Howard Jacobson Wins the Booker Prize

You have likely been hearing a great deal about playwright Tony Kushner lately, as he is the screenwriter for Steven Spielberg’s new film Lincoln, starring Daniel Day Lewis.  Kushner rose to prominence two decades ago, when his play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  Angels…

Former Jenny McKean Moore Writer in Residence Tayari Jones reflects upon literary traditions, finding one’s voice, and the work of black women writers: Black women writers of my generation must have a bravery that exceeds that of the women who went before us. Although they are said to have paved the way, I think a…

JEWISH LITERATURE LIVE A few years ago Ariel Sabar quit his day job as an award winning journalist in order to work on a book. The shift from journalism to book writing was a challenge, but even more challenging was the subject of his book My Father’s Paradise, his father and his father’s history as…

To mark the beginning of June and as a nod to our 2009 graduates, this week GW English News will feature a five part interview with alumnus Mark Olshaker. A 1972 graduate of the English Department, Olshaker has put his B.A. in English to good use as a writer, Emmy-winner, theatre-goer, and intellectual. His experiences…

Poet Claudia Rankine included a poem by GW student Marissa Ciampi on her website. Recently Prof. Gregory Pardlo posted a piece here about the Theft of Flat Langston at the DC restaurant/literary spot Busboys and Poets. Now he reports in about a GWU student’s contribution to a major discussion in the poetry world. The discussion…

Associate Professor of English Margaret Soltan is the author of University Diaries. An irreverent take on contemporary academic life, this popular blog has discussed issues both serious and light: university funding priorities, the detrimental effects of sports mania on academic missions, diploma mills, institutional scandals, sloppy writing, the foibles of poets and publishers, aesthetics, literary…