Why English is the Best Major

Ann Romines writes of a recent trip to Quebec to address a prestigious gathering of scholars: Novelist Willa Cather visited Quebec City for the first time in 1928, passing through on the way to her summer home on Grand Manan Island. When her companion, Edith Lewis, came down with the flu, their overnight stay stretched…

Rachel Malis graduated GW last spring, and she’s currently celebrating the publication of her poem “Odessa, Odessos” in the online journal damselflypress.net. In light of this new achievement, we caught up with Rachel to see what else she’s been doing. When did you graduate GW? What was your major?I graduated from GW in the Spring…

I’d like to express my gratitude to a former student whom I remember fondly: Sarah Griswold, who recently donated $250 to the department. This is quite a sum for a 2006 graduate to give us … and we are honored by her generous support. Thank you, Sarah! I’m happy that my Chaucer class did not…

Last December, the English Department gave out 200 copies of Kalooki Nights, the challenging, sprawling, inspired, and ambitious 2006 novel by English writer Howard Jacobson, this year’s British Council UK Writer in Residence. Jacobson is a novelist, broadcaster, and journalist; London’s Independent, which publishes his weekly column, calls him an “acerbic cultural critic … known…

What influences poet Ed Skoog? Really, the question should be where is Ed Skoog influenced. Skoog, the newest Jenny McKean Moore Writer in Residence, may be in DC right now, but whose to say where he will be next fall. Even he does not know or want to know. “I don’t want to pick a…

Our new departmental website is being rolled out as I write. At the moment, it’s a work in progress, so please be patient with us as the kinks get worked out and various aspects of the website become operational. But we’re thrilled to be the first humanities department in Columbian College to have our website…