English Department

Poetry is alive and thriving at the Fairfax County Juvenile Detention Center Through a grant from Arts Fairfax, George Mason University students and faculty are helping youth in the Fairfax Detention Center express themselves through poetry.

2023 Spring Writing Contests 2023 WINNERS GMU Rinehart Fiction Award | $500 | Judge: Okezie Nwoka Winner: Brenna R. Fuhr ("Blessed are the Meek") "For using exceptional...

April 27 and
Free screening I'm a Virgo and discussion.

5pm Info here
https://vfs.gmu.edu/events/14624

GMU Creative Writing students are invited to spend a week exploring folklore and creative writing with former Mason professor Peggy Yocom in collaboration with Monson Arts, a residency program in Monson, Maine. This workshop would take place July 23 through July 29. Click the link in our bio for more info!

🗣 Poets! Join scholar MaryAnn Salinas Vega for a presentation and subsequent poetry workshop on Friday, April 14 at 1 p.m.! If you are an undergraduate or graduate poet who writes about fatphobia or anti-blackness, sign up to read your work by clicking the link in our bio! ✨

Join the Cheuse Center for their Inaugural Cheuse Center Lecture with Azar Nafisi THIS TUESDAY, April 4! In her lecture, Azar Nafisi will be reflecting on current events to support women’s rights in Iran. Her speech will touch on the two countries she calls home and how totalitarianism should be confronted through imagination and ideas. This event will be held at the Stacy C. Sherwood Center and will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Reserve your tickets by clicking the link in our bio!

Hey Patriots!

Our next speaker for the Spring 2023 Visiting Writers Series is Sarah Thankam Mathews!

This event will be held on Thursday April 6 from 7:30pm-8:30pm EST in the Fenwick Library Reading Room 2001!

See you there!

It's Monday Patriots!

Let's start the week off with a laugh...or another brain teaser...?

The fact that my brain didn't stop to be able to pronounce this and still understand it...ah English~!

Have a great week everyone!

NEXT THURSDAY: Join us in welcoming the next writer in the Spring 2023 Visiting Writers series, Casey Cep! This event will be held over Zoom and will begin at 7:30. Click the link in bio to RSVP!

Casey Cep is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, which was a New York Times best-seller and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, The Economist, TIME, and President Barack Obama.

Welcome back Patriots!

Hope you all had a great spring break!

...was any work accomplished during this break?

(Are you team Ross or Team Rachel?)

Summer Course Announcement!!

Hi patriots, looking to take some classes over the summer?
Why not take ENGH511 Course: Shakespearean Adaptations with Professor Denise Albanese!

This course will be on MTWR 4:30-6:35pm Online!!

Interested?? Sign up now!!

Keith Clark Discusses the Authors that Inspire Him and His Black History Month Must-Reads | CHSS Professor Keith Clark of the George Mason University English Department sits down with CHSS Ambassador, Jalen Stubbs, to discuss Black History Month, African...

Happy Meme-Monday Patriots!

Let's kick start this week with a little brain workout!

Oof....does your head hurt like mine?
Who else had to sound this out?

Making Home - With Good Reason Finding home in literature.

Calling all Patriots!
Join us in congratulating Leon Langford BA 2011 who co-wrote a new film, THIS LAND, releasing VOD on March 10!!

Check out the trailer to the movie in the link in the bio!

Calling all Patriots! Join us in congratulating Leon Langford BA 2011 who co-wrote a new film, THIS LAND, releasing VOD on March 10!! Check out the trailer to the movie in the link in the bio! #gmu #thislandmovie #leonlangford #masonalumni #georgemasonuniversity

Happy President's Day Patriots!

Today is the day we celebrate the founding father of the nation and the first president of the United States, George Washington.

But since its also Monday - we can't miss out on our !

Let's work hard this week everyone!

Happy President's Day Patriots! Today is the day we celebrate the founding father of the nation and the first president of the United States, George Washington. But since its also Monday - we can't miss out on our #mondaymemes! Let's work hard this week everyone! #gmu #georgemasonuniversity #gmuenglish #presidentsday #meme #holiday #georgewashington #USPres

Dedicated to.... HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: In all the years we’ve been together at Jungle Red–how many has that been?--there’s a topic we have all considered, and...

