The 2011-12 academic year stands out as an especially productive one for our faculty, who published a total of eight books (and an untold number of contributions to periodicals) between June 2011 and May 2012. In a fitting reflection of our balanced focus on literary studies and creative writing, four of these were critical works by literary scholars and four were books of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction by our creative writing faculty. Our students were no less productive: at least fifteen published one or more pieces of scholarship or creative work, and numerous others presented their work at conferences.

Another of the year's highlights was the awarding of the first-ever UNT Rilke Prize for Poetry to University of Michigan Professor Laura Kasischke for her book, Space, in Chains. The UNT Rilke Prize is a $10,000 award recognizing a book written by a mid-career poet, published in the previous year, and demonstrating exceptional artistry and vision. When Laura visited us in April to receive the prize and interact with students and faculty, she not only read her work before a large audience on the Denton campus; she also read again the next night in Dallas at an event co-sponsored by UNT-English and the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Over the course of the year, there were a number of additional events in Dallas involving our faculty, including several hosted by The Writer's Garret and Wordspace. One of the university's Four Bold Goals is to "establish UNT as a nationally recognized, engaged university and regional leader by building and expanding mutually beneficial partnerships and resources," and our department aims to support this goal by collaborating with DFW literary organizations to contribute actively to the cultural life of the Metroplex. Our faculty will be featured at numerous public events in Dallas and Ft. Worth (as well as Denton) during the 2012-13 academic year and would be delighted to interact with alumni who attend. You can find out about such events by periodically visiting our homepage or by liking us on Facebook.

For details about what our students and faculty accomplished during the previous academic year, please see our 2011-12 Newsletter. For information about the activities of alumni and friends of the department, see our Alumni News page. Our Support Our Programs page provides information about how you can support such worthy endeavors as the Scott Simpkins Memorial Scholarship and the Pearla Irene Marquez Memorial Scholarship.

Best regards,

David Holdeman
Professor and Chair