11 years.
Saluting A Masterful Mentor: W. Dabney Stuart
James McLaughlin ’86, author of the novels “Panther Gap” and “Bearskin,” salutes W. Dabney Stuart, S. Blount Mason Professor of English Emeritus.
Freddy Fuentes Presents Paper at the Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies Conference
The visiting assistant professor of English lectured on Magical Realism as Eco Writing.
W&L Outcomes: Alaina Pastore ’25
This fall, Pastore will enter a one-year master's program at the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England.
Introducing Austin Term
A creative new Spring Term course brought students to Austin, Texas, for alumni mentorship, career exploration and literary analysis.
W&L’s Abby Moore ’25 Selected for Fulbright to Australia
Moore will conduct biomedical research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Australia.
W&L’s Lily Nannini Awarded Fulbright to Germany
Nannini was selected for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Germany.
Poetry in Motion
Aby Joyner ’28 believes in the power of photography and poetry, publishing two books, with another in progress.
Meet Martha Greer Walker ’27
At W&L, Walker discovered a passion for English and its focus on learning how to think critically, creatively and empathetically.
Chris Gavaler to Debut One-Act Play at the Live Arts Waterworks Festival
The professor of English’s show will screen on May 21 and 23 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Author Erin Crosby Eckstine to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
Eckstine will read from her debut novel, “Junie,” at the May 6 event.
Meet Nona David ’26
David serves as head intern of the Burish internship program that connects local schools with student volunteers.
‘W&L After Class’ Podcast Releases New Episode Featuring Beth Staples
In this month’s episode, Staples speaks of the power of imagination and storytelling and the continuous, and evolving, legacy of the Shenandoah literary magazine.
Authors Athena Dixon and Matthew Vollmer to Give Reading at W&L
The April 3 reading by the former Shenandoah contributors is part of the literary magazine’s 75th- anniversary celebrations.
Leah Naomi Green to Hold Reading and Conversation on Language and Narrative
The April 7 event is part of the Museums at W&L’s ‘Lunch and Learn’ series.
Tricia Miller ’93 Featured in Insider Athens Magazine
Miller was named one of the most inspiring women in Athens, Georgia.
W&L’s Lesley Wheeler Publishes New Book
The English professor’s poetry collection explores natural and human transformation.
Authors DW McKinney and Sylvia Jones to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
The public reading by the former Shenandoah editorial fellows will take place Feb. 11 in Northen Auditorium.
‘W&L After Class’ Podcast Launches New Season With Episode Featuring Holly Pickett
In the podcast’s first episode of season six, Pickett, professor of English, discusses the power of humanities in a rapidly changing world and the life lessons that can be continuously unearthed in Shakespearean text.
In Memoriam: Rod Smith, Editor of Shenandoah and Adjunct Professor of English
Smith served as the literary magazine’s editor for 23 years.
Twelve W&L Students Awarded Gilman Scholarships to Study Abroad
The Gilman Scholarship Program offers awards of up to $5,000 to U.S. undergraduate students who are Pell Grant recipients.
Poet Matthew Zapruder to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
The public reading will take place Nov. 12 in Northen Auditorium.
Poet Yahya Ashour to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
The public reading will take place Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in Northen Auditorium.
Meet Darnell Pelzer Jr. ’25
Pelzer has enjoyed connecting with others with shared interests through the Gaming Club, University Singers, SABU and the Office of Sustainability.
Chris Gavaler and Nathaniel Goldberg Publish Paper in the Canadian Journal of Philosophy
The professors co-authored an article that investigates the different ways comics are ordered.
Professors Chris Gavaler and Nat Goldberg to Discuss Their New Book, ‘Revising Reality’
The discussion will be held Wednesday, Oct. 2 in the Harte Center Gallery.
W&L Alumni Receive Omicron Delta Kappa Scholarships
Three Washington and Lee University graduates received scholarships from the National Leadership Honor Society to support graduate and professional study.
