VU English Major and MA Alumna Publishes Debut Novel

Olivia Martel '00, English, and MA '03, English, has just published her debut novel, How to Fly. 

From Olivia's website: 

"Twenty-nine-year-old Chelsea Pearl is thrown for a loop when her therapist asks her that one simple question. Always a helper, Chelsea isn’t one for self-reflection. She’s fooled herself into believing that planning social events for graduate students at elite Swank University and hanging with friends is enough. But is it? Even her two best friends—Raquel, a globe-trotting stunt woman, and Matteo, a former love interest—are worried about her lately...

"Chelsea’s most challenging student, Ivana Volkov, has issues of her own and isn’t into Chelsea’s so-called help. When Chelsea finally meets a great guy, her ability to keep playing by the rules is threatened. He’s off limits, and she runs the risk of losing her job. But if she doesn’t take a chance, she fears she’ll stay stuck and miss out on growing into who she is really meant to be.

"If things are ever going to take off for her, Chelsea needs to get honest, get over herself, and admit that life is way more fun when she’s not being so good. 

"How to Fly is a love letter to late-bloomers and anyone who feels like they are somehow bad at life-ing. It’s proof that it’s never too late to come of age and be more than just good."

You can learn more about the book and about Olivia at her website. Congratulations, Olivia! 

Spring '25 Class Visit Flyers

Our student advisory council will be making visits to classes in the coming weeks to talk about the English major and minor at Villanova. Here are some of the flyers they'll be showing:

FALL 2025       

  UPPER-LEVEL ENGLISH COURSES

2003 Intro to Creative Writing TR 8:30-9:45, Tsering Wangmo

Designed for students who wish to experiment with composing several kinds of creative writing: short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. 

 

2005 Writing the Short Story TR 4:00-5:15, Alan Drew

In this writing workshop course, we will explore setting, point of view, characterization, plot and other craft elements that make short stories run. We will read influential authors and give feedback to one another to foster our growth as writers.

 

2006 Writing of Poetry MW 10:00-11:15, Tsering Wangmo

Instruction in poetry writing, including how to craft imagery, figurative language, sound, line, and rhythm, as well as traditional and contemporary forms. Students read widely and write lyric, narrative and experimental poems that are shared in a supportive workshop setting.

 

2018 Nature Writing Workshop TR 2:30-3:45, Cathy Staples

The natural world will be a source for the creative non-fiction, poetry, and fiction pieces students will write in this class. Through readings, field trips, writing exercises, and workshops students will learn to sharpen their language and see more deeply.

 

2020 Digital Journalism MWF 11:45-12:35, Lara Rutherford-Morrison

Introduces students to the fundamentals of journalism, with an emphasis on digital media. Class will focus on the ins and outs of digital journalism as a practice, with students gaining hands-on experience within a variety of media platforms.

 

2023 Journalism TR 8:30-9:45, Kathryn Szumanski

Introduces students to key techniques of news gathering and news writing. We will also explore the principles and rules that guide the writing of news pieces, editorials, and features.

 

2043 Pop Culture & Resistance MW 4:45-6:00, Karyn Hollis

An analysis of notable works of art, music, literature, video and social media created by people of various international, ethnic and minoritized groups to publicize situations of importance to their communities.

 

2061 Editing & Publishing TR 10:00-11:15, Adrienne Perry

Literary publishing in a diverse, compelling field involving both art and commerce. This hands- on class explores the economic, social, and artistic forces that shape contemporary literature.

Grapple with what it means to "make culture" while honing editorial skills.

 

2250, Ways of Reading TR 1:00-2:15, Joseph Drury

An exploration of how we engage, understand, explicate, and enjoy texts of all sorts.

 

2306 Harry Potter: Quests/Questions MWF 10:40-11:30, Evan Radcliffe

In this course we will use the tools of literary analysis to discuss all seven Harry Potter novels. Central topics will include how the series evolves; Rowling’s use of novelistic form, character and characterization, and literary models; and the books’ representations of gender, class, and other social issues.

 

2360 Adaptation: Film as Lit MW 4:45-6:00, Adrienne Perry

The relationship between movies and literature dates back to film's earliest days. Comparing films and texts allows for an explanation of storytelling and the fascinating choices auteurs make. Plot, tone, and symbolism are considered alongside questions of power and representation.

 

2790 Comics as Literature MW 8:00-9:15, Robert Berry

This course will focus on American comics. In that history, and particularly in the past fifty years, we will see the struggle of cartoonists to take their craft out of the limitations of the marketplace and make it a respected form for self-expression, reportage, memoir, non-fiction, adaptation and more. We will read and discuss some of the critical work done in the field and learn how comics operate differently than film, theater or text.

