This piece is the third in a series about graduate student poets in the Department of English at Berkeley. Noah Warren joined the Berkeley English Department as a Ph.D. student in 2018. He is the author of The Complete Stories (Copper Canyon, 2021) and The Destroyer in the Glass (chosen by Carl Phillips for the 2016 Yale Series of Younger...
Joining faculty, family, and friends in honoring English’s newest BA and PhD graduates was this year’s commencement speaker, actor and Berkeley English alumn John Cho. A brief clip of his speech is available on Berkeley social media sites: TikTok Instagram Congratulations to this year’s English graduates!
READ MORE John Cho Speaks at 2023 English Department Commencement
Professor Elisa Tamarkin has been selected as the recipient of a 2023 Distinguished Teaching Award, the campus’ most prestigious teaching honor. The Berkeley English community is invited to read about Professor Tamarkin and this year’s four other honorees and to attend the campus-wide ceremony and reception on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 5-6:30 p.m. in Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center. Professor...
READ MORE Elisa Tamarkin Wins 2023 Distinguished Teaching Award
In Acting My Age, Thomas Farber reflects, with wit and insight, on his own mortality as well as on the impending extinction of vital presences in the natural world, from coral reefs to snow leopards. The author of over two dozen wide-ranging books of fiction, nonfiction, and epigrams, Farber teaches creative writing in the English department. The following excerpt from...
In The Value of Poetry (Cambridge, 2020), Professor Eric Falci explores the literary, cultural, and political significance of poetry in the twenty-first century. Arguing that some of the most significant and enduring human notions have been voiced and held in poems, he examines the ways in which poetry captures instances of thought, feeling, and speech, and embeds them in language that is...
Dear UC Berkeley English Department, It’s nice to meet you, again. We are the Simpson Literary Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting authors, and enhancing the lives of readers, writers, educators, and students in communities across California and the nation. Our story begins in Wheeler Hall, where our founder Joseph Di Prisco completed his...
READ MORE Dear English Department – A reintroduction to the Simpson Literary Project
Davis Mendez Jesse Nathan English 166 Wallace Stevens’ “The Motive of Metaphor” Wallace Stevens’ “The Motive of Metaphor” is a collection of signs, which at least for this essay is a better description of the poem. Its reading is a confluence of its reader, the text, and the poet. In this confluence, the imagination navigates the ground and...
READ MORE Student Series: An essay by English major Davis Mendez
FAQ Series How do I declare the English major? We know what our degree requirements are, we know which classes are required for the English major, and we know what an elective is. Now how do we actually DECLARE the English major? Katie outlines everything you’ll need to check off your list before making an appointment to officially declare...
FAQ Series What are the requirements for the English major? In this video, Katie explains ALL the requirements needed to get your undergraduate degree in English at Cal! Follow along with us on social media for updates, and feel free to reach out if you have a question you’d like to see filmed for the series! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSYlJV9oh2YxoTgYSrGjrUg...
READ MORE FAQ Series – What are the requirements for the English major?
FAQ Series What is an elective? Welcome to our FAQ series, where our wonderful undergraduate advisor will be answering commonly asked questions about the English major at UC Berkeley. Follow along with us on social media for updates, and feel free to reach out if you have a question you’d like to see filmed for the series! YouTube:...
Headnote by Professor Eric Falci, followed by a tribute written by Mitch Breitwieser and Eric Falci upon John’s retirement in 2011. Former students and colleagues have organized a virtual celebration to be held on June 16th, 2020. Details and Zoom link included below, and on our Events page. Celebration of the Life of John Bishop June 16th (Bloomsday) 10 AM...
Professor Nadia Ellis is one of four UC Berkeley faculty members to win the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award. The Distinguished Teaching Award is the campus’s most prestigious honor for teaching and is intended to recognize individual faculty for sustained performance of excellence in teaching. Above and beyond an individual exemplary class, this kind of sustained excellence in teaching incites intellectual...
READ MORE Nadia Ellis Wins the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award
Earlier last week, I reached out to English department faculty members and grad students to gather book recommendations to explore during this time of uncertainty. The selections range from fantastical escapes to tragicomedies, to apocalyptic plots that feel all too relevant to what we are experiencing today. We hope that this list will inspire you to find comfort in the...
READ MORE “Quarantine” Book List – Curated by the UC Berkeley English Department
Experiencing an English 190: Research Seminar Stephanie Reyna EUA Vice President English and Anthropology Major Going into the required research seminar can seem daunting in the beginning. The idea of having to develop an original argument for your topic can stop any writer in their tracks but it is called a seminar for a reason. You are prepared...
