English Department

The English Department offers three majors and five minors. Many students combine their love of English with other major or minors on campus. Students interested in law school often pair English with political science. Students interested in psychology often pick up a writing or literature minor. A writing major makes marketing students stand out to employers. Our interdisciplinary film and screen studies minor appeals to students from art and design and media studies. These are just a few examples of how English can help you exceed your personal best!

English Majors

English Education, B.A.
Literature, B.A.
Writing, B.A.

English Minors

Film and Screen Studies
Language Arts and Linguistics
Literature
Professional and Technical Writing
Writing

NOTE: This page contains all of the regular course descriptions for this discipline or program. Academic credit for each course is noted in parenthesis after the course title. Prerequisites (if any) and the general education requirements, both Core and All-College Requirements (ACRs), which each course fulfills (if any) are noted following each course description. Not all courses are offered every year. Check Merlin, our searchable course schedule, to see which courses are being offered in upcoming terms.

ENGL 100 English as a Second Language I (4.00)
Introduction to American Academic English for non-native speakers. The focus is on listening and speaking skills, including presentation and in-class participation skills, vocabulary and idiom practice, while also introducing and practicing academic reading and writing skills through readings on American culture.  

ENGL 102 English as a Second Language II (4.00)
Advanced practice in writing, reading, speaking and listening skills in American Academic English for non-native speakers. The focus is on Academic writing (summaries, essays), readings on American culture and history, vocabulary and idiom practice, and essentials of advanced English grammar.

ENGL 104 How to Read Stories and Novels (2.00)
Designed for any student who wants to interpret the imaginary worlds of writers across 500 years of texts. From early stories to sci-fi, students learn to make sense of stories in their varied forms. Depending on instructor and content, may include field trips to fiction readings and/or The American Writer’s Museum.

Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Humanities.

ENGL 106 How to Read and Write Poems (2.00)
Designed for any student who wants to practice reading poems or songs, the most ancient and popular writing in the world. Students learn to write and interpret different poetic forms and explore timeless struggles in both ancient and contemporary verse. Students also practice writing poems. Depending on instructor and content, may include field trips to poetry readings in Chicago.

Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Arts.
iCon(s): Engaging Civic Life.

ENGL 108 Appreciating Plays and Screenplays: Text (2.00)
Designed for any student who wants to read dramas for stage and screen, interpret plays, and critique live stage performances. Students also practice writing plays. Depending on instructor and content, may include field trips to plays in and around Chicago.

Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Arts.
iCon(s): Engaging Civic Life.

ENGL 112 Creative Writing for Self Discovery (4.00)
Students learn ways expressive writing helps in the discovery of self and world. Focus is on fundamentals of creativity and the benefits of a regular imaginative writing practice as a means of developing insight, personal growth and well-being.

Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Arts.
iCon(s): Examining Health.

ENGL 118 College Humor Magazine Practicum (0.00-2.00)
Practical experience on the staff of the College humor magazine, The Kindling. Students may register for 1.00 credit hour for graded work as writers, photographers, artists and designers. Editors register for 2.00 credit hours. A maximum of six credit hours may be earned in English department practica.

Prerequisite(s): none

ENGL 120 College Literary Magazine Practicum (0.00-2.00)
Practical experience on the staff of the College literary magazine, 30 North. Students may register for 1.00 credit hour for graded work as writers, photographers, artists and designers. Editors register for 2.00 credit hours. A maximum of six credit hours may be earned in English department practica.

Prerequisite(s): none

ENGL 122 Children's Literature (2.00)
An exploration of children’s genres from picture books to fiction and poetry across historical periods and nations. Students consider how these texts often foreground reading and interpretation. Students may create children’s texts and evaluate their appeal.

Prerequisite(s): none

ENGL 124 Young Adult Fiction (2.00)
An exploration of Y.A. genres from fiction, graphic novels and poetry across the 19th–21st centuries of various ethnicities and nations. Students consider how these texts often foreground reading and interpretation. Students may create Y.A. texts, evaluating their appeal.

Prerequisite(s): none

ENGL 200 Gateway: Introduction to English (4.00)
This gateway course introduces critical and creative methods with a focus on close reading and effective writing. Theoretical and imaginative approaches are explored and practice given in reading, writing and analyzing a variety of texts. Students are introduced to disciplinary conventions and basic research strategies in English.

