Arts & Culture

Abram Van Engen, chair of the Department of English in Arts & Sciences, was recently installed as the Stanley Elkin Professor in the Humanities.

Mary Jo Bang, a professor of English in Arts & Sciences, will receive the 2024 Tradition of Literary Excellence Award from the University City Municipal Commission on Arts & Letters.

Arts & Sciences’ undergraduate Spanish course “Not a Piece of Cake,” provides a taste of Latin American literature and history.

Alumna Leslye Lyons founded the nonprofit Words Alive to help children and teens find joy in reading.

A remembrance of poet and WashU English professor Howard Nemerov has been named to the Notable Essays list in “Best American Essays 2024.” The piece, by Nemerov’s son Alexander, was first published by The Common Reader, the journal of essays and ideas housed at WashU.

The James Baldwin Review, co-founded by WashU’s Justin A. Joyce and Dwight A. McBride, celebrates its 10th anniversary, as well as Baldwin’s centenary. A feature essay by WashU’s William Maxwell explores an unexpected connection between Baldwin and Susan Sontag.

Internationally acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, installation artist and MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Lynn Nottage will receive the 2025 International Humanities Prize from Washington University in St. Louis.

The William H. Gass Centenary Celebration and exhibit “William H. Gass: Fifty New Acquisitions” will shed new light on one of America’s most inspired — and intimidating — writers. Gass was author of the masterpieces “Omensetter’s Luck” and “Middle C” as well as three essay collections that won the National Book Critics Circle Awards for criticism.

Rebecca Messbarger, in Arts & Sciences, is among the organizers of a symposium on “The Catholic Enlightenment in Europe, the Americas and Australia (1700-1840),” which will take place at WashU and at Saint Louis University Sept. 20 and 21. Some other faculty also are speaking.