The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other Expeditions and Indiscreti A man hears a melody in the night and begins a dangerous quest to locate its source. Ghosts of the past haunt the present in hotels, at an office party, and on a date that takes a dark turn. And an elderly woman named Marple sets out to prove she’s every bit as capable as Christie’s own famous s...

Fur real Patriots, it’s Friday!

Let’s end this week strong and have a purrr-fect weekend!

Hey Patriots! Please join us in congratulating Ashlee Green, current MFA student in Creative Writing: Nonfiction, who just got their review published on NPR!!

Use the link below to give their review a read:
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/13/1155638498/lamya-h-hijab-butch-blues-guide-to-islam-queer-manifesto

Hey Patriots! Please join us in congratulating Ashlee Green, current MFA student in Creative Writing: Nonfiction, who just got their review published on NPR!! Follow the link in our bio to read Ashlee's review! #gmu #gmucreativewriting #english #gmuenglish #georgemasonuniversity #studenthighlight #npr

Hey Patriots! Please join us in congratulating Ashlee Green, current MFA student in Creative Writing: Nonfiction, who just got her review published on NPR!!

Use the link below to give her review a read:
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/13/1155638498/lamya-h-hijab-butch-blues-guide-to-islam-queer-manifesto

Happy Friday Patriots!

Looking forward to the weekend? Did you all have a good week?

..Did you read this in a Morgan Freeman voice?

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Happy Friday Patriots! Looking forward to the weekend? Did you all have a good week? ...Did you read this in a Morgan Freeman voice? Have a good weekend, everyone! #gmu #gmuenglish #friday #friyay #georgemason #georgemasonuniversity #fridaymeme

Happy Thursday Patriots!

Did you know these facts about our EagleBank Arena? You learn something new everyday! Happy !

#throwbackthursday One of @georgemasonu's most recognizable landmarks is @eaglebankarena Construction began in August 1983. Though construction was not fully completed, the university held the 1985 Commencement in the arena, then called Patriot Center. 2,204 graduates and their families filled the Patriot Center on May 18. The arena was then re-closed to the public for completion of construction. On October 4, 1985, the arena was re-opened, and a capacity crowd of over 9,000, including actor Jack Nicholson, watched the sold-out exhibition game between the New York Knicks and the Washington Bullets. The game featured then-rookie sensation and future Hall of Famer, Patrick Ewing. On March 26, 2006, the Patriot Center was host to a raucous victory celebration, as Mason’s Men’s Basketball team defeated the Number One Seed, University of Connecticut to earn a seat in the NCAA Final Four. As the game in the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. ended, students formed a spontaneous victory parade around Patriot Circle and filled the Patriot Center to await the team’s return. As the team pulled into campus, fireworks went off over Mason Pond. The team triumphantly marched in to a crowd of happy students and members of the community. Since 1985, the building has hosted over 3,000 events and is among the top 100 grossing arenas in the world. On May 7, 2015, the university announced that the name would be changed on July 1, 2015 to "EagleBank Arena at George Mason University" following a partnership deal with @eaglebankcorp Photos from the George Mason University photograph collection, #R0120, Boxes 27, 39, and 41. Please stay tuned and follow our future #tbt postings where we will feature more gems from this collection. #archives #specialcollections @masonalumni

Hey Patriots!
Mason’s two-day Spring Career Fair is coming up soon!

More than 200 employers will be on campus on Feb 22 and 23 on the lower level of the Johnson Center.

Notable employers range from: Bureau of Labor Statistics to the CIA to the Council on American-Islamic Relations to Literacy Lab, the PeaceCorp, and the Nature Conservancy!