 

2790 Genres of White Supremacy TR 11:30-12:45, Crystal Lucky

"Genres of White Supremacy" centers literature by Indigenous, Black, and white American writers to consider some of the most pressing concerns of our contemporary moment. Alongside visual images, historically grounded modules on the construction of race, and a critical dialogic component, the course supports all students in their exploration of racial and social hierarchies through the powerful expressions of key nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century writers, including Leslie Marman Silko, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Herman Melville.

 

3170 Medieval Romance TR 1:00-2:15, Brooke Hunter

Medieval romances - texts about chivalry and love - have shaped everything from racial identity to flirting. This course considers how romances depict sexuality and gender; construct notions of religious otherness; and shape ideas about peoples and political power.

 

3250 Shakespeare MW 3:20-4:35, Lauren Shohet

This course studies the plays and/or poems of Shakespeare. It may be focused on a particular genre of Shakespeare's work, a period in his career, or a topic. The course seeks to develop students' appreciation of Shakespeare's artistry and relevance.

 

3508 Austen: Then & Now TR 2:30-3:45, Joseph Drury

Jane Austen's novels have never been more popular than they are today. To understand why, we will read several, exploring their historical context and reception, as well as influential modern critical interpretations and the most interesting recent movie adaptations.

 

3621 Contemporary British Novel & Brexit TR 4:00-5:15, Megan Quigley

This course examines the intriguing relationship between literature and institutions, including governments, schools and prisons. Reading nineteenth-century literature in relation to our contemporary moment, we focus especially on universities, interrogating students' experiences of universities and institutional narratives about universities.

 

3660 Contemporary Literature & Film of India TR 4:00-5:15, Tsering Wangmo

India produces some of the most innovative and engrossing literature in the world, while also releasing more films than any other nation. Through both forms, we'll explore debates in contemporary India concerning border tensions, caste, gender, fantasy, and imperial histories.

 

3661 Black British Literature & Film MW 1:55-3:10, Chiji Akoma

This course explores British fiction written after the second World War until today. What stories do novelists tell about the meaning of "Britishness" after the British empire? We investigate themes of nostalgia, xenophobia, feminism, and class warfare in stylistically varied novels.

 

4510 Early American Poetry MW 1:55-3:10, Travis Foster

We will immerse ourselves in four transformative poets -- Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatly Peters, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson -- while also considering how their lives and work have inspired contemporary culture from prestige television to Taylor Swift.

 

4649 Intro to Asian American Literature MW 1:55-3:10, Yumi Lee

Examines literature, film, art, and other cultural productions by Asian Americans and explores Asian American histories from the early 20th century to the present.

 

4706 Intro to Latinx Lit TR 2:30-3:45, Michael Dowdy

We will explore the vibrant field of Latinx literature, including fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry by Puerto Rico, Chicano (Mexican American), Dominican American, Cuban American, and Central and South American descent writers and artists. Knowledge of Spanish is not required.

 

5000 The Indigenous Atlantic MW 3:20-4:35, Kimberly Takahata

This course asks: how does centering Indigenous peoples change how we conceive of the Atlantic World and literary history? Reading novels, poems, reports, legal acts, letters, and a newspaper issue from early colonization to the present day, we will explore why literatures in all their forms matter to how we understand colonialism, sovereignty, identity, and art.

You can find our English Alumni Careers Booklet here.

BYO Book Reading Club at Falvey Library

Mark your calendar for Falvey Library's BYO Book reading club meetings this spring! They will take place on on Tuesday, February 18^th from 4-5:30pm and Thursday, March 27^th from 12-1:30pm. They spend the first 45 minutes of each meeting reading, and then the next 45 minutes discussing our books. Snacks included, of course. 

Also, look for the Blind Date with a Book display on the Popular Reading shelves tomorrow. Students helped wrap and decorate the covers. 

Finally, Falvey Library orders Popular Reading books almost entirely based on student suggestions, so if any English students are interested in getting involved further, feel free to reach out! There is a group of student volunteers who communicate virtually through Teams, or for a lighter commitment level, Falvey always reviewing suggestions through the suggestion box in Speakers’ Corner or the web form. More info here:https://library.villanova.edu/collections/highlighted-collections/popular-reading.

 

Opportunity: Green Corps, the Field School for Environmental Organizing

This February 27-28, representatives from Green Corps, the Field School for Environmental Organizing are coming to visit campus to hold an info session and speak with as many students as possible about the program. They focus on providing recent college grads the skills and experience they need to make an impact on urgent environmental campaigns. More information below.

Green Corps Organizer Program - The Field School for Environmental Organizing

Green Corps is looking for college graduates who are ready to take on the biggest environmental challenges of our day.

Learn more and apply on our website!

