Is reading in a death spiral? Students, alumni and faculty make the case for why books matter more than ever in the age of TikTok and ChatGPT. Plus, read faculty and alumni profiles, the accomplishments of students, alumni and faculty, a look at this year’s English Conference, and more! Check out the full newsletter here: https://www.flipsnack.com/dpuenglish/depaul-university-english-department-spring-newsletter-2026
Looking for magazines and contests to submit your work to over the summer? See below for important deadlines: The Masters Review – Best Emerging Writers Contest – June 8, 2026Fiction Creative Nonfiction SmokeLong General Submissions – June 15, 2026Flash narratives—fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid—up to 1000 words Epiphany Magazine – June 15, 2026PoetryFictionNonfictionTranslation The Paris Review – June 30, 2026Fiction Bauhan Publishing’s May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize – June 30, 2026 A Public Space – July 1, 2026FictionNonfictionPoetryTranslation The Plentitudes – July 15, 2026FlashFictionNonfictionPoetry Birdcoat Quarterly – July 30, 2026FictionCreative NonfictionPoetry Prairie Schooner Creative Nonfiction Contest… Read Article →
Crook & Folly is looking for next year’s Editors in Chief! They typically hire one graduate student and one undergraduate. To apply, please send a 1-2 page letter of interest that includes an introduction and your qualifications for the position, as well as any ideas/aspirations you might have for the magazine to Dan Stolar (dstolar@depaul.edu) by June 5.
On July 1, submissions will open for Electric Literature’s first Emerging Writers Contest, with categories in fiction and poetry. One winner in each genre will receive $1,000, publication in either Recommended Reading (fiction) or The Commuter (poetry), and two weeks at the Writing Downtown residency program in Downtown Las Vegas, started by Plympton and the Writer’s Block bookstore. Second-place winners will receive $250, and third-place winners will receive $100. All fiction finalists will receive a review with feedback from a literary agent. Submissions will open on July 1, 2026 via Submittable.
Submissions are open for the issue “&” of the Writing Center’s digital literary magazine, The Orange Couch! The magazine is revision-based and requires writers to receive feedback either through a writing center appointment or through either Writers Guild or Scriptwriting Society (the Writing Center’s creative writing groups). The deadline to submit is Friday, May 29! See below for more details.
Join us for a conversation with International Latino Book Award Winner and recipient of the Bram Stoker Award, Cynthia Pelayo, for a discussion of her short-story collection Lotería on Thursday, May 28 at 4:30 p.m. in the Latinx Cultural Center. See below for more details:
The Chicago Writers Showcase is back next month to celebrate upcoming releases from Chicago Authors, including DePaul English faculty Kathleen Rooney. The event takes place on Tuesday, June 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Haymarket House, and you can RSVP here. Here’s the full lineup:
Thank you to everyone who participated in and/or attended our Annual Spring English Conference on Friday! We had a blast listening to the student and alumni panels, celebrating graduates and outstanding students, and hearing from our graduating MFA students.
Hi everyone! We are so excited to host our Annual Spring English Conference on Friday, May 15. Please see below for the full conference schedule, and please come out to enjoy the different panels and celebrations!
Join us for a conversation with Daisy Hernandez—poet, author and associate professor in Creative Writing at Northwestern University—about her new book Citizenship: Notes on an American Myth. The event will take place on Monday, May 18 at 1 p.m. in A&L 108, and will be followed by a group discussion with the author at 4:30 p.m. in the LatinX Cultural Center. See below for full details:
Paul Booth, an MFA alumni (’25) and a professor of Digital Communication and Media Arts at DePaul University, was recently published in Cosmic Horror Monthly for his story The Sound of Moonlight. The story is only in print, but you can read it below: Congrats, Paul!
Esther Choy, a graduate student in the MAWP program, was featured in NBC Chicago yesterday for the release of her new book Winning Without Persuading. Congrats, Esther! Watch the full interview here.
For the 2026 issue of the Department of English newsletter, we’re asking students, alumni and professors to describe a transformative reading experience—one in which you were somehow a different person by the time you put the book down. It could be a text that completely changed your way of seeing the world, but it could also be one that had a more subtle, if no less profound, impact on your life. In no more than 250 words, please tell us about that book and how it rocked your world. What were the circumstances of your… Read Article →
Katelyn Welsh, a graduate student in the MAWP program, was recently featured in CBS for being the first pole vaulter on DePaul University’s track and field team. Check out the full story here: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/depaul-university-pole-vaulter-katelyn-welsh/ Congratulations, Katelyn!