Prerequisite(s): none

ENGL 202 British Literature to 17th Century: Beowulf and Milton (4.00)
Close reading focused on Continental traditions and socio-political contexts that influenced Beowulf, di Pizan, Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton and more. Students trace the figure of the monster in literature produced between the 8th–17th centuries.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 204 Literature and Culture of the Long 18th Century (4.00)
Students study texts before and just after the so-called “Age of Reason,” from the late 17th to early 19th centuries, in both British and Early American contexts. Focus on the rise of individualism, science and colonial expansion, with slavery and genocide in its wake. Literature Across Time.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 206 British Literature and Culture of the 19th-21st Centuries (4.00)
Students explore 19th–21st century texts, a time of contradictions, with progress in science, industry, the expansion and then losses of the British empire, and the rise of democratic movements (suffrage, labor, anti-imperial resistance) in and beyond England. Literature Across Time.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 208 American Literature and Culture of the 19th-21st Centuries (4.00)
Students explore 19th–21st century American literature and culture through a survey of poets, essayists, fiction writers, playwrights and filmmakers who grappled with principles and practices of American democracy. Romantic, realist, modern and postmodern writers offer diverse perspectives on what it means to live in relation to the promise of “we the people.”

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 212 Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies: Text/Technologies (4.00)
Students examine theoretical, stylistic and ethical issues connected with writing in various rhetorical situations, including digital environments. Focus on writing about ethically charged issues such as artificial intelligence, digital technology, biotechnology and transhumanism.
Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Arts, Writing Intensive.
iCon(s): Innovating Our World.

ENGL 214 Graphic Narratives (4.00)
An introduction to foundational concepts in visual design, narrative structure and multimodality. From 1200 AD to the present, illuminated manuscripts, broadsides, comic books and websites have combined words and images, playing a part in literature and pop culture. Students explore the history of the word/image interface through critical and creative work.

Prerequisite(s): none
Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Arts.

ENGL 216 Place and Travel Writing (4.00)
A workshop-based public and professional writing course focusing on writing about travel; nature and ecology; and immersion or experiential writing. Place, setting and location inspire in myriad ways; mindful of this, students read and collaboratively analyze professional and peer practitioners for craft. Students also write, edit and revise original place-based and travel writing for workshop.
Prerequisite(s): none

Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Arts, Global Understanding.
iCon(s): Experiencing Place.

ENGL 222 Global Literature/Postcolonial Literature (4.00)
Students explore literature from the erstwhile colonies in South Asia, Africa and Australia to examine the relation between representation and nationalism. Students focus in particular on identity, gender, resistance and reconciliation. World Literatures.

Prerequisite(s): none
Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Humanities, Global Understanding.

ENGL 224 Environmental Literature (4.00)
(Same as: ENVI 224.) Encompasses the classics of nature writing from Anglo-American literary traditions to the practice of eco-criticism, through which a wider range of novels and other texts can be analyzed. With these texts, students explore how literature participates in cultural formations of the relations among humans, their environment and other forms of life. Readings include several genres: poetry, non-fiction and science-fiction from the 19th century to the present.

Prerequisite(s): none

ENGL 234 Gender and Literary Feminisms (4.00)
(Same as GSST 234.) Students explore gender’s place in literature from a variety of cultures, time periods and genres. Discussions focus on representations of gender; how creative writing links to political work to challenge inequality; how writers interrogate the category “woman”; and how gender intersects with race, class, sexuality and religion.

Prerequisite(s): none

Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Humanities, U.S. Power Structures.
iCon(s): Challenging Inequity.

