# Department of English ## Welcome to the Harvard English Department Take a look at this year's course offerings. [**LEARN MORE**](https://prod-english.drupalsites.harvard.edu/english-courses) ![english_group_2019_2](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2024-07/english_group_2019_2.jpg?itok=2FMfJC-R) ### Undergraduates [**Learn more**](https://prod-english.drupalsites.harvard.edu/undergraduate) ![pexels-photo-267569](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2024-07/pexels-photo-267569.jpg?itok=mtzBfC6Y) ### Graduate Students [**Learn more**](https://prod-english.drupalsites.harvard.edu/graduate) ![graduate_01](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2024-07/graduate_01.jpg?itok=8-683rG5) ## Creative Writing The English Department is proud to be a home for creative writing at Harvard. The vital presence of creative writing in the department is reflected by our many distinguished authors who offer small, intensive workshops each term in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, and television writing. Concentrators may also apply to work on a year-long creative senior thesis with our faculty. #### [Read More](https://english.fas.harvard.edu/creative-writing) ## Latest News [### Nadine Knight, PhD '07, Receives Tenure at Holy Cross ](/news/2026/05/nadine-knight-phd-07-receives-tenure-holy-cross) May 15, 2026 We are delighted to share that Nadine Knight, PhD '07, was recently promoted from Associate Professor of Literature to Tenured Professor at the College of the Holy Cross. Congratulations, Nadine! ![Nadine Knight](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/Nadine%20Knight_0.jpeg?itok=Y-Cbgqp0) [### Namwali Serpell Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship, Launches Podcast ](/news/2026/05/namwali-serpell-awarded-guggenheim-fellowship-launches-podcast) May 15, 2026 Professor of English Namwali Serpell, who recently received a Guggenheim fellowship, has a podcast launching Thursday, May 21st based on her On Morrison book tour. Details about the podcast can be found here . ![Namwali Guggenheim](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/Screenshot%202026-05-15%20at%209.57.40%E2%80%AFAM.png?itok=z0IWGx2X) [### Washington Post Journalist Hannah Natanson, '19, Wins Pulitzer Prize ](/news/2026/05/washington-post-journalist-hannah-natanson-19-wins-pulitzer-prize-0) May 08, 2026 The New York Times covered a story on former English concentrator Hannah Natanson, whose reporting on the Trump administration's efforts to significantly reduce the size of the federal workforce earned her a Pulitzer Prize. An excerpt of the article is... ![Natanson](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/00biz-natanson-pgtw-superJumbo.jpeg?itok=hXUJtTkL) [ ALL NEWS arrow\_circle\_right ](/news) ## Featured Faculty [### Glenda Carpio ](/people/glenda-carpio) Chair of the Department of English Harvard College Professor Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature *Currently accepting graduate student advisees Education: B.A., Vassar (1991) Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley (2002) Interests: The Literature, History and Culture of New World Slavery; African-American Literature and Visual Art; Anglophone Caribbean Literature; Native American and Latino... ![carpio](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/english/files/carpio_1.jpg?itok=0Y3SEZ1_) [### Josh Bell ](/people/josh-bell) Senior Lecturer on Poetry Education: B.A., Indiana State University (1994) M.A., Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (1997) M.F.A., University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop (1999) Ph.D., University of Cincinnati (2013) Interests: Poetry, creative writing Selected Works: No... ![Bell](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/english/files/bell_1_0.jpg?itok=wtDxc2Ef) [### Homi Bhabha ](/people/homi-bhabha) Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities (On leave Fall 2025) *Currently accepting graduate student advisees Education: B.A., University of Bombay (1970) MPhil., M.A., D.Phil, Christ Church, Oxford (1990) Interests: Cosmopolitanism; human rights in the context of aesthetics and culture; the works of Joseph Conrad, Walter Benjamin, Adrienne Rich, Toni Morrison, V... ![bhabha](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/english/files/homiweb_1.jpg?itok=dYDSr4pO) [ All faculty arrow\_circle\_right ](/people) ### Arts and Humanities Division The Division seeks to optimize both the ability of its faculty to pursue knowledge through the study of the arts and humanities and the opportunity of its students to share in that pursuit. [**VISIT THE WEBSITE**](https://artsandhumanities.fas.harvard.edu/) ![arts-huma](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2024-07/arts-huma.png?itok=uBFY2HsN) ### Child Memorial Library Named for Francis James Child, Harvard's first Professor of English, Child Memorial Library is the English Department research library. [**VISIT THE WEBSITE**](https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/childlibrary/home) ![child](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2024-07/child.png?itok=G-QEce2U) ### Faculty Bookshelf Explore our faculty's publications and discover their many research interests and creative works. [**VISIT THE BOOKSHELF**](https://prod-english.drupalsites.harvard.edu/intellectual-life) ![bookshelf](/sites/g/files/omnuum1611/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2024-07/bookshelf.jpg?itok=Zr56RRS_)