English Department News

From the first space suits to Emily Dickinson’s famous white dress, WWU Assistant Professor of English Cori Winrock’s third book, “Alterations,” explores the significance of garments as fabric that is torn, reassembled, and stitched as a metaphor for grief and recovery. (Read the full article by Frances Badgett on WWU News.)

WWU Alum Joan Sung’s debut memoir ‘Kinda Korean’ is an unvarnished look at her first-gen adolescence growing up with – as she puts it – an unapologetic ‘Tiger Mom.’ (Read the full interview by Mary Gallagher on Window.)

What is the relationship between the mass grief of global catastrophe and the private, intimate grief that arises in the wake of something like a sister’s suicide? 

This is the question WWU graduate student of English Kelsey Tribble asked herself in the early stages of writing “The Silent Zoo,” her newest play. 

“The Silent Zoo” premiered June 12 at New Prospect Theatre in Bellingham, was well attended, and elicited laughter and knowing groans throughout its two acts. (Read the full article from WWU News here!)

Read about WWU English alum, Dan Erickson—creator of the Emmy award-winning Apple TV+ series "Severance"—in this article by Mary Gallagher for Window Magazine (Digital Edition). 

Literary Arts, a Portland-based nonprofit literary organization celebrated recipients of the 2025 Oregon Literary Fellowships at the 2025 Oregon Book awards ceremony on April 28. Fifteen fellows were chosen from over 500 applicants, and one of them was WWU alumna Zoe Ballering (‘19, creative writing). (Read the full interview on WWU News.)   

WWU English alum, Rena Priest ('05) is the recipient of the alumni achievement award of 2025! She is an award-winning author and former Washington State Poet Laureate (more).

The artist Georgio de Chirico was known for his bold, surrealist paintings of town squares, mannequins and statuary — images that reflect his affection for classical antiquity and modern philosophical thought using illogical perspective and disquieting juxtapositions.

While his paintings influenced artists like René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, and André Breton, de Chirico was also a poet, essayist and novelist. 

One of his novels, “Mr. Dudron,” has been translated by WWU Associate Professor of English Stefania Heim. She “found” de Chirico through a friend and said she was hooked. (Read the full article here).

WWU Associate Professor of English Kathryn Trueblood has won the 2025 Gabriele Rico Challenge for Nonfiction from Reed Magazine for her short essay, "Blank Spaces, Black Frames.” (Read the full article here)

Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Kami Westhoff recently won the 2023 John Pierce Chapbook competition for “Sacral,” which was published this spring by Floating Bridge Press.  (Read the full article and interview here.)

WWU Professor of English Christopher Wise and students in the Senegal Global Learning Program were guests of honor at a recent cultural event held in Podor, Senegal. (click here to read the full article.)

Professor Brenda Miller and Barnaby

Retiring professor Brenda Miller has endowed two creative writing scholarships: one for undergraduate students writing creative nonfiction, and one for MFA students specializing in creative nonfiction. (Read the entire story on the English Alumni Newsletter here!)

Associate Professor of English Theresa Warburton is an educator, scholar, and community member. She is interested in the role that stories play in social movements. At Western, she teaches courses across a variety of topics related to US multiethnic literatures and social movements which often focus on Native literatures, prison abolition, and gender studies. She has also served in a number of supportive capacities, including most recently as the president of the United Faculty of Western Washington. (Read more on the WWU President's Office webpage!)

Western Washington University Associate Professor of English Jane Wong’s new memoir, “Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City,” was published on May 16 to rave reviews from outlets such as the New York Times Book Review (“[Wong] paints her story with flourish”) and Publisher’s Weekly (“Delightful … this is a winner”) to Kirkus Reviews (“Lyric energy bursts from almost every sentence”). (Read the full interview with Western Today here.)

Sometimes, the journey your research takes you on leads you to uncover unexpected and hard-to-answer questions. Wilson Sackett, an English graduate student at WWU, discovered this when a research trip to Germany to study Jewish prayer books shifted and complicated his studies and opened new possibilities.  (Read the full Western Today article here!)

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.  

(Read the full Western Today article here!)