english

English Department challenges students to write a novel

            Writing a novel is difficult. Writing one in a month sounds impossible, but that is exactly what some Mason students intend to do this November when they participate in National Novel Writing Month, or better known as NaNoWriMo.

This annual nonprofit event challenges participants to write 50,000 words in a single month and attracts thousands of aspiring writers from around the globe.

Mason's Folklore Program hosts Spooky Story Swap

In the spirit of Halloween, the Folklore Department and its student-run organization, the Folklore Roundtable, teamed up to host a Spooky Stories event on Wednesday night.

Students and faculty gathered in the JC and shared their strange experiences with one another, depicting stories about things from haunted libraries to possessed pianos. Storytelling has been an integral form of communication in every culture and the event helped highlight this fact as people from different backgrounds explained the histories behind some of their stories.

English department offers new Ph.D. in Writing and Rhetoric

This year, the Mason English department added a new Ph.D. in Writing and Rhetoric to its list of offered degrees. According to leaders of the program, Ph.D. students in Writing and Rhetoric are exactly what organizations in the nation’s capital need. 

"Call and Response: Parallel Lives" returns for Fall for the Book

The Johnson Center’s Gallery 123 contributes art and poetry to the upcoming “Fall for the Books” excitement. 

Pride Week event highlights overlooked LGBTQ African-American authors

The stories of black gay and lesbian writers are often erased from history. Even when homosexual, black authors have been included in history, like Langston Hughes, their sexuality is often erased from their narrative. American students often learn about Hughes’ poems such as “A Dream Deferred,” but rarely do they hear about his poem “Café 3am” which describes police brutality against the gay community.

Q&A with GMU English professor Eric Pankey on his new book of poems

“I always tell my students that one practices poetry. One is constantly learning and discovering how to write the next and the next poem,” explains Eric Pankey, a George Mason University English professor and a celebrated poet.

AUDIO Interview with "Lawless" author Matt Bondurant

Author Matt Bondurant is the author of three novels, "The Third Translation," "The Wettest County in the World" and most recently "The Night Swimmer." A former George Mason University English professor, Bondurant will be a part of this year's annual Fall for the Book festival

Students read up on romance in unique English course


Sophomore couple Peter Ware Dunn and Cady Fox gaze into the Mason Pond last summer. Mason recently added a romance novel class that has proven to be popular and informative. (Daniel McEnrue)