ENGL 240 Beginning Poetry (2.00)
Practice in the writing of poetry, with attention paid to the various techniques, approaches—free verse or formal verse—and the close reading of contemporary poets. Introduction to workshop-based peer critique and a regular writing and revision practice.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 242 Beginning Creative Nonfiction (2.00)
An introduction to creative nonfiction emphasizing memoir, personal essays and narrative nonfiction. Students read and collaboratively analyze the work of professional and peer practitioners for craft, and write, edit and revise original creative nonfictions for workshop.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 244 Beginning Fiction (2.00)
An introduction to literary fiction emphasizing micro, flash and short fiction. Students read and collaboratively analyze the work of professional and peer practitioners for craft, and write, edit and revise original short fictions for workshop.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 246 Beginning Playwriting (2.00)
An introduction to stage drama emphasizing monologues,ten-minute plays, short sketches and performance pieces. Students read and collaboratively analyze the work of professional and peer dramatists for craft, and write, edit and revise original scripts for class performance and workshop.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 270 Foundations of Language Study (4.00)
An introduction to linguistic principles through a study of modern English. Students examine approaches to language and linguistics: morphology, syntax, phonetics and phonology and semantics. Child language acquisition, adult second language acquisition and recent developments in neuroscience and computer science are also introduced.

Prerequisite(s): none
Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Global Understanding.
iCon(s): Thinking Globally.

ENGL 280 Introduction to Professional Writing (4.00)
Using a reader-centered approach, students are introduced to strategies for writing effectively in the workplace. Rhetorical theories and practices join multimodal writing and presentation skills to help students transfer from school-to-work contexts.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 282 Writing in STEM Profession (4.00)
An exploration of the conventions, genres, and ethical issues involved in writing within STEM fields. Students read field-specific texts to analyze and evaluate effective writing. Workshops and collaborative, multimodal final projects.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 297 Internship (0.00-12.00)
Instructor consent required.

ENGL 299 Independent Study (1.00-12.00)
Instructor consent required.

ENGL 302 Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (4.00)
Students use close reading to interpret the influential works of William Shakespeare, who took inspiration for his plays and poetry from Ancient Greece and Rome, Medieval Britain and his contemporaries across Europe. Course material is fast-paced and challenging. Literature across Time.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 308 American Dreaming (4.00)
Students explore writers and/or topics across 19th–21st American literature and culture. Topics, genres and time periods vary by instructor, but may include themes such as the American Dream; embodiment and social class; a single writer or several studied for comparison and contrast; a movement or school in American literature; a particular region; or a recurring theme such the American Dream, LGBTQ literature or Latinx writers. Literature Across Time.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 310 Writers of the Americas in the New Millennium (4.00)
Students explore the literature and culture of the Americas—U.S., Latinx, Caribbean, Canadian and others since 2001. Focus is on novels, poetry or plays concerned with urgent contemporary themes, such as literature and trauma or posthumanism. Subjects vary depending on instructor. Literature Across Time.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 314 Writing Commentary and Cultural Criticism: The Public Intellectual (4.00)
A workshop-based public and professional writing course for student-critics who want to learn the art and craft of opinion commentary for publication. Reading for contentand craft, students propose, pitch, write and edit shorter, timely pieces such as op-eds, first person essays, humor/satire, polemics, jeremiads and arts or other reviews, as well as longer essays of cultural criticism. Writing and Rhetoric.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing
Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Arts.
iCon(s): Engaging Civic Life.

ENGL 322 Cosmopolitan 20th-21st Century England: Global Identities in British Literature and Culture (4.00)
Students focus on British literature after WWII. The world wars and the Kinder Transport; Cold War and defections from the former U.S.S.R.; the rise of the U.S. as a global superpower as England’s empire faded; and the immigration of populations from former colonies—all profoundly affect England’s identity. Students explore the literature, theatre, dance and films produced by these new generations of immigrant Britishers as they negotiate their dual heritage. World Literatures.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 324 Pop Genres of the 19th-21st Centuries (4.00)
Advanced study in literary and cultural studies across time and place. With the rise of mass media comes a proliferation of multimedia pop genres: books, movies, TV shows, video games and memes. The most robust include adventure stories, fantasy, horror, mystery, romance, sci-fi, westerns, posthuman and weird tales. Content varies depending on instructor. Identity and Culture.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 332 Multicultural American Literature (4.00)
Emerging from a history of colonization, slavery and mass immigration, American culture is multiple and its literary landscape diverse. Students explore that diversity through the works of Latinx, Asian-American, African-American and/or Indigenous writers, examining the complexity of “American” identity as it is defined and contested. What happens when different cultures collide? How do historical, linguistic, philosophical and artistic traditions shape literary form and content? Culture and Identity.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing
Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Humanities, U.S. Power Structures.
iCon(s): Challenging Inequity.

