Going back to college after 20 years as a non-traditional student I was nervous. My very first class was fabulous! I took courses in literature, creative writing, and got my bachelor’s degree in Professional Writing. The faculty truly put students first. After graduation, I got a job as Marketing and Communications Coordinator, and it draws on all the skills I learned in English. I love the English department and ISU!
Elisabeth Curtis | BA English, Professional Writing | Class of ‘22
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Events
English Club is back! Join us Mondays at 3:30 p.m. in LA 244 (our Reading Room) for the Spring semester to hang out with English faculty, chat about favorite reads, explore writing old and new, play some lit-themed games, and talk about where English can take you—no prep or reading required. All are welcome! If you can't make it in person, contact Jessica Winston for a zoom link. (jessicawinston@isu.edu)
The Summer 2026 schedule of classes is now available online. These can be found under the Class Schedule under Quick Links on any ISU page! Interested in Shakespeare- check out the Shakespeare in Performance class which includes a trip to the Shakespeare festival in Cedar City, Ut as part of the class.
Friday, Jan. 30th 2:30-3:30 pm in LA 256. Colloquium presentation by Gibette Encarnación "Those Who Watch Over Us: Dominican Afro-Taíno Consciousness in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao".
This paper examines the Dominican racial category of indio/a as a nationalist myth designed to distance the population from Blackness. By analyzing Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I argue that while traditional scholarship focuses on the extinction of the Taíno/a people of Hispaniola to disprove Dominican Indigenous identity, a more complex Afro-Taíno/a legacy remains. I contend that the faceless figures in Díaz’s work represent the buried trauma and silenced history of those who lived in proximity to both Indigenous and African ancestries, haunting Dominican transnational identity despite state-sanctioned efforts to bleach the historical record.
Tuesday, Feb. 24th 5-6 pm. Literary Reading by Beth Piatote, Visiting Writer, who will read from her creative works. The reading is free and open to the public. Book sales and signing will follow. Location TBA.
Beth Piatote is a scholar of Native American/Indigenous literature and law; a creative writer of fiction, poetry, plays, and essays; and an Indigenous language revitalization activist/healer, specializing in Nez Perce language and literature. She is the author of two books: Domestic Subjects: Gender, Citizenship, and Law in Native American Literature (Yale 2013), which won an MLA award; and The Beadworkers: Stories (Counterpoint 2019), which was longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, the PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, and shortlisted for the California Independent Booksellers Association “Golden Poppy” Award. Her play, Antíkoni, was selected for the 2020 Festival of New Plays at the Autry. She has held several artist residencies and frequently teaches writing at Fishtrap: Writing and the West and other workshops.