Oberlin College English Department

08/28/2026

English Majors of Oberlin and recent Oberlin alumni: Engagement and Community Chair Professor Sarah Jane Kerwin and incoming English Department Chair Wendy Beth Hyman--along with our new crop of English major reps--will be hosting a "Town Hall" on September 24th at 12:30PM. What do you/did you love about studying English at Oberlin, what do you want us to consider, and what should we know? Come share your ideas! Can't make the meeting? Email Professor Hyman directly.

06/06/2026

Starting this Thursday, incoming Department Chair Wendy Hyman will be teaching a 4-week zoom course on The Winter's Tale at the 92nd St Y. Maybe some alums want another taste of their favorite Shakespeare class? It will run from 2-3PM on June 11, 18, 25 and July 2. Sessions will be recorded if you can't attend at that time.

They are offering a 40% discount with the code MAGICAL40, so it will only run you $110.

Near the end of his career, Shakespeare turned from comedies, tragedies, and histories to a stranger, tragicomic genre now known as romance. This course investigates the most compelling of these plays, The Winter’s Tale. We'll situate it in Shakespeare’s dramatic history and plumb its themes of ...

05/07/2026

So what can you do with an Oberlin English major?
(Link in comments.)

01/29/2026

We're very grateful to the following alums and friends, who made generous donations to the department's gift fund in 2025:

Douglas Diesenhaus ’02
Dr. Beverly Gibbons ’63
Professors Phyllis Gorfain and Bruce Richards ’61
Rosanna Hansen ’69 (in memory of Professor David Young)
Gilda Keith ’82
Marlene Maass Kolbert ’58
Paul LeVine ’83 and Tracey Tanenbaum ’84
Christopher Miller ’01 (in honor of Mark Blackman ’89 and Tammy Dowley-Blackman ’90)
Jesse Miller ’11
Michael Siegell '87
Professor David Walker ’72 (in memory of Professor David Young)
Charles Yarnoff ’72

These gifts will enable us to carry out special projects not covered by our regular annual budget. We welcome additional donations of any size: https://www.oberlin.edu/arts-and-sciences/departments/english/gift-fund Thank you!

Gifts of any amount are welcome. Make your gift through this secure Give to Oberlin website (select "English Department" from the dropdown menu).

05/03/2025

Generations of Oberlinians will be saddened by the news that the extraordinary poet, translator, editor, scholar, and teacher David Young died today after a long bout with Parkinson's. Author of over 40 books of poetry, translation, and literary criticism, editor of FIELD Magazine for an astounding 50 years, co-founder of Oberlin College Press, founder of Oberlin's London Program, David had a profound influence on countless students, many of whom have gone on to major careers as poets and teachers. We celebrate his legacy.

10/10/2024

Gabriel Brownstein (English major '88) was interviewed in Public Books about his "remarkable" new book, The Secret Mind of Bertha Pappenheim: The Woman Who Invented Freud’s Talking Cure, which explores Pappenheim's complicated role in the development of psychoanalysis.

“I really became interested in the part of Freud that we don't know much about, Freud before he became Freud.”

09/16/2024

Rumaan Alam (English & CRWR major '99) was interviewed on NPR by Scott Simon this weekend about his new novel, ENTITLEMENT.
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-4761461

08/16/2024

Lis Fertig (English and German double major, '08) has just received her PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan. Winner of a Fulbright Fellowship and an Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor award, she also worked as a radio host and producer in Ann Arbor. Congratulations, Lis!

I’m a writer, audio producer and literary translator with a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan.

05/10/2024

The English Department is delighted to announce this year's winners of our annual prizes and scholarships, which recognize outstanding achievement by some of our majors. Congratulations to them all!

Andrew Bongiorno Prize: Arielle Zakim

Margaret Goodwin Meacham Prize: Elsa Friedmann, Morgan Hesse, Elena Rabin, and Josie Rosman

Florence Snell Scholarship: Arielle Zakim

Dudley B. Tenney Prize: Morgan Hesse

Information about each of these prizes, as well as the names of past winners, may be found at

The Department of English recognizes some of its finest students annually with prizes, scholarships, and awards.   The Bongiorno Prize is awarded to a junior major for excellence in English. The prize was established in 1967 in honor of the retirement of one of Oberlin’s most distinguished teache...

05/04/2024

Recent grad Fiona Warnick (English and CrWr major '22) has published her first novel, THE SKUNKS, with Tin House Press, and we've just learned that it's been very favorably reviewed in the New York Times. Congratulations, Fiona!

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/04/books/review/the-skunks-fiona-warnick.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pU0.ELt5.sSuaDZlYY3fK&smid=url-share