ENGL 334 Critical Theory (4.00)
Advanced focus on primary theoretical texts. Students analyze and synthesize the range of theories that have shaped debates in literary and cultural studies. Considering multiple lenses of inquiry, students use close reading and questioning to engage key concepts: language, narrative, subjectivity, identities and the shaping force of material histories on persons and texts. Critical frames are brought into relation to consider their relevance to literature and life. Culture and Identity.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 340 Advanced Poetry (4.00)
A workshop-based class in which students explore traditional and experimental writing techniques to understand what a poem is and/or does. Students analyze and evaluate their own work and that of contemporary poets through critical writing. A portfolio of poems is required as the final project.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 342 Advanced Creative Nonfiction (4.00)
An advanced workshop-based course in which students propose, write and edit an extended creative nonfiction manuscript, and, with peer and professor support, write and revise the first two chapters of a proposed manuscript. Students research publication venues and learn to prepare and pitch longer-form nonfiction manuscripts.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 344 Advanced Fiction (4.00)
An advanced workshop-based course in which students propose, write and edit a thematically linked short literary fiction collection for potential submission and publication.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 346 Advanced Playwriting (4.00)
An advanced workshop-based course in which students propose, write and edit an extended one-act play, dramatic series or thematically linked sequence of sketches. Working with peers to develop longer-form comedies and dramas, scriptwriters learn to polish their plays and performance pieces for potential submission.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 380 Professional and Grant Writing (4.00)
Students study the mechanics of proposal writing and the complex aspects of “grantsmanship” as they develop skills in identifying sources of grant funding, conducting research for applications, and crafting proposals to readers’ interests. Other advanced professional writing genres practiced. Collaborative final project.    

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent
Cardinal Directions Designation(s): Community Engaged Learning.

ENGL 382 Multimodal Professional and Technical Writing (4.00)
Students become proficient multimodal media creators, able to analyze, evaluate and revise professional and technical documents. A collaborative final project is developed with any program or office at the College, or with potential community partners.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 384 Wicked Writing Problems at Work (2.00)
Students examine workplace writing problems, drawing on case studies and researching potential areas of conflict uncertainty, and opportunity for professional writers. Collaborative final project and public presentation.

Prerequisite(s): CARD 101, English Composition, or the Equivalent

ENGL 390 Special Topics (4.00) 
Topics vary depending on instructor, but may focus on a single writer; a theorist or theoretical perspective; a period of time and place. If writing-focused, varying topics such as hybrid and digital genres; the rise of the chapbook; writing Y.A. fiction; novella writing; the ethics of workplace writing; truth in writing in an age of “fake” media, and so on. If language-focused, varying topics such as language and gender, language in politics, education or media; or a consideration of the ways class, race and nations use language in the struggle for legitimacy and control.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200.

ENGL 397 Internship (0.00-12.00)
Instructor consent required.

ENGL 399 Independent Study (1.00-12.00)
Prerequisite(s): Junior Standing. 

ENGL 402 Seminar in Selected Writers and Topics in Literature (4.00)
Considered by the Greeks as one of the oldest gods, Eros has represented desire for over two millennia of Western cultural tradition. The ways we think about love and desire today have been shaped over time by this long tradition. In this advanced seminar, students concentrate on the more remarkable moments in the journey Eros takes from antiquity to the Renaissance and the present. Readings, screenings and field trips include variety of genres: poetry, prose, philosophical dialogue, theatre and film. Literature across Time.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 404 The Novel Across Time (4.00)
Students explore the novel as a genre with an emphasis on its history, on representations of self, other, nation and on the material history of socio-cultural issues. Course content, region, single or multiple authors, and historical focus varies depending on instructor, though the focus remains the novel—with its champions, critics and profound effects on readers. Literature Across Time.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 412 Persuasion (4.00)
Intensive study in the ways people aim to persuade one another in different contexts, recognizing that audiences and situations are multiplied by technology. Students critique current presentation techniques with attention to how each succeeds or fails. The class collaboratively creates multimodal projects for real- world purposes such as a personal or professional website, persuasive video or audio essay; promotional project for local advocacy group or public performance. Formal presentations follow inquiry-guided research.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 414 Classical Rhetoric and Democracy in Composition (4.00)
The origin and development of the arts of rhetoric from the Greek Sophists through Aristotle, through Cicero and Quintilian, to the Medieval trivium. The second half of the course turns to the renewed flourishing of the liberal arts and later reemergence of democracies around the world. Students consider what it means to read, write and speak as ethical citizens who hope to nurture and sustain democratic values.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 424 Postcolonial Rewriting of Western Texts (4.00)
Students examine postcolonial rewritings of European and indigenous texts and genres to examine how changes in the cultural and political context affect aesthetic choices. Students experience a number of challenging literary and theoretical texts.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 440 Poetic Forms and Poetics (4.00)
Workshop class focuses on analytical skills in reading and writing poetry, especially in relation to craft, form and theory of the genre. Students situate their own work within poetic theory, imitate other poets, perform scansion, thoroughly revise their work and present on poets or poetry. Varying themes around poetic devices such as lines and sentences, rhythm and sound, received forms and prosody.

