English Department

What have you published lately? Let us know!

Faculty

Bunkong Tuon, professor of English, published poems in the Fall 2026 issue of The Chiron Review (print), including "At the Station" dedicated to emeritus professor Jordan Smith. Tuon contributed a personal essay to Migrating Craft: The Art and Practice of Contemporary U.S. Writers with Immigrant Roots, Khem K. Aryal ed., Texas A&M University, Pub Date: 10/29/2026.

Claire Bracken, professor of English, published the foreword of a new book of essays on the contemporary novelist Sally Rooney (Bucknell University Press, 2026). In June 2026, Bracken also received a book contract from Cambridge University for a co-edited collection on the award-winning fiction writer Anne Enright (publication in 2028). This book will be published in Cambridge's Literature in Context series and will be the first of the series on a living woman author.

Pattie Wareh, professor of English, had an article, “The Rage of Lucrece: Anger, Empathy, and 'Imaginary Work” appear in the Spring 2026 volume of SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. The paper explores Shakespeare’s contrapuntal depictions of empathy, grief and rage in his narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece, arguing that Lucrece’s position as alert interpreter of myth also provides a model for the reader’s own agency. While the poem depicts Lucrece (and women more generally) as vulnerable wax, it also shows how the susceptibility to pity is a valuable trait that should be balanced with rage, especially given the contemporary efforts to ignore women’s voices and their agency over their bodies.

Alumni/ae

Sept. 15, 2026: Alumnus Jamaluddin Aram '17 published a creative non-fiction collection, The Blood of Things: A Love Letter to Afghanistan with McClelland & Stewart (Canada). Aram's prize-winning debut novel is Nothing Good Happens in Wazirabad on Wednesday (Scribner-Canada, 2023).

Aug. 4, 2026: Sportswriter and alumnus Matt Futterman '91 published THE CRUELEST GAME: Chasing Greatness in Professional Tennis with Penguin Random House.

June 7, 2026: Alumna Julie Gerstenblatt' 92 published her second historical fiction novel, The Stargazer of Nantucket, focused on 19th-century clipper ships, global circumnavigation and the Opium Wars. Gerstenblatt's first novel is Daughters of Nantucket (2023).

Twelve-course major includes a senior capstone;

English Departmental Honors requires an invited, two-term thesis, for 14 courses.

English Major Checklist

Eight courses in English; 10 courses including thesis for honors students

English ID Major Checklist

Six courses: three required, three elective

English Literature Minor

-Other recent publications include:

Current students:

Nevaeh Williams '28 published a non-fiction essay in The Oakland Arts Review, an undergraduate literary journal, in Vol. 11, their spring 2026 issue.

Alumni/ae:

Two Union students published poetry this summer in Cultural Daily. Tracy Chen '26, a first-generation Chinese American student from Brooklyn, published "ode to peeling oranges" and "when asked why i eat dogs" on July 18. Epephanie "Piff" Laboy '27, an Afro-Latina poet from Schenectady, published "Fact Check" and "why you cannot touch my hair" in the June 10 issue.

Alumnus Dan Kason '11 published the story, "Something Sensational," in the speculative fiction magazine Mobius Blvd: Stories from the Byway between Reality and Dream, no. 31, July 12, 2026.

Alumnus Max Heinegg '92 published the poem "The Dying Do Not Need," in The Freshwater Review, Vol. 29 (print).

Alumnus Nick Soluri '20 published "At the Punk Bar in Asheville" in Four Way Review, vol. 35, Apr. 20, 2026.

Alumna Joanna Doxey '03, professor of creative writing at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, published the poetry collection Unfruitful, with Middle Creek Publishing, March 2026.

Alumna Aja Schiller '25 has a short story, "Pigs," available as a chapbook from Bottlecap Press, CA, 2026.

Professors:

"Can anyone become a poet?" appears in Live Encounters, July 2026, a collection of "poets on poetry" featuring an essay by Professor Jordan Smith, who retired in June after teaching at Union for forty-three years. On August 19, Smith read at Saratoga Performing Arts Center's Poetry in the Pines: Celebrating Seasons, preceding Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons."

Professor Amy (Ayotte-) Juarez published a peer-reviewed online essay about medieval representation in contemporary media in Arthuriana: the Journal of Arthurian Studies. See "Chappell, Chaucer, and the Structural Instability of Fame," The So What, Arthuriana 5 (June 2026).

Professor Shena McAuliffe published a short essay called "Tiny Hairs," in Hayden's Ferry Review, 78 (2026).

Professor Jillmarie Murphy's four-volume book project Women and the Environment in the Long Nineteenth Century, 1775–1925 was published by Routledge on April 30, 2026. See news.

Professor Bunkong Tuon published the poems "Chanda Says; and Dropping off Chanda at Nursery School," Research and Reflections on Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, ed. Wayne Wright, et. al., Purdue UP, 2026 (print); Poems "My Friend Said" and "Emergency" appeared in Meat for Tea, 20.1, Spring 2026 (print).

Emeritus Professor Jordan Smith published an essay, "Liberty," and two poems, "In the Pines" and "Threadbare" in Live Encounters, February, 2026. On Feb. 7, the poem "Tattoo" appeared in Vox Populi.