English

Jennifer Egan standing in front of class gesturing with one hand and holding papers in the other

The English major’s cheerleader and champion

Bestselling author Jennifer Egan taught an undergraduate literature course in the spring as an English Department artist in residence in the School of Arts & Sciences. A 1985 Penn graduate, she is a passionate advocate for the English major, the humanities, and a liberal arts education.

Louisa Shepard ・

Josephine Park.

Josephine Park on authoring identity

The School of Arts & Sciences President’s Distinguished Professor of English discusses the way literature has influenced the experience of being Asian American in the United States.

Blake Cole ・

two people looking at laptop computers

Measuring readers of romance

Researchers at Penn's Price Lab for Digital Humanities conducted a quantitative analysis of the romance genre, studying thousands of avid readers and the hundreds of thousands of books in their collections in Goodreads

Louisa Shepard ・

Emily Monfort and Izzy DiCampli work on set design.

A humanities pathway to pre-med

Pre-med students majoring in English, theatre, history, and other humanities fields find satisfaction in tapping into multiple interests—and see benefits for a career in medicine.

Erica Moser ・

A person holding a stack of books while reading one.

The power of chick lit

Meghan Hall, lecturer and associate director for graduate studies in the Department of English, talks about what gives the popular literary genre its staying power.

From OMNIA ・

Nolen, Lorene Cary, and Finister speaking with each other at Kelly Writers House.

‘Ladysitting’ on stage 

The new play “Ladysitting” at the Arden Theatre Co. is by Penn English faculty and alumna Lorene Cary, based on her memoir about caring for her grandmother in the last of her 101 years.

Louisa Shepard ・



Media Contact


Louisa Shepard

Louisa Shepard Senior News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu

In the News


The New York Times

Jerome Rothenberg, who expanded the sphere of poetry, dies at 92

Charles Bernstein of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the late Jerome Rothenberg was the ultimate hyphenated person: a poet-critic-anthologist-translator.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

A collector donated 75,000 comic books to Penn Libraries, valued at more than $500,000

Alumnus Gary Prebula and his wife, Dawn, have donated a $500,000 collection of more than 75,000 comic books and graphic novels to Penn Libraries, featuring remarks from Sean Quimly of the Kislak Center and Jean-Christophe Cloutier of the School of Arts & Sciences.

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Chronicle of Higher Education

The best scholarly books of 2023

Jed Esty of the School of Arts & Sciences is lauded for his 2022 book, “The Future of Decline,” which compares the current decline of U.S. power to the dissolution of the British empire.

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BBC

The Iliad: How modern readers get this epic wrong

In a Q&A, Emily Wilson of the School of Arts & Sciences discusses what the Iliad can tell us about modern society, from masculinity to environmentalism.

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The Washington Post

To his final days, my father always knew how to pull off the landing

In an Op-Ed, Paul Hendrickson of the School of Arts & Sciences reflects on his father’s legacy as a pilot and their complex relationship.

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Philadelphia Magazine

Why are 30,000 people studying poetry online with this guy?

Al Filreis of the School of Arts & Sciences is spotlighted for his popular online course on modern poetry.

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