Prerequisite(s): One of ENGL 314, 340, 342, 344, 346

ENGL 442  Narrative Form and Practice (4.00)
Theory and practice  in experimental and fabulist forms that resist and respond to the norms of conventional literary realism through structural, stylistic or thematic innovation, and via the artful use of collage, unreliable narration, cut-up techniques, stream-of-consciousness, mixed genre, word/image hybrids and meta-fiction and nonfiction.

Prerequisite(s): One of ENGL 314, 340, 342, 344, 346

ENGL 446 Playwriting Form and Practice (4.00)
Theory and Practice in nontraditional and/or experimental forms that transcend traditional stage drama, to include researching, writing, editing and performing works of devised theatre, documentary theatre, autobiographical drama, absurdist theatre, abstract theatre, historical/period drama and/or stage adaptation.

Prerequisite(s): One of ENGL 314, 340, 342, 344, 346

ENGL 490 Special Topics (4.00)
Topics vary depending on instructor, but may focus on a single writer; a theorist or theoretical perspective; a period of time and place. If writing-focused, varying topics such as hybrid and digital genres; the rise of the chapbook; writing Y.A. fiction; novella writing; the ethics of workplace writing; truth in writing in an age of “fake” media, and so on. If language-focused, varying topics such as language and gender, language in politics, education, or media; or a consideration of the ways class, race, and nations use language in the struggle for legitimacy and control.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 200 or Junior Standing

ENGL 492 Capstone Seminar in English (4.00)
All majors in English or English-Writing complete a capstone seminar. Following reflection on what was learned across English courses, students propose and write an extended, professional quality final project. In collaboration with peers, students conduct research, or develop a creative work, then draw on habits of mind and skills as they produce a thesis or project. All students present this work publically. Students also consider what it means to be a professional in the discipline, exploring ethical dimensions of work as they plan for life after graduation.

Prerequisite(s): Senior standing.

ENGL 497 Internship (0.00-12.00)
Prerequisite(s): Senior standing.

ENGL 499 Independent Study (1.00-12.00)
Prerequisite(s): Senior standing.

Faculty Emeriti

Judith Brodhead
Associate Professor of English Emerita
jabrodhead@noctrl.edu  

Richard Guzman
Professor of English Emeritus
rrguzman@noctrl.edu

Martha Bohrer
Professor of English Emerita
mlbohrer@noctrl.edu

John Shindler
Professor of English Emeritus
jhshindler@noctrl.edu                                                        

Francine G. Navakas
Svend and Elizabeth Bramsen Professor in the Humanities Emerita
fgnavakas@noctrl.edu                     

Nancy C. Chapman
Associate Professor of English Emerita
ncchapman@noctrl.edu

Priscilla N. Grundy
Professor of English Emerita
pngrundy@noctrl.edu

Learn how you can exceed your personal best in the North Central College English department.