Don’t miss your chance to meet employers, connect with alumni, find opportunities, and plan for the future! Follow to learn more or visit go.gmu.edu/CareerFair

Hey Patriots! Mason’s two-day Spring Career Fair is coming up soon! More than 200 employers will be on campus on Feb 22 and 23 from 11am to 4pm EST on the lower level of the Johnson Center. Notable employers range from: Bureau of Labor Statistics to the CIA to the Council on American-Islamic Relations to Literacy Lab, the PeaceCorp, and the Nature Conservancy! Don’t miss your chance to meet employers, connect with alumni, find opportunities, and plan for the future! Follow @masoncareer to learn more or visit go.gmu.edu/CareerFair #gmu #georgemasonuniversity #masonfair #careerfair #gainexperiences #bringyourresume

📣 Attention Patriots! 📣
📣 Calling all writers for the Personal Essay contest! 📣

Come and submit your personal essays to the Dr. Barry Berkey Personal Essay Award for the chance to not only a win $500 that is associated with the award but also get recognized at the English Department's annual awards reception. Your essay will be published in English Matters, the English Department Alumni magazine.

Interested? Come and submit your work!

For more information and guidelines about submissions, please visit:
https://creativewriting.gmu.edu/articles/18579

📣 Attention Patriots! 📣 📣 Calling all writers for the Personal Essay contest! 📣 Come and submit your personal essays to the Dr. Barry Berkey Personal Essay Award for the chance to not only a win $500 that is associated with the award but also get recognized at the English Department's annual awards reception. Your essay will be published in English Matters, the English Department Alumni magazine. Interested? Come and submit your work! For more information and guidelines about submissions, please visit: https://creativewriting.gmu.edu/articles/18579 #gmu #gmuenglish #georgemasonuniversity #mason #creativewriting #drbarryberkey #personalessay #award #personalessaycontest #gmucreativewriting

Happy Tuesday Patriots! Back again with another addition to our Booked and Busy series...with not a book recommendation but a podcast recommendation!

Go check out The Slow Agency Podcast here: https://www.wlnjournal.org/blog/slow-agency/

Also available on Spotify, Anchor, Apple Podcast, and Google Podcast!

Happy Tuesday Patriots! Back again with another addition to our Booked and Busy series...with not a book recommendation but a podcast recommendation! Go check out The Slow Agency Podcast here: https://www.wlnjournal.org/blog/slow-agency/ Also available on Spotify, Anchor, Apple Podcast, and Google Podcast! #gmu #georgemasonuniversity #gmuenglish #bookedandbusy #podcast #theslowagencypodcast

Big Announcement Patriots📢!

The online journal Working Papers in Language & Linguistics has been revised and relaunched!

English PhD students Benjamin Hunt (Linguistics) and Jonathan M. Marine (Writing & Rhetoric) have relaunched the online journal Working Papers in Language and Linguistics—student-run and featuring work by Mason students, both graduate and undergrad.

Come check them out here: https://english.gmu.edu/articles/18569

Big Announcement Patriots📢! The online journal Working Papers in Language & Linguistics has been revised and relaunched! English PhD students Benjamin Hunt (Linguistics) and Jonathan M. Marine (Writing & Rhetoric) have relaunched the online journal Working Papers in Language and Linguistics—student-run and featuring work by Mason students, both graduate and undergrad. Come check out the journal here: https://english.gmu.edu/articles/18569 #gmuenglish #gmu #georgemasonuniversity #WPILL #workingpapersinlanguageandlinguistics #writing #onlinejournal #english

Hey everyone! The Writing Center is hosting a workshop on February 15th, 2023 from 4:30-5:45pm EST via Zoom!

In this workshop, you will learn and practice using a variety of strategies for coming up with ideas and structuring those ideas into a rough draft. Techniques include free-writing, sketching webs and maps, composing rough "discovery" drafts, and outlining. You will leave this workshop with concrete verbal and visual tools for getting started on a writing project, as well as some strategies for dealing with writer’s block.

This workshop will be held over Zoom, so be sure to sign up through Mason360! Come and check it out!

