English

In Grinnell’s English curriculum you will read, analyze, discuss, and enjoy American, British, Irish, and Postcolonial literature. You will do intensive writing, with the chance to produce both creative and critical works. You can study independently and travel abroad, such as on the Grinnell-in-London program, and connect with visiting authors and critics on campus. English majors go on to pursue advanced degrees or careers in fields such as education, journalism, law, public relations, or research.

Writers @ Grinnell

Writers@Grinnell, the English department’s reading series, brings to campus writers of all kinds: poets, novelists, memoirists, essayists, radio essayists, columnists, graphic memoirists, playwrights, and short story writers.

Meet the Writers

A student receives help from the Writing Lab

Creative Writing

The English department believes that creative writing ought to be fully integrated into the formal study of literature.

Get Creative

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How One Student Integrated Her Academic and Career Interests

Maybe you know what career you want to pursue after college. Or maybe you don’t. Either way, you can connect your personal interests with your academic studies to help prepare for a career that matters.

Thanks to being 9 years older than her sisters, English major Daisy Morales ’20 knew from an early age that she wanted to teach. “I didn't really know at what level until high school, when I realized that I actually wanted to do some research as well,” she says. So she set her sights on becoming a professor.
All About the Undergraduate Experience

"Here, the undergraduate's experience is at the center. We want undergraduates to be asking their own questions, learning how to answer them in the community, how to synthesize a lot of very complex information and bring that information to bear on a question that has made them passionate about the inquiry that they’re making."

Professor Erik Simpson describes some of the opportunities that Grinnell College makes available to undergraduate students, including research in the digital humanities.

Watch the Video
All Things Grinnell: See it Feelingly

Episode 8 of the All Things Grinnell podcast features a conversation with Ralph Savarese, professor of English. In it, he talks about what autistic readers bring to literature. His book, See It Feelingly, recounts the experience of discussing classic novels with autistic readers, including his son, DJ. After a neurohumanities fellowship at Duke University's Institute for Brain Sciences, Savarese turned these experiences into a book. Part memoir, part scientific research, and part ethnography, it presents a compelling case for rethinking how we conceive of autism. The episode also features the music of Seth Hanson ’17. You can listen to and download the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Listen to the podcast
Medieval Meets Virtual

During 2018 fall break, Tim Arner, associate dean and associate professor of English, and three students traveled to Iceland to examine Viking settlement sites and artifacts. Their trip included a visit to The Settlement Exhibition in Reykjavik, where the team learned why mead halls were constructed and how the civic and personal spaces shaped early social structures.

Read where Medieval Meets Virtual