When your English teacher writes a book on Taylor Swift

When Stephanie Burt decided to carry a pink and blue Taylor Swift tote bag to class one day in fall 2023, she just thought it would be a fun way to transport her books and laptop, and let her students know she was a Swiftie.

The Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English had no idea that just one semester later she would be teaching a Taylor Swift lecture course to 200 undergraduates that would attract nationwide media attention and even a feature on the “Today” show. And that two years later, she would be releasing book on the star’s work.

“No part of this journey was anything I expected,” said Burt, who realized there was interest in a Swift course after some students spotted her bag and asked her to supervise their independent research work on the pop singer. “I figured I would have a Taylor Swift seminar, and there would be eight or 10 or 15 Swifties, and we’d have a big wooden table, and we would talk about how her songs worked and study them in conjunction with relevant poems and novels and other pieces of writing. Then 200 people showed up.”

You can read more here.