RU School of Writing, Language & Literature

04/15/2026

See what our English Graduate Students have been up to on our SWLL News page!

The School of Writing, Language and Literature (SWLL) houses the Department of English and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Combining the strengths of these disciplines, SWLL is Radford University's interdisciplinary hub for language, culture and expression. Through innovation an...

04/14/2026

Congratulations to Grace Sharrett (center right) who has successfully defended her thesis: “Sisterhood as a Strategy for Survival and Solidarity in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Kai Cheng Thom’s Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir”

Her work was chaired by Dr. Michele Ren (right) and read by Drs. Jamie McDaniel (left) and Emily Keck (center left)

04/14/2026

SWLL Celebration
Date: Thursday, April 30th
Time: 5:30pm - 7pm
Place: Hemphill 1016
Lastly, don’t miss our annual SWLL End-of-Year Extravaganza! This event will honor lots of folks—e.g. our graduating grad students, the upcoming Dean’s Scholars, the winners of this year’s writing awards, and more.

04/14/2026

Exit 109 Launch Party
Date: Wednesday, April 15th
Time: 5pm - 7pm
Place: Bonnie Auditorium
It’s time for the annual release of Exit 109, Radford University’s very own creative writing and visual arts journal! There will be food, folks reading from their work, and (most importantly) free copies of this year’s issue. Come support our SWLLies [copyright] who have both worked on and contributed to this issue!

04/14/2026

Panel: “Barriers in the Binary”
Date: Wednesday, April 15th
Time: 4pm - 5pm
Place: Hemphill 4800
Join Dr. Michele Ren, Dr. Lindsay Semprevivo, and Lily McConkey as they host an open panel discussion about gendered and gender non-conforming experiences here at Radford University (and in higher-ed, in general). Should be an interesting, enlightening discussion

04/06/2026

Our last presentation at Feminism is for Everybody 2026 was a Single Session: Anatomy of a Wild Feminist -
Moderated by Dr. Lindsay Semprevivo (Radford University)
Presenters were GTAs Kira Ayers, Haley Celso Rosas, Ryleigh Kennedy, Catey Mlynski,
& Jessica Villanueva

Artwork was by Haley & Kira, concept by Catey, and textual evidence by Jessica, Ryleigh, and Catey

04/06/2026

In their session at Feminism is for Everybody, Panel A4: Feminist Solidarities

GTF Nina Aidam presents “Raising Feminists: African Feminist Pedagogy as Everyday Political Resistance in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dear ljeawele”
and
GTF Grace Sharrett presents: “Sisterhood as a Strategy for Survival and Solidarity in the Works of Alice Walker and Kai Cheng Thom”

04/06/2026

Feminism is for Everybody 2026

Concurrent Session 1, Panel B:

Catherine Schleife (right): “Impact of Cultural Narratives Surrounding
‘Witchcraft’ on Literature”

Aspen Chase (left): “Feminism and The New Woman as Seen Through Bella
Baxter in Poor Things”

04/06/2026

9 of our English Grad Students are presenting at Feminism is for Everybody 2026

We’ll be posting their sessions all day!

04/04/2026

This semester English professor and Honors Faculty Fellow Dr. Rick Van Noy is teaching "Climate Dystopias and How to Avoid Them." Yesterday they took that material out of the classroom and into Wildwood Park on a very *non*-dystopic spring day...

04/03/2026

Call for Proposals

6th Annual Corridors: Blue Ridge Writing & Rhetoric Conference
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Radford University | Radford, Virginia

Conference Theme
Writing Home: Where the Power of Place Meets the Page

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc8OiFQ1ZVQ_a3Sgn8krotad5qDhsnLq9ipVsbQvys2qm7lfQ/viewform?usp=publish-editor

04/02/2026

Congratulations to Nina Aidam who just successfully defended her thesis, Masculine Anxieties and Patriarchal Pressure: Male Vulnerability in Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s Stay with Me and Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
Chaired by Dr. Ren (right), read by Drs. Beach (left) and McDaniel (not pictured)