Teaching Literature Book Award

Nominations

For the call for nominations for 2025 please click here. Call for Nominations 2025

Eligibility

Any book-length work that deals with the theory and practice of teaching literature is eligible, including a monograph, a collaboratively authored work, an edited collection, or a special issue of a journal. The prize committee defines “literature” broadly and invites submissions dealing with the teaching of poetry, short stories, and novels, as well as allied arts, such as drama, film, creative nonfiction, or graphic novels. The committee especially encourages submissions that offer strategies to improve the recruitment, retention, and success of students from populations that have been historically underserved in undergraduate or graduate programs in English.

The primary language of the book must be English, even if the book deals with literature written in languages other than English. Books by ISU faculty members are not eligible for the award; however, if a faculty member is a contributor to an edited collection, the book may still be considered. Reference works, criticism, memoirs, books on composition (unless there is extensive application to literary studies) are not eligible.

Eligible works include anything with a copyright date in a first or substantially revised edition in the two calendar years previous to the call. For the 2025 competition, eligible works will have a copyright year of 2023 or 2024.

Criteria

The goal of this award is to bring recognition to scholars publishing on the teaching of literature at the collegiate level. The prize committee seeks to reward exemplary books that excel in blending literary theory or interpretation with curricular planning and classroom methods. Prize-winning books could take many different forms. For instance, books might propose a single, coherent approach to teaching a particular subject, work, or field; present different points of view on teaching a work or subject; review and analyze historical or current methods; or argue for particular curricula or methods in English studies. Whatever the form, books will be evaluated for their cogency in making a case for an approach or approaches to teaching literature.

Book Award Committee

The prize is judged by a five-member panel, consisting of a member of the ISU English Graduate Committee, who will chair the committee, as well as one other member of the ISU English Graduate Faculty. Other members will include the previous award winner, as well as two external jurors appointed from faculty outside ISU. In cases where the previous award winner is unable to serve, another external juror will be chosen.

The 2023 committee:

Benjamin D. Hagen, Associate Professor of English, University of South Dakota

Jill S. Kuhnheim, Professor Emerita, University of Kansas and Visiting Professor of Hispanic Studies, Brown University

Tarshia L. Stanley, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of English, Wagner College, 2021 Book Award Winner

Susan Goslee, Associate Professor of English, Idaho State University

Jessica Winston, Professor of English and Book Award Committee Chair, Idaho State University

The 2025 committee will be announced in late fall 2024.

Prize

The winner of the award will be recognized with a lovely glass award and certificate. In addition to notifying the winner, the committee will also notify the publisher of the winning volume, and the prize winner will be announced through relevant list-serves, social media, journals, and professional organizations.

In addition, the winner will be asked to serve on the prize committee for the following competition. In cases where there are multiple winners (as in a collaboratively authored or edited book), the committee service may be divided among them.

The Award Committee may also name a runner-up or a short-list.

Nomination Guidelines

Nominations are due by March 15th of odd-numbered years, and should be sent to the Director of Graduate Studies in English at Idaho State University.

Nominations for the award may be made by anyone. Most nominations come from publishers. Self-nominations are welcome, but authors may want first to approach their publishers to coordinate a nomination.

To nominate a book, please include two copies of the book with the letter of nomination. Letters of nomination should include a brief description of the book, a brief explanation of why it merits the award, and full contact information for the author(s): name, title, mailing and email addresses, and phone number. Note: If the book is short-listed, we will write to the publisher to request three additional copies of each short-listed book.

Winners

For a list of winners please click here: Teaching Literature Book Award Winners

Timeline

• Fall (even year): The Graduate Committee appoints two faculty members to serve on the Award Committee. The Awards Committee invites jurors to serve.
• January: Calls for nominations disseminated.
• March 15: Nominations deadline.
• April 1: Nominations acknowledged and review process begins.
• September 1: Notification of prize winner.
• First Week of October: Announcement of prize winner.

About the PhD Program in English and The Teaching of English

The PhD in English and the Teaching of English is a distinctive program that combines training in British and American literatures with theoretical and practical work in teaching literature and composition. The primary aim of the degree is to train graduates for teaching careers at both two- and four-year schools. The degree is designed to respond to a need among two- and four-year colleges for knowledgeable, skilled faculty members who can teach a wide variety of classes in composition and literature.

Along with the PhD in English and the Teaching of English, the Department of English and Philosophy offers an MA and a TESOL Certificate. The Department has an established tradition of graduate training, having offered the MA in English since 1960 and doctoral degrees since 1971. Our programs stand out from others in the region and nation for their distinctive combination of broad literary training with pedagogical theory and practice.

More information about our graduate programs.

Questions and Further Information

For more information about the book award or ISU’s graduate programs in English, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies in English.