From Shakespeare to Sci-Fi
While exploring the connections between “Station Eleven” and William Shakespeare, professor of English Holly Pickett and her crew of summer research students examined the foundational value of the humanities to society.
University of Chicago’s Professor Kaneesha Parsard to Give Annual Shannon-Clark Lecture at W&L
Parsard’s lecture on Sept. 26, titled “The Friending Plot: Sexual & Economic Freedoms in Early 20th Century Caribbean Fiction,” is free and open to the public.
W&L Outcomes: Kathryn Cover ’24
Cover is working as a public relations apprentice at Prosek Partners in New York City.
English Professor Named 2024 Wells College Press Chapbook Award Winner
K. Avvirin Berlin was recognized for her manuscript ‘Obsidian.’
W&L Outcomes: Lillie Taylor ’24
Taylor is moving to Niigata Prefecture, Japan, to work as an assistant language teacher for the JET Program.
Roots Pilgrimage
Ryan Doty’s summer passion project explored his family lineage through poetry and photography.
Diego Millan Receives the Jack Rosenbalm Prize for American Humor
The assistant professor of English and Africana studies was cited for his article on Chester Himes’ book ‘If He Hollers Let Him Go.’
Chris Gavaler and Nathaniel Goldberg Collaborate to Publish Third Book Together
The W&L professors’ latest publication uses pop culture concepts to untangle real-world histories.
‘The Big Picture of Life’
As one of the first Spring Term abroad classes offered at W&L, The Play’s the Thing: Shakespeare in Performance continues to impact the cohort of alumni who took that initial trip to England.
W&L Professor Awarded the David and Rosalee McCullough Research Fellowship
Edward Adams will use the funds to research decline narratives in West Virginia.
W&L’s Gillian Holloway ’24 Earns Fulbright to Spain
Holloway was selected for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Spain.
W&L Hosts 19th Annual Tom Wolfe Weekend
The weekend’s seminar will feature Tess Gunty discussing her debut novel, “The Rabbit Hutch.”
W&L Presents Senior Recital with Annie Thomas ’24
Thomas’s piano recital will be held on March 29 at 8 p.m.
Sybil Prince Nelson is the Next Speaker in the Anne and Edgar Basse Jr. Author Talk Series
Nelson will deliver a lecture on “Where Math Meets Imagination” on March 19.
Author Kaveh Akbar to Deliver Public Reading
Akbar will read from his debut novel “Martyr!” at the March 14 event.
W&L English Professor Publishes New Book
Holly Pickett’s book explores the stories of several serial converts in early modern England.
Meet Katherine Hudson ’26
Environmental humanities classes introduced Hudson to new ideas on how humans interact with the world.
Poet and Memoirist Jan Beatty to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
The public reading will take place March 6 at 6 p.m. in Northen Auditorium.
Wan-Chuan Kao Hosts Virtual Book Launch Event
‘White before whiteness in the late Middle Ages’ will launch via Zoom on Jan. 25 from 5-6:30 p.m.
W&L to Host “Slices of Research” Program at Salerno Wood Fired Pizza & Taphouse
Newly promoted faculty members will present their research in a PechaKucha format on Jan. 30.
W&L’s Julie Kane Earns Prestigious Book Review Award
Professor and collection strategist named a Library Journal Reviewer of the Year 2023.
Sandberg to Present Nobel Prize Symposium Talk
Stephanie Sandberg, assistant professor of theater, will discuss this year’s Nobel Prize in literature on Wednesday, Jan. 31 at 12:15 p.m.
An Empathetic Writer
After graduating with a double degree in English and studio art, Gabriela Gomez-Misserian ’21 took her talents to Garden & Gun Magazine.
Author Qiana Whitted to Give Annual Shannon-Clark Lecture at W&L
Whitted’s lecture on Oct. 19, titled “All-New, All-Negro: Orrin C. Evans and the Golden Age of Comics,” is free and open to the public.
