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 life when you opened those pages? How did the text impact you? Has that impact lingered? Your story can be uplifting or sad, serious or lighthearted. We just want to hear—and share with others—how a single book changed the course of your life.
Please submit your 250-word essay here no later than May 4, 2026.
