When Jenny Howard graduated from the University of Southern California, she had her sights set on dramatic writing: theater, screenwriting, maybe a musical or two. Fiction wasn’t exactly the plan. But somewhere between undergrad and now, she found her way to novels. Howard went on to earn her MFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University,
Students from Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences were recently honored across a series of events, including this year’s annual Wilkinson College Senior Award Ceremonies and the 17th Annual Campus Leadership Awards. Congratulations to all of the recipients! James L. Doti Outstanding Graduate Student Award Margaret Garcia (MFA in Creative Writing) Udall Undergraduate
Wilkinson College professors Ian Barnard (English) and Morgan Read-Davidson (English) are co-editors of Trigger Warnings: Teaching Through Trauma, recently published by Lever Press. The book is a collection of chapters on trigger warnings, both inside and outside the classroom, addressing current controversies around the topic, including arguments for and against their use. “The chapters encompass multiple
Calliope, a Chapman University Student Literary Journal, was recently given the REALM Award (Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines) with a grade of “Superior”, the second-highest ranking possible. The award was based on the spring 2025 edition, which was edited by Laudan (Noor) Payne (’25 English Literature; Africana Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies
Dr. Renee Hudson (English) recently completed a research trip to Houston, Texas, at the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Project archives, a collection meant “to locate, preserve, and disseminate Hispanic culture of the United States in its written form” from colonial times until 1960. Dr. Hudson visited the archive to further her research on Young
The most memorable learning experiences are commonly found beyond the classroom. Setting this belief into action, ten Wilkinson students joined faculty and staff from the MFA in Creative Writing program to attend the 2026 Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference and Bookfair in Baltimore, Maryland. AWP is among the largest literary gatherings in
When Amber Lee (’26 Dual MA in English/MFA in Creative Writing) and Samantha Wilson (’25 MFA Creative Writing) submitted their proposal, “Motion Picture Rhetorics,” to the Conference on College Composition & Communication (CCCC), they didn’t expect their paper to be accepted. It was still in the first draft, and according to Lee, “we had a
Chapman English Professor Richard Bausch was awarded the first-ever Laguna Beach Literary Leader award by the Third Street Writers at the inaugural Laguna Beach Literary Festival in January. Bausch was selected for his writing, teaching, mentorship, and influence on the SoCal literary scene, including the distinguished Chapman Workshop that he holds every fall, a free
In this edition of From Our Eyes, Ava Brandt (’27 Creative Writing, Documentary Film, and LGBTQ studies minor) shares her experience going abroad to Paris, France, in Fall 2025. When I first came to Chapman, I had no intentions of going abroad – especially to a country on the other side of the world! After
When author Vanessa King graduated from Chapman University in 2005 with a degree in English, she probably didn’t expect her future would involve writing about hot, 20- somethings, who aren’t the brightest boys on the block, but yet, her she is, fresh off the success of her 2021 debut A Certain Appeal, and celebrating the