W&L English Professor Published in The Hopkins Review
Lesley Wheeler’s essay “Ghost Tour” was featured in a guest-edited folio for the Summer 2023 issue.
W&L Professor Featured by Graywolf Press in 50th Anniversary Anthology
Leah Naomi Green’s essay on Kaveh Akbar’s poem “The Miracle” is anthologized in “Raised by Wolves.”
Author Florence Gonsalves and Poet Robert Wood Lynn to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
The public reading will take place Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. in Northen Auditorium inside Leyburn Library.
W&L Outcomes: Tahri Phillips ’23
Tahri Phillips ’23 will be pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
Author Shruti Swamy and Poet Kelly Hoffer to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
The public reading will take place May 1 at 7 p.m. in Northen Auditorium inside Leyburn Library.
W&L Hosts 18th Annual Tom Wolfe Weekend
The weekend’s seminar will feature Amor Towles discussing his latest book, “The Lincoln Highway.”
W&L’s Maggie Hawley ’23 Selected for Fulbright to Spain
Hawley has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach English in Spain.
W&L Visiting Professor Featured in Orion Magazine
Leah Naomi Green’s essay titled “Mourning Songs Are Love Songs” was excerpted from the anthology “Solastalgia: An Anthology of Emotion in a Disappearing World.”
W&L’s K. Avvirin Gray Awarded Jean Feldman Poetry Prize
Avvirin Gray, assistant professor of English at Washington and Lee University, is the winner of the 2023 Jean Feldman Poetry Prize.
Annie Thomas ’24 Earns Prestigious Beinecke Scholarship
The Beinecke Scholarship Program provides funds for post-graduate study to students of unusual promise.
Author Kevin Quashie to Give Annual Shannon-Clark Lecture at W&L
Quashie’s lecture on March 30, titled “Sentences and (Black) Beauty,” is free and open to the public.
CBL’s Faculty Collaborative Creates Connection Across Campus
CBL’s new initiative is an opportunity for faculty development, student collaboration and deepening partnerships with the surrounding community.
Edward Adams to Deliver Endowed Professorship Lecture
Adams’s talk “Ozymandian Histories: Monuments, Ruins, and Landscapes of Decline in America” will be held on March 14.
Meet a Colleague: Beth Staples
Beth Staples is an assistant professor of English and she serves as the editor of Shenandoah.
Writer and Poet Camille Dungy to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
Dungy’s public reading will take place Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. in Northen Auditorium inside Leyburn Library.
Catching up with Kassie Scott ’18
Scott's advice for current students: "There is no one way to do college. Do it your way and make it count."
W&L’s Department of English Presents a Film Screening of NOPE
The March 1 screening of Jordan Peele’s film will be followed by a discussion facilitated by W&L English professors.
W&L English Professor Receives Prestigious Article Prize
Professor Genelle Gertz teamed with former student Pasquale Toscano ’16 to author “The Lost Network of Elizabeth Barton.”
W&L English Professor Published in the Cincinnati Review
Beth Staples’ fictional short story “Leaf Peepers” appeared in the publication’s Fall 2022 edition.
Leslie Wingard Cunningham Named W&L’s Associate Provost for Faculty Development
Wingard Cunningham joins W&L from College of Wooster, where she is the Mildred Foss Thompson Professor of English and dean for faculty development.
Meet a Colleague: Leah Naomi Green
Leah Naomi Green serves as visiting assistant professor of English and environmental studies.
W&L Professor Publishes Journal Article in Studies in American Humor
Diego Millan’s recent article analyzes the centrality of jokes in the Chester Himes book “If He Hollers Let Him Go.”
W&L’s Tahri Phillips Among 2023 Class of Rhodes Scholars
Phillips '23 is the university’s 18th Rhodes Scholar.
Genelle Gertz to Deliver Lecture in Honor of Endowed Professorship
Gertz’s talk “Thinking with the Mystics” will be held on Oct. 18.