 

The planet needs all the help it can get. To win now and build a strong foundation for lasting progress, we need people who know how to organize: to run organizations and campaigns that will inspire the support and action we need to save our environment. Our program starts with intensive classroom training. You learn about issues and campaigns, organizing theory and principles, and skills from recruiting volunteers to staging a media event. Then, you move to a more hands-on experience. You make a difference on important campaigns to transition our country to clean energy, protect wildlife, and more. For example, Lauren Karpinski, an organizer from the Green Corps Class of 2019, brought together a coalition of 40 groups that helped win a landmark solar energy bill in Arkansas.

 

We’re accepting the top 20 candidates for our 2025-2026 program. Graduates will join our more than 400 alumni who are leading environmental campaigns and organizations across the country. If you’re passionate about the environment and ready to learn and practice the craft of organizing after graduation, apply today!

 

Not a graduating senior? Add your name to our list to receive updates about Green Corps including summer internships and jobs in the environmental and broader social change field!

 

Green Corps’ year-long program begins in August 2025 with introductory classroom training, and continues with field placements in multiple locations across the U.S. (Green Corps also offers a short-term program beginning in January 2025.) Candidates must be willing to relocate. Please contact Renee Wellman at renee@greencorps.org with additional questions.

Alumna Published in the Virginia Woolf Miscellany

Kylie Horan '24, English, was just published in the Virginia Woolf Miscellany (on Woolf's birthday, no less), with her paper "Woolf, Will, and the War Bride: Cymbeline and The Figure of Fascist Italy in Mrs. Dalloway."

As Kylie posted on her LinkedIn page, "The first English course I took at Villanova—the one that confirmed I truly had to study literature—was a semester-long dive into Woolf’s body of work taught by the incomparable Dr. Megan Quigley. Eighteen years old and a bit out of my depth, I was stunned by the beauty of Woolf’s words; I felt I had begun a relationship with her books that would last the rest of my lifetime."

As Kylie notes in the Miscellany, "The essay is the author’s adaptation of her final essay for ENG 5000: Woolf and Her Daughters, completed during her undergraduate studies at Villanova University." In the paper, Kylie argues that "Woolf revises Shakespeare’s political parable for a post-war Europe by doubling Rezia with Imogen as the synecdoche of her country, ultimately destabilizing Imogen’s (and thus Britain’s) happy ending to reflect the foreboding future influence of newly fascist Italy."

Kylie's paper, which won the Angelica Garnett Undergraduate Essay Prize, is featured in the most recent issue of the Miscellany, which can be read on the Miscellany's site here (Kylie's paper starts on p. 32). 

Virginia Woolf

2025 Literary Festival

More information here. 

Student Advisory Council Meeting: Friday, January 24

Join the English department’s Student Advisory Council! The Student Advisory Council plays a critical role in making the English department a vibrant, welcoming community. Members suggest programming ideas, serve as consultants for the faculty and as peer advisers for new majors. They also help promote the major to prospective and undeclared students throughout the academic year. It is a great opportunity to get involved and shape our community here at Villanova. For more about past members, see the English department blog. There’s no application, no election: anyone who is interested in getting involved is welcome to attend the meeting and be part of the Advisory Council. The first meeting of the semester will take place on Friday, January 24 at 3:00 pm in the English Department office, SAC 402. There will be cookies!! If you are planning to attend or have questions about the Student Advisory Council, email Professor Mary Mullen at Mary.l.mullen@villanova.edu

Nova English Students, Alumni, and Faculty Participate in Miltonathon

VU English faculty, students, and alumni were featured in a 24-hour global shared reading of the work of John Milton, produced by the Milton's Cottage Trust, on 8 November 2024 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of Milton’s death. Launching at Bread Street in London, where Milton was born, and culminating at St Giles Cripplegate, where he’s buried, the Miltonathon travelled to a wide range of venues with Miltonic connections and collections en route.

VU Prof. Lauren Shohet coordinated the reading of Paradise Lost book 4. You can hear English major Frankie Frabizzio '25, recent English alum Kylie Horan '25, and Professor Shohet reading from Milton's work on Youtube.

Professor Mary Mullen Publishes "Public Humanities, Then and Now"

 Professor Mary Mullen recently published "Public Humanities, Then and Now" in the recently launched journal, Public Humanities. The article draws on her research and builds on many discussions from her "Institutional Fictions" course. Here is the abstract:

"This essay considers how the nineteenth-century idea of the university as a refuge, constructed by thinkers like John Henry Newman, continues to shape contemporary universities and the field of public humanities. This vision of the university has lasting appeal for obvious reasons. In a culture predicated on speed, slowness is a political act. In a culture of hot takes, cold reasoning often provides necessary context, a wider view. And yet, as W. E. B. Du Bois warns, the “tenacious legend” of the Victorian university is dangerous because it separates the university from mass culture. Building on Du Bois’s thinking, the essay concludes that instead of seeking protection, enclosure, or recognition within university institutions, public humanities practitioners should seek refuge in the relationships of mutual responsibility they foster."