Suspended is meant for the stories that are complete, yet seem unfinished. The endings hang and dangle off the final page, like a pendulum, seeking answers. We want your poems or short fiction stories that are suspended in this regard, have suspenseful endings, or are ambiguous in nature at any or every turn. Send us your visual art that makes onlookers question its meaning. Submissions Suspended accepts simultaneous submissions. Let us know if your submission is accepted elsewhere. We charge $3 to submit. Upload your submission to our Submittable page, and please use a Microsoft Word document, Times New Roman 12 pt. font and double-spaced, for written… Read Article →
The John T. Richardson Library is asking English majors to consider applying for a student assistant position in Special Collections and Archives. The position—which has been posted on the Campus Job Board—will close Monday evening, May 4. Library staff members will begin to review applications next Wednesday, May 6, and plan to have in-person interviews the week of May 18. Students who have used Special Collections and Archives in the past are often the strongest candidates, but all applicants will be considered. The anticipated start date for the student assistant position in Special Collections and Archives is… Read Article →
Check out these upcoming deadlines for submissions across genres, and specialized contests: Redivider Call for Submissions – April 30, 2026 Fiction Flash Fiction Poetry Memoir & personal essay Cultural critique Cover art The Massachusetts Review – April 30, 2026 Nonfiction Fiction Performance Poetry Translation Hybrid Art Mud Season Review – April 30, 2026 Full-length Manuscript Reviews Nonfiction Fiction Poetry Art Chicago Story Press – April 30, 2026 Essays Creative Nonfiction New Croton Review – Open Submissions There is no deadline, but the next issue will go live May 9, 2026. Fiction Nonfiction Poetry Artwork and photos Barry Spacks Poetry Prize – April 30, 2026 Gunpowder Press is accepting book-length manuscripts of 48–100 pages for the 12th annual Barry Spacks Poetry Prize, which honors Barry’s… Read Article →
Desert Nights, Rising Stars (DNRS) Writers Conference, will take place on October 16-17, 2026 at ASU Tempe. This year’s keynote is Stephen Graham Jones, alongside an exciting lineup of contemporary writers across genres, including poets Remica Bingham Risher, Lauren Camp, and Saúl Hernández; novelists Sally Wen Mao, Reyna Grande, and Barry Pearce; nonfiction writers Anel Flores and Nicole Walker; YA authors David Bowles and Diana López . The conference offers two days of workshops, readings, panels, and more. Learn more at: https://piper.asu.edu/conference. MFA students are encouraged to apply for MFA presents, or to serve as Conference… Read Article →
The course schedule for Autumn 2026 is now posted. Head to “Classes” in the Menu and click on “Autumn 2026” to view class offerings.
Thank you so much to everyone who participated and shared their work for the 2nd iteration of the Graduate Reading Series on Thursday, April 2, and to those who came out to support! It was such a special evening with readings in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. Stay tuned for information on the next reading!
MAWP’s Megan Krone has a new book out via Bloomsbury in July titled Navigating the Dissertation Writing Process: Finding Your Path from First Drafts to Submission. The book is “a supportive guide for the unique academic task of writing a doctoral dissertation.” Esther Choy, a member of the MFA program, has a new book out via HaperCollins Leadership in May, titled Winning Without Persuading: A New Framework for Leading with Curiosity and Story Discovery. The book offers an approach on leadership storytelling that is built on revealing stories beneath the surface that “change everything.” Congrats… Read Article →
Last month, ahead of the Blue Demon Challenge, alumna Anna Sortino (MAWP ’19) visited DePaul for a Q&A with graduates in the MFA and MAWP program. The visit was recorded for the Blue Demon Challenge, where Anna discussed her time at DePaul, what led her to writing in the YA genre, any advice she has for current students in the program, and so much more. Check out the full video below, and if you missed the interview we did with Anna last month as part of her visit, you can read it here.
Last month, ahead of the Blue Demon Challenge, Depaul’s Big Shoulders Books hosted a livestream to discuss how students are editing a group of oral narratives from people in Calumet City and near the Calumet River, on Chicago’s South Side. This year, the Blue Demon Challenge raised more than $6.3 million in support of students. Check out the full video below to learn more about Big Shoulders Books and the book they are currently working on, as current graduate students walk through the narratives that stood out for them.
After Anna Sortino graduated from DePaul’s MAWP program in 2019, she applied for a publishing mentorship program called Pitch Wars (which is now defunct) and was picked by renowned YA author Aiden Thomas. At the time, the program was encouraging authors to write stories inspired by their own lives and identities, which ultimately pushed Sortino to write stories centered with disabled characters living their lives and falling in love. She has published two YA books—Give Me A Sign (2023 via Penguin Random House) and On The Bright Side (2024 via Penguin Random House)—with another set… Read Article →
Libby Kalmbach Clark, an alumna of the MAWP program at DePaul University, published her essay Borders as Fiction in Witness, a magazine of the Black Mountain Institute. Libby is a nonfiction writer and a legal representative at the National Immigrant Justice Center. Her work has appeared in Electric Literature, Ascent, and the Prairie Schooner blog. She lives and works in Chicago. For more information, visit her website here.
Chris Tran, a graduate student in the MAWP program, had her poem “Look At Us” published in the Chicago Sun-Times this past weekend. The poem is a response to the killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE officials and a tribute to her: Say her name, / Renee Nicole Good. / Remember her name, / Renee Nicole Good. / Look at us and insist / All of this is meant for good. You brand her a domestic terrorist, / But herein lies: / Beloved mother and wife / Daughter / Neighbor / Poet Justify your murder /… Read Article →
Last year, Avery Cunningham (MAWP ‘16) released her debut novel The Mayor of Maxwell Street via Disney/Hyperion. “The year is 1921, and America is burning. A fire of vice and virtue rages on every shore, and Chicago is its beating heart,” the book states. The novel follows a Black debutante who hires a low-level speakeasy manager to uncover the head of an underground crime syndicate, against the backdrop of Prohibition-era Chicago. We chatted with Cunningham about the extensive historical research the book required, what inspired her to write the story, her experience in editorial for… Read Article →
In 2022, Caroline Macon Fleischer (MFA ‘20) released her debut novel The Roommate, a work she started as a graduate student at DePaul for her MFA thesis. Fleischer is a writer, editor, and theatremaker, and teaches creative writing at Loyola University. Her second novel, A Play About A Curse, is set for release on October 21, 2025, via CLASH Books. We sat down to chat about the upcoming release and its key inspirations, writing processes, her time at DePaul and background in theatre, and what advice she has for students. This interview has been edited for clarity… Read Article →