Washington and Lee Names Seven Faculty Members to Endowed Professorships
These faculty have been recognized for their outstanding teaching, scholarship and service to the university.
Author Malika Booker to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
Booker will give a lecture on Sept. 27 at 5 p.m. in in Leyburn Library’s Northen Auditorium.
Author GennaRose Nethercott to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading
She will read from her widely anticipated new novel, “Thistlefoot.”
Finding the Allure of Paris
Students in Michael and Lena Hill’s Spring Term course are discovering what inspired writers of past generations.
Faces of W&L: Rose Hein ’22
"W&L’s small classes and dedicated professors made sure I never missed an opportunity to dive deeper into something that interests me."
W&L’s Wheeler Publishes New Book
A local book launch for the collection, “Poetry’s Possible Worlds,” will be held at the Reeves Museum of Ceramics on the W&L campus on May 17 at 4:45 p.m.
Author Nancy Bradley Warren to Give Annual Shannon-Clark Lecture at W&L
Warren’s lecture on March 24, which is free and open to the public, is titled "New World Nuns and the 'Old Religion’: The Afterlives of Medieval Female Spiritualities in the Early Modern Americas."
Journalist Brittany Hailer to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
Hailer will give a public lecture on March 31 at 6 p.m. in Northen Auditorium inside Leyburn Library.
Poet January Gill O’Neil to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L
O'Neil will give a public lecture on March 14 at 6 p.m. in the Hillel House sanctuary.
Office Hours with Genelle Gertz
The professor of English and associate dean of strategic initiatives champions the liberal arts as the best preparation for postgraduate success.
W&L Professors Brock and Pickett Awarded Harte Center Faculty Teaching Scholar Grant
Michelle Brock and Holly Pickett are the Harte Center Faculty Teaching Scholar Grant recipients.
Author Valencia Robin to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading
Valencia Robin, an artist and author, will give a public lecture on March 7 at 5 p.m. in the Hillel House Sanctuary.
Poet Sarah Matthes Presents Glasgow Endowment Reading
Poet Sarah Matthes will give a public poetry reading on March 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hillel House Sanctuary.
W&L Presents Public Poetry Reading on Feb. 2
Poets Julie Phillips Brown and Brenna Womer will present a public poetry reading on Feb. 2 at 12:15 p.m. in the Science Center Atrium.
Community Foundations
Craig Jones has been an active volunteer in his community, particularly the KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools.
W&L’s Radulescu Publishes Memoir
Lexington's Downtown Books will host W&L Professor Domnica Radulescu for a book launch on Jan. 27 at 4:30 p.m.
‘The Honor of Learning’
Lauren Hoaglund '22 has parlayed her passion for medieval and Renaissance history, literature, classics and theater into a busy but rewarding four years at W&L.
W&L’s Deborah Miranda Awarded VFIC Harris Award
Miranda was recently awarded the H. Hiter Harris III Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for 2021.
Author Jessie van Eerden to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading
Jessie van Eerden, an award-winning author, will give a public lecture on her latest novel on Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. in Leyburn Library’s Northen Auditorium.
W&L Presents Public Reading by Visiting Poet
Eric Tran, a Vietnamese poet and author, will give a public lecture on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. in Northen Auditorium on the W&L campus.
W&L Presents Public Lecture with Historian Karen L. Cox
Cox is an award-winning historian and a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.
W&L’s Wheeler Gives Public Reading
Professor Lesley Wheeler will give a public author talk on Sept. 22 as part of Randolph College’s Pearl S. Buck Writers in Residence experience.
W&L’s Gavaler Debuts Play
Professor Chris Gavaler’s play “The Zombie Life” will open at Firehouse Theatre in Richmond, Virginia on Aug. 18.
‘One More Song’
Paige Anderson '22 is spending the summer recording an album of classical violin music in memory of her grandmother.
