English Department Events
Annual English Department Alumni Newsletter
Every year English graduates enter many fields: they become teachers, lawyers, doctors, community organizers, curators, editors, publishers, agents, art program directors, screenwriters, film directors, game designers, reviewers, essayists, novelists, scholars, poets, environmentalists, publicists, historians, musicians, and mountain climbers. They generously offer us their hard-won knowledge.
Whatever endeavor has engaged you, all of you are contributing to our global social, political, and cultural conversation. Thank you!
We'd Love to Hear from You!
Are you a Western English Alum with exciting news to share? Keep us updated using this form today!
Check Out our Publications!
Jeopardy Magazine
Jeopardy is an annual publication out of Western Washington University, featuring poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and visual art. First published in 1965, it has a long legacy of presenting contemporary joys and anxieties, as well as themes that transcend decades.
Bellingham Review
Bellingham Review publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid work on a now fully digital platform. Established in 1977, Bellingham Review has earned a reputation for publishing both established and emerging writers who successfully employ innovative form and content.
Keep in Touch: The English Department is now on Instagram!
Hello English Majors and Minors,
Summer is just around the corner, and we hope you will keep in touch! You can follow the English Department on Instagram now at https://www.instagram.com/wwu_english/. We’ll keep you updated on local literary events, campus journals, alumni news, and published works by students and faculty in the department.
We’d love to hear from you too! Tag us with your reading and writing projects this summer or use #WWUEnglish to keep us updated. Together, let’s celebrate this talented community here at Western.
Alumna Rebekah Anderson is Coming to Campus on May 25th!
Novelist and alumnae Rebekah Anderson will share her journey from undergrad at Western to published author. Her talk will include book launches, career paths beyond teaching or journalism, and the MFA debate. A Q&A to follow.
Campus Visit:
Time: 2:00-3:00
Date: May 25th
Location: HU 109
All are welcome! AA/EO. For disability accommodation, please contact the English Department at English@wwu.edu.
Anderson will also be showing a slideshow of historic photos related to her novel at Village Books in the evening.
Village Books Visit:
Time: 6:00pm
Date: May 25th
Location: Village Books
Registration is required to reserve your seat at Village Books. Reserve your seat using this link! Walk-ins welcome, space permitting.
A flyer for the village books event. The Grand Promise: a novel by Rebekah Anderson. "A poignant exploration" says Jonathan Evison. "A thoughtful look" says Kirkus Reveiws. "Enthralling" says Publishers Weekly. "Readers will be swept up" says Seattle Book Review.
Rebekah Anderson's debut novel, THE GRAND PROMISE, is a work of literary fiction about the Grand Coulee Dam inspired by her family history. She lives in Seattle. More about the author at RebekahLAnderson.com.
Published on the 80th anniversary of the Grand Coulee Dam, THE GRAND PROMISE is a work of literary fiction about the real communities that were impacted by the dam's construction on the Columbia River in the 1930's during the Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.
Village Books, Thursday, May 25th at 6pm. Readings Gallery 1200 11th St Bellingham, WA 98225. 360-671-2626. Village Books.com.
Right to Unionize Codified for WA Academic Student Employees
Chris Reid, Western Washington University English graduate student, attended the signing of SB 5238. Read the full article here!
“'My coworkers and I from Western Academic Workers United-UAW are proud to have helped win collective bargaining rights for thousands more student employees in Washington. We look forward to swift certification of our union so we can get to work improving our university. And we’re very excited to continue the fight for students and student workers in our state,' said Chris Reid, a grad student and English Teaching Assistant (TA) at Western Washington University."
Groves, D. (2023, April 24). Right to unionize codified for WA academic student employees. The Stand. www.thestand.org/?p=116386
Jeopardy Magazine Bi-Weekly Writing Workshops!
Beginning today, April 14th, Jeopardy Magazine is once again hosting our bi-weekly writing workshops!
Join us every other Friday at 5:00pm in Humanities 102 for writing games, tea, and snacks. This is a space for anyone and everyone with chill vibes and a place to explore writing, hangout, or even just do your homework. Bring you creativity and a pencil, and come join us!
For questions or accommodations, please email us wwujeopardy@gmail.com.
Tell Me When I Disappear: Vanishing Stories
A Reading and Conversation with Horror Writer, Glen Hirshberg
Tuesday, April 18th
2pm - 3:50pm
In person, HU 110
AA/EO. For disability accommodation, please contact kathryn.trueblood@wwu.edu
Three-time International Horror Guild Award Winner Glen Hirshberg’s novels include The Snowman’s Children, The Book of Bunk, Motherless Child, Good Girls, Nothing to Devour, and Infinity Dreams. Hirshberg is also the author of five widely praised story collections: The Two Sams (a Publishers’ Weekly Best Book of 2003), American Morons, The Janus Tree, The Ones Who Are Waving, and Tell Me When I Disappear (forthcoming from Cemetery Dance in 2023). Hirshberg is a five-time World Fantasy Award finalist, and won the Shirley Jackson Award for the novelette, “The Janus Tree.” His stories have been selected more than two dozen times for the major best-of-the-year anthologies (Best New Horror, Best Horror the Year, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, etc.). On his Substack, Happy in Our Own Ways, Glen also publishes music criticism and a substantial new series about teaching and the business of writing.
Glen has also taught creative writing for more than two decades, inaugurating a signature program for high school students at Campbell Hall in Studio City, and helping to launch the MFA program at Cal State San Bernardino, where he served as a Fiction Professor.
Recent MFA Grad Caity Scott Wins Distinguished Thesis Award for Their Game, 'Bitter Roots'
by Allie Spikes
WWU Graduate School
Caity Scott (they/them), a recent graduate of Western’s MFA in Creative Writing program, was recently announced as the Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS) and ProQuest winner for Distinguished Master’s Thesis and/or Final Master’s Capstone Project Award in the Creative, Visual, and Performing Arts for their student project, a horror computer game called "Bitter Roots." As the winner, Scott will receive a $1000 prize and an invitation to the 65th Annual WAGS Conference in Portland, Oregon.
Jeopardy Magazine is Accepting Submissions!
Jeopardy Magazine, Western’s literary magazine on campus, is accepting submissions for the final submission deadline of 2023!
Here at Jeopardy, we accept works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, prose, and lyrical composition. We are also accepting art and photography pieces, and are open to other abstract artforms. Submitting your work for a chance to be part of the 22/23 book this year is free and easy! Just check out our website at https://jeopardy.wwu.edu/submit and click “submit to Jeopardy Magazine”. This will lead you to our Submittable, where our guidelines are laid out and you can submit your work for review!
Our final deadline is March 24th and is the last day to submit to the magazine this quarter, so as you work on writing for classes or your own personal pieces, we hope you’ll consider sending them our way.
We would love to receive your work and this is a wonderful opportunity for a chance to have your work featured in a published book that is free to everyone!
Beyond submitting your work to the magazine, we will also be hosting multiple events this quarter and next quarter. From bi-weekly writing workshops and games, to a songwriting workshop with the Underground Coffeehouse, to a publishing panel with published professors of Western, we hope to see you there! For a list of our events, updates, and more information on Jeopardy, keep an eye on our Instagram @jeopardymagazine and your email.
For any questions or concerns, you can email us at wwujeopardy@gmail.com
Kindly,
Jeopardy Magazine