Department of English

Department of English

The Department of English offers students deep engagement with literary study, a pursuit that develops writing and critical reading abilities along with strengthening communications skills and critical thinking.

English Major & MinorCreative Writing Major & MinorCourses
Department News

Brooke Jarvis ’07 was featured in the New York Times

Matt Mattox ’02 was featured in Richmond Times Dispatch for Martin Agency.

Lucy Nalen, ’19, had her literary magazine "And So Yeah" profiled in The Collegian.

Upcoming Courses

Department of English Writers Series

Writers Series Events

The University of Richmond’s Writers Series exposes Richmond students, the greater university community, and city residents to some of today’s most celebrated writers. Readings are free and open to the public, though seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Each reading will be followed by a Q&A session and book signing. 

The Writers Series is sponsored by the Department of English and the School of Arts & Sciences.

Tucker-Boatwright Festival of Literature and the Arts

2024-2025 Tucker Boatwright Festival of Literature & the Arts

The Nature of Representation

The Nature of Representation asks how our understandings of “nature” have been shaped by representational practices in both the aesthetic and political senses, exploring how the current climate catastrophe is inextricable from colonialism and anthropocentric worldviews. The festival features contemporary writers, artists, and thinkers who don’t take for granted that language is merely human, that there are other “natural” languages, and that attuning to those other languages allows us to tell stories that disrupt the violence of Man.

Upcoming Event:

Timothy Morton, "The War Against the Holy Spirit of Life: Some Countermeasures."
September 12, 4:30 p.m. | Humanities Commons

Timothy Morton is Rita Shea Guffey Professor of English at Rice University. Both an acclaimed specialist in British Romantic poetics and a leading figure in the philosophical movement called speculative realism or object-oriented ontology, Morton’s many books include The Ecological Thought, Hyperobjects, Realist Magic, and Becoming Ecological, and their work has involved collaboration with figures far outside of academia, including Björk. Their most recent book is Hell: In Search of a Christian Ecology.

Upcoming Events

Faculty Highlights

Mr. Brian Henry
Henry Awarded

Brian Henry, professor of English and creative writing, received the 2024 Distinguished Scholarship Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.

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Mr. Brian Henry
Henry Published

Brian Henry, professor of English and creative writing, published translations of poems by Tomaž Šalamun in The Nation, A Public Space, and Bennington Review, among other journals.

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Dr. Nathan Snaza
Snaza Published

Nathan Snaza, assistant professor of English, published Tendings: Feminist Esoterisms and the Abolition of Man by Duke University Press.

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Contact Us

Mailing address:
English Department, Humanities Building 318
106 UR Drive
University of Richmond, VA 23173

Phone: (804) 289-8287
Fax: (804) 289-8313

Department Chair: Dr. David Stevens
Academic Administrative Coordinator: Emily Tarchokov