Hey everyone! The @gmuwritingcenter is hosting a workshop on February 15th, 2023 from 4:30-5:45pm EST via Zoom! In this workshop, you will learn and practice using a variety of strategies for coming up with ideas and structuring those ideas into a rough draft. Techniques include free-writing, sketching webs and maps, composing rough "discovery" drafts, and outlining. You will leave this workshop with concrete verbal and visual tools for getting started on a writing project, as well as some strategies for dealing with writer’s block. This workshop will be held over Zoom, so be sure to sign up through Mason360 or click the link to attend! Come and check it out! Sign up: https://mason360.gmu.edu/wcenter/rsvp_boot?id=1991101 #gmu #gmuenglish #gmuwritingcenter #writingcenter #writingcenterworkshop #writingworkshops #georemason #georgemasonwritingcenter #georgemasonenglish

Our second speaker for the Spring 2023 Visiting Writers Series is Cheswayo Mphanza! He will be joining us over Zoom on February 16, 2023 at 7:30pm-830pm EST! Please RSVP to attend the event!

Mphanza was born in Lusaka, Zambia and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His work has been featured in the New England Review, the Paris Review, Hampden-Sydney Review, Boston Review, Lolwe, and elsewhere. He has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Hurston/Wright Foundation, Callaloo, Cave Canem, and Columbia University. A finalist for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, a recipient of the 2017 Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers, winner of the 2020 Boston Review Annual Poetry Contest, and a Creative Capital 2022 awardee, his debut collection The Rinehart Frames (University of Nebraska Press), is the winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets and was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry. He earned his MFA from Rutgers-Newark and currently serves as the editor in chief for Lampblack. He is working on a novel.

Thanks to Scrawl Books in Reston, Virginia, for sponsoring this semester's Visiting Writers series. You can order copies of The Rinehart Frames from Scrawl at: https://www.scrawlbooks.com/book/9781496225764

To RSVP to attend the event, please visit:
https://creativewriting.gmu.edu/events/14216

Our second speaker for the Spring 2023 Visiting Writers Series is Cheswayo Mphanza! He will be joining us over Zoom on February 16, 2023 at 7:30pm-830pm EST! Please RSVP to attend the event! Mphanza was born in Lusaka, Zambia and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His work has been featured in the New England Review, the Paris Review, Hampden-Sydney Review, Boston Review, Lolwe, and elsewhere. He has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Hurston/Wright Foundation, Callaloo, Cave Canem, and Columbia University. A finalist for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, a recipient of the 2017 Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers, winner of the 2020 Boston Review Annual Poetry Contest, and a Creative Capital 2022 awardee, his debut collection The Rinehart Frames (University of Nebraska Press), is the winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets and was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry. He earned his MFA from Rutgers-Newark and currently serves as the editor in chief for Lampblack. He is working on a novel. Thanks to Scrawl Books in Reston, Virginia, for sponsoring this semester's Visiting Writers series. You can order copies of The Rinehart Frames from Scrawl at: https://www.scrawlbooks.com/book/9781496225764 To RSVP to attend the event, please visit: https://creativewriting.gmu.edu/events/14216 #gmu #georgemasonuniversity #gmuenglish #gmucreativewriting #poetry #poetryauthor #cheswayomphanza

Bennie Herron: Origin Stories is hosting a poetry night and open mic on February 10th, 2023 from 6-9PM 🎤

Bennie Herron: Origin Stories is hosting a poetry night and open mic on February 10th, 2023 from 6-9PM 🎤 #georgemasonuniversity #gmu #gmuenglish #gmuopenmic #openmic #poetrynight #gmupoetry #bennieherron #raquelrabrown #patrickwashington

A moment of appreciation for all delivery drivers delivering this semester's required readings.

😂😂

Happy Meme Monday!

Happy Spring Semester, Patriots!🌸

If this is your first semester, welcome! We are so excited that you're here! Please feel free to come to the English office on the 4th floor of Horizon Hall and say hi!🌻

If this isn't your first rodeo, welcome back! Keep doing great things!🌹

We are less than one week away from the beginning of the Spring 2023 semester *excited squeals* !!!!

If you are still finalizing your schedule, don’t fret! Check out our coursebook using the link in our bio for some more information about each class we’re offering📚

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us!

We are so excited to see you all again and meet our new students *more excited squeals*!!!

Happy Tuesday, Patriots!

So... are you pro-reading-the-last-page or anti-reading-the-last-page?