Spelman College English Department

09/30/2025

Join us on October 24 at 7:00 PM in Cosby Auditorium for an evening with author JASON REYNOLDS, an event we're offering in partnership with Page Turners!

EVENTBRITE LINK: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-of-enlightenment-with-jason-reynolds-and-dr-lakeysha-hallmon-tickets-1712482413999?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

EVENT DETAILS:
Friday, October 24
Camille Hanks Cosby Auditorium on Spelman's campus
Doors open @ 6:30 pm, Event begins @ 7:00 pm
Free & open to the public
All ages including faculty and their families
AUC students receive a free book

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jason Reynolds is a prolific writer (of over 20 novels) and a powerful speaker who testifies to the power of storytelling and seeing ourselves represented in literature. His stories that are tender, bold, imaginative, and profound have garnered Reynolds a bevy of honors and awards including the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award, the Kirkus Prize, the NAACP Image Award, and a Newberry Honors, among other accolades. He is a regular feature of the New York Times Bestsellers List.

ABOUT THE SPECIAL GUEST:
Dr. Lakeysha “Key” Hallmon, EdD is a transformational social entrepreneur speaker, civic leader, and author of No One Is Self-Made: Build Your Village to Flourish in Business and Life (2005). She is the founder of The Village Market, Our Village United, and The Village Retail, platforms that have supported nearly 1500 Black-owned businesses, facilitated over $10 million in direct sales, and deployed more than a million dollars in grants and technical assistance.

ABOUT OUR PARTNER:
Page Turners Make Great Learners is a literacy nonprofit that partners with schools across metro-Atlanta to bring dynamic reading experiences to students such as Read-a-thons, books clubs, and author visits. Notably, Page Turners has provided over 75,000 books to deserving children and has featured over 175 authors including Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas and NBA Basketball Star, Chris Paul.

Many thanks to Dr. Sequoia Maner for organizing this event for our community!

05/19/2025

Some pics from our English senior party in April. Congrats to our graduates! Feel free to tag yourselves.

05/12/2025

Congratulations to our English major alumna Chanara Andrews Bickers, who earned her Ph. D. from the University of Georgia.

04/25/2025

Spelman faculty (past and present) and alumnae are enjoying the College Language Association convention in Vancouver, Washington.

03/26/2025

It's Lit Week again…and we're welcoming another of our amazing, talented alumnae—Shannon Sanders—to share her beautiful work and chop it up with another amazing, wonderful writer—Tiphanie Yanique! 🔥🔥 Come join us tomorrow evening!
Details: Wednesday, March 26, 6:30, Room LL28 in the Olivia Hanks Cosby Academic Center at Spelman College

02/18/2025

Congratulations to our English major alumna Anne Collins Smith!

https://www.essence.com/art/anne-collins-smith-chief-curator-noma/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1BDhJqLuJ5O7Iy-CuwAHLb1bpnHBAuJrngZf2ex9yWpedY96p8ZhBAR-I_aem_wRi2-AT1ACZDH16vEsP8sw

Smith’s appointment marks both a historic milestone and an opportunity to foster meaningful connections between art, history, and the people of New Orleans.

11/18/2024

Our alumna Ke’Andra Levingston was crowned Miss Black California on Saturday night!

11/15/2024

I shared this recent piece by Alexis Pauline Gumbs with my students. (Alexis has visited Spelman several times—and especially the Spelman Archives, while doing research for her most recent book: "Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde.")

I hope this resonates: https://www.southerncultures.org/article/stay-strong/

10/28/2024

The Spelman English Department is hiring! Come work with us! Applications are due November 1.

Here's the full ad:

The Spelman College Department of English is inviting applications for a full time tenure-track Assistant Professor position to begin in August 2025 from individuals with the following qualifications:

• PhD (or ABD with expected completion no later than August 2025) in English, Rhetoric and Composition, Communications, or African American Studies
• Expertise in African American literature and culture AND at least one of the following areas: digital humanities, digital rhetorics, business/professional writing, composing for marketing and digital media, or journalism

Ideal candidates should have a record of successful college-level teaching and a promising research agenda.

The position requires teaching a 3/3 load, including first-year writing courses and courses in the candidate’s areas of expertise; maintaining an active research agenda; advising and mentoring students in the department’s major and minors; and engaging in service at the department, college, and professional levels. All courses will be taught in-person.

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, CV, transcripts, writing sample (20 page max), statement of teaching philosophy (500 words max), and statement on scholarship (500 words max) by November 1, 2024.

The Spelman College Department of English is inviting applications for a full time tenure-track Assistant Professor position to begin in August 2025 from individuals with the following qualifications:• PhD (or ABD with expected completion no later than August 2025) in English, Rhetoric and Composi...

10/21/2024

Spelman alumna Tina McElroy Ansa authored several novels and launched a publishing company. A course in English examined her novels. Her papers have been given to the Rose Library at Emory University, where her memorial service will be held.

10/01/2024

The Academy of American Poets has announced that BLACK PASTORAL (University of Georgia Press, 2023) by Ariana Benson (C'2019) has won the $25,000 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for the most outstanding book of poetry published in the U.S. in the previous calendar year. Kyle Dargan, Yesenia Montilla, and D.A. Powell judged.

CONGRATULATIONS, Ariana!!! 🎉👏🏾

10/01/2024

Spelman College faculty and students participated in the Furious Flower IV Conference: Celebrating the Worlds of Black Poetry, from September 18-22 at James Madison University. Our presentation, "Cultivating Poetic Abundance at HBCUs: Writing Communities at Spelman and in the AUC," included panelists Asha Winter Brown, Maya Goldfield, De'Aiyziah Goodwin, Tangela Mitchell, A.T. Rhodes, Dr. Sarah RudeWalker, Prof. Sharan Strange, and Patience Stuckey. We had an exhilarating four days of cultural festivities and connection with poets from across the African diaspora…a truly memorable event (that only happens every 10 years)!