Powerful Writing. Creative Reading. Language for a Lifetime.
Florida’s smartest English department reflects the creative diversity and interdisciplinary potential of the language that connects us. Our internationally acclaimed faculty have won more teaching awards than any other academic department at Florida State. We also write prize-winning fiction, prize-winning poetry, prize-winning scholarly editions, essays and books. We explore the best of the past and present in order to create a better future for everyone who reads (or hears) English. We aspire to train every student, at every level, how to get more from what they read, and how to achieve more with what they write.
With innovative new academic programs, we equip our ambitious, multi-talented undergraduate and graduate students to venture out into every corner of the new creative economies: from Broadway to the ACLU, from tenure-track jobs in other Research 1 universities to Pulitzer Prize-winning artistic entrepreneurs. Come read with us, and write the future.
The English Department at Florida State University
Recent Faculty Publications
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Gary Taylor
Professor Gary Taylor expected the release of The New Oxford Shakespeare to garner media attention. Read More... -
John Mac Kilgore
In his new book Mania for Freedom, John Mac Kilgore introduces and defines a new mode of literature, what he identifies as "a literature of enthusiasm." Read More... -
Kathleen Yancey
When discussions about advancements in rhetoric and composition studies occur, Kathleen Yancey not only brings her expertise to the talks; often she leads the conversation. Read More... -
Rhea Estelle Lathan
Throughout her academic career, Rhea Estelle Lathan has been a strong advocate for African American literacy, and her scholarly studies on the subject jelled in the fall of 2015. Read More... -
Andrew Epstein
Andrew Epstein's New Book Examines Everyday Life and the 'Crisis of Attention' Read More...
Department News
Ribó, assistant professor in the English department at Florida State University, has academic interests in Latinx, Caribbean, queer, border, cultural, and critical race studies that stem from personal experience, curiosity itself, and a love of literature, music, and film. He takes these interests and helps students explore them in class, around campus, and across Tallahassee, sharing an active and inquisitive approach to teaching.
Janelle Jennings-Alexander considers her teaching as a natural extension of her scholarship. So, Alexander, who is a Ph.D. candidate in Florida State’s Department of English, felt profoundly honored when she recently found out she is a winner of a prestigious educator award.
Alexander won the 2018 National Council of Teachers of English Early Career Educator of Color (EC-EOC) Leadership Award.
Figuring who you want to be and what direction you want your life to go is a constant struggle many college students face.
For Florida State University English department alumna and independent filmmaker Kat Candler, her own enthusiasm for movies and the help of some film students during her first year in college led her to the world of filmmaking.
Department of English alumna Christina Parodi had what could be called by any description an exhaustive college experience.
A first-year semester studying abroad. An internship teaching English in Peru. Another internship with Florida State University’s International Rescue