2026-27 Speakers
NOTE: This event has been rescheduled to Thursday, November 19 from its originally announced date of September 24.
Poet, novelist, and essayist Jennifer Givhan is a Mexican-American and Indigenous writer whose work draws on the landscapes, cultures, and folklore of the American Southwest. Her novel Salt Bones was named a 2025 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and received recognition from the American Library Association, Book Riot, Marie Claire and Library Journal. Her newest novel, The Sleeping Sisters, weaves Chicana and Indigenous folklore into a literary story of folk horror and true crime.
The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and PEN/Rosenthal Emerging Voices, Givhan is also the author of five poetry collections and several novels, including River Woman, River Demon, Trinity Sight and Jubilee. Her writing has appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, POETRY, Ploughshares and numerous other publications.
Givhan has taught creative writing at universities across the country and served as the 2024 Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at the University of New Mexico.
Joseph S. Schick Lectures in Literature, Language, and Lexicography
Thanks to a generous bequest from Joseph S. Schick, Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana State University, the Department of English can host the Joseph S. Schick Lectures in Language, Literature, and Lexicography. According to the conditions of Professor Schick's will, "Eminent scholars . . . will be invited to present lectures on the literature, language and lexicography of the United States . . . and Great Britain. The topics of the lectures will be limited to the period before 1900."
Bash Lectures in Modern American Literature
Established in 2016, the Bash Lectures in Modern American Literature series brings guest lecturers to speak on 20th- and 21st-century literary topics. Generously initiated in the memory of James Bash, who taught in the Department, and his wife Virginia, the fund ensures that future generations of faculty, students, and members of the community can continue to share in the Bash family’s appreciation of modern American literature.
Theodore Dreiser Visiting Writers Series
The Theodore Dreiser Visiting Writers Series features both emerging and internationally acclaimed creative writers, allowing students, faculty, and community members to engage with important figures in contemporary literature through classroom meetings, public readings, and question and answer sessions. The series celebrates multidisciplinary relationships among the arts. The Theodore Dreiser Visiting Writers Series is made possible through support from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of English. All readings are free and open to the public.