 Engaged Learning & Career Readiness

• 30 N., a fine arts undergraduate literary review
• The Kindling, a student-led humor magazine
• Community engaged learning & internship opportunities

eXploration through Research

• Senior capstone seminar
• National Council for Undergraduate Research
• North Central College Rall Symposium & Richter Fellowships

 Close Faculty Mentorship

• Award-winning authors & scholars with over 100 years of full-time teaching experience at North Central
• Alumni networking & professional development opportunities

 Education Abroad

• Semester-long or "May Term" trips around the globe:
  • University of York, England & University of Limerick, Ireland

 Excellence through Achievement

• Sigma Tau Delta, English Honor Society (contact faculty advisor Dr. Pearce Durst)
• The Writing Center
• Columbia Citywide Poetry Festival

 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

• Faculty committed to social justice and inclusion initiatives
• Course offerings include: Black Narrative, Intro. to Latinx Lit., Gender & Lit. Feminisms, Postcolonial Rewriting, & Writing for Social Change

Explore North Central's Writer's Series

North Central College's Writer's Series is proud to bring established and emerging writers to campus for a reading and a classroom visit, providing an opportunity for students to learn about process, craft, and best practices from working writers. Members of the student literary magazine, 30 North, also get to interview the authors. Past writers have been New York Times bestsellers, NEA fellows, prize winners and more, in a variety of genres and markets.

 

Past writers

 

Ling Ma

Ling Ma is author of the novel Severance, which received the Kirkus Prize and was a New York Times Notable Book of 2018. Her work has appeared in Granta, Playboy, Vice, Ninth Letter, ACM and others. She holds an MFA from Cornell University and an AB from the University of Chicago, where she currently serves as Assistant Professor of Practice in the Arts.

Daniel Borzutzky 

Winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Poetry for his collection The Performance of Becoming Human, Daniel Borzutzky is a Chilean- American writer and translator living in Chicago. His other poetry books are In the Murmurs of the Rotten Carcass Economy, The Book of Interfering Bodies, The Ecstasy of Capitulation, and the chapbook Failure in the Imagination. He has published one collection of fiction, Arbitrary Tales. His books of translation include Song for his Disappeared Love by Raul Zurita and Port Trakl by Jaime Luis Huenun.

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Tiana Clark

Tiana Clark is the author of I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018), winner of the 2017 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, and Equilibrium (Bull City Press, 2016), winner of the 2016 Frost Place Chapbook Competition. Clark is the winner of a 2019 Pushcart Prize, as well as the 2017 Furious Flower’s Gwendolyn Brooks Centennial Poetry Prize and 2015 Rattle Poetry Prize. She was the 2017-2018 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute of Creative Writing. Her writing has appeared in or is  forthcoming from The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, Best New Poets, and elsewhere. Clark is the recipient of scholarships and fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Sewanee Writers' Conference, and Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. She teaches creative writing at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

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T. Clutch Fleishmann

T. Clutch Fleischmann is the author of Syzygy, Beauty (Sarabande) and the curator of Body Forms (Essay Press). A Nonfiction Editor at DIAGRAM and Contributing Editor at EssayDaily, their work has appeared in Fourth Genre, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Brooklyn Rail, and elsewhere.

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Brittany Cavallaro

Brittany Cavallaro is the author of the Charlotte Holmes novels (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books), including A Study In Charlotte, which was a Junior Library Guild pick, an IndieNext pick, and an American Booksellers Association Best Book of 2016, and The Last of August, which was a New York Times bestseller. The third in the series, The Case for Jamie, is out in March 2018. Cavallaro is also the author of the poetry collection Girl-King (University of Akron Press). She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Vermont Studio Center as well as scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. She currently lives in Michigan, where she teaches at the Interlochen Arts Academy.

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Lucy Tan

Lucy Tan grew up in New Jersey and has spent much of her adult life in New York and Shanghai. She received her B.A. from New York University and her M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was awarded the 2016 August Derleth Prize and currently serves as the James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow. Lucy's work has been published in journals such as Asia Literary Review and Ploughshares, where she was winner of the 2015 Emerging Writer's Contest. This is her first novel.

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Janet McNally

Janet McNally is author of the young adult novels Girls in the Moon and The Looking Glass (HarperCollins), and a collection of poems, Some Girls, winner of the White Pine Press Poetry Prize. She has an MFA from the University of Notre Dame, and has twice been a fiction fellow with the New York Foundation for the Arts. Janet teaches creative writing at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York.

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