English Department

9 courses, 36 credit hours

• ENG 230: How Literature Works
• ENG 330: Literature for Life
• 1 Pre-1800 Literature course:
  • ENG 360: Shakespeare
  • ENG 361: Medieval Literature
• 1 Voices & Visions course:
  • ENG 231: Film
  • ENG 233: Graphic Narratives
  • ENG 234: Young Adult Literature
  • ENG 240: Africana Women’s Writing
  • ENG 244: Literature and Disability
  • ENG 245: Literature and Gender
  • ENG 251: African-American Literature
  • ENG 263: In “Frankenstein’s” Footsteps: The Keats-Shelley Circle in London, Geneva, and Italy (study-abroad)
  • ENG 331: Film in Focus
  • ENG 341: American English and Language Policy
  • ENG 350: American Literary Traditions
  • ENG 351: British Literary Traditions, 1800-present
• 1 Writing course:
  • ENG 211: Writing for Media
  • ENG 212: Creative Writing 1
  • ENG 214: Professional and Technical Writing
  • ENG 221: Rhetoric and Persuasion
  • ENG 312: Creative Writing 2
• 1 World Literature course
  • ENG 140: World Literature
  • ENG 240: Africana Women’s Writing
  • ENG 243: Literature of African Peoples
• ENG 485: English Seminar
• 2 additional 4-credit-hour English courses of the student’s choice, including ENG 130

Students may, with the recommendation of their advisors, petition the English Department Head to have one literature course taken outside the department count as an elective course. No courses can count for two areas within the major. For instance, ENG 240: Africana Women’s Writing can fulfill either the Voices & Visions requirement or the World Literature requirement, but it cannot fulfill both.

5 courses, 20 credit hours

• ENG 230: How Literature Works
• 1 World Literature course
  • ENG 140: World Literature
  • ENG 240: Africana Women’s Writing
  • ENG 243: Literature of African Peoples
• 1 Writing course:
  • ENG 211: Writing for Media
  • ENG 212: Creative Writing 1
  • ENG 214: Professional and Technical Writing
  • ENG 221: Rhetoric and Persuasion
  • ENG 312: Creative Writing 2
• 2 additional 4-credit-hour English courses of the student’s choice, including ENG 130

5 courses, 20 credit hours

• 3 Writing courses:
  • ENG 211: Writing for Media
  • ENG 212: Creative Writing 1
  • ENG 214: Professional and Technical Writing
  • ENG 221: Rhetoric and Persuasion
  • ENG 312: Creative Writing 2
• 1 course from Pre-1800 Literature, Voices & Visions, or World Literature
  • ENG 140: World Literature
  • ENG 231: Film
  • ENG 233: Graphic Narratives
  • ENG 234: Young Adult Literature
  • ENG 240: Africana Women’s Writing
  • ENG 244: Literature and Disability
  • ENG 245: Literature and Gender
  • ENG 243: Literature of African Peoples
  • ENG 251: African-American Literature
  • ENG 263: In “Frankenstein’s” Footsteps: The Keats-Shelley Circle in London, Geneva, and Italy (study-abroad)
  • ENG 331: Film in Focus
  • ENG 341: American English and Language Policy
  • ENG 350: American Literary Traditions
  • ENG 351: British Literary Traditions, 1800-present
  • ENG 352: Early American Literary Traditions
  • ENG 360: Shakespeare
  • ENG 361: Medieval Literature
• 1 additional 4-credit-hour English course of the student’s choice, including ENG 130

A student with an English major may not also earn a Writing minor.

8 classes, 21-24 credit hours

• ENG 211: Writing for Media
• COMS 133: Mass Media
• JOUR 100: News Practicum (x2)
• JOUR 380: Internship (1-4 credit hours)
• 3 additional courses from Art, Communication Studies, English and/or Political Science

Student writers at Luther are members of a vibrant and supportive community. Many choose to join Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, which gives them the opportunity to present critical and creative work at the society’s annual conference. Others publish their work in The Oneota Review, Luther’s student literary magazine, or work as staff writers for the student newspaper, CHIPS. Still others enter work in the ACM’s Nick Adams Short Story Contest, present at on-campus conferences like the Student Research Symposium or “The Reformation of Everything” Symposium, or even submit their work for publication to national journals, as Hannah Lund did with her six-word story “Dinner Date,” which appeared in Narrative. When writers visit campus–like Todd Boss, Rob Spillman, and Camille Dungy– students have the chance to talk with these authors in class and in personal conferences.

Although you can be a writer without ever publishing a word, many students (and not only English majors) choose to take creative writing courses, earn a writing emphasis, and/or work toward publication while at Luther and beyond. Taking creative writing courses can lead to an MFA program in writing and/or the publication of a book–just ask our alums Keith Lesmeister (’01) author of We Could’ve Been Happy Here or Jill Osier (’96), author of Should Our Undoing Come Down Upon Us White: Poems.  It can also help you develop a range of writing skills to be used in a career as a lawyer, pastor, or teacher, or as a writer for companies, foundations, and newspapers.

Course Offerings

English 212: Introduction to Creative Writing (Poetry and Fiction)
English 312: Advanced Creative Writing (Poetry and Fiction)

Luther’s flagship creative writing courses focus on the principles of delight and design by uniting the genres of poetry and short fiction. In the same semester, students hone their craft by reading, completing workshops, discussions, and a series of experiments, discovering not just how their work in each genre can flower, but also how the genres can cross-pollinate! Students of all majors have found their voices through a variety of activities in the introductory creative writing course; including trips to Decorah’s Vesterheim Museum and the publication of class anthologies. Members of the Advanced course have submitted their work to literary journals and performed their work onstage in an annual concert, “Music in the Shape of a Pear,” staged in collaboration with Luther’s Music Department. Skype chats with the editors of literary journals to which Advanced students are asked to subscribe – such as Tin House and Ploughshares – are a regular feature of the Advanced course.

English 213: Creative Writing: Nonfiction

English 213 explores a capacious and fascinating genre: creative nonfiction. If you’ve read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, Joan Didion’s The White Album, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, or Nick Flynn’s memoir of his alcoholic, homeless father, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, you’ve read creative nonfiction – and if you keep a diary, you’ve written it. You may write anything from personal narratives, literary journalism, and nature writing to spiritual essays or family memoirs in this course. What you learn about writing and about yourself will definitely leave you challenged and changed.

Independent Study and Senior Projects: Students who have completed the appropriate courses in creative writing may register to do an independent writing project with a faculty member. Students who have completed the writing courses in Plan II of the major may elect to complete a senior project in poetry, fiction, or creative non-fiction.

For English Majors pursuing secondary-level teaching (English major + Secondary Education minor).

Ideally, students begin the English major and Secondary Education minor in their first year. However, if you decide to begin at the start of your second year, you can still complete the degree and teaching certification in a total of four years. This will require careful planning with your advisor in English and/or Education.

See the Education Department’s Program Information page for details on the Secondary Education minor. Also on this page, the Education Department has published guidance on which courses to take as you fulfill your English major requirements.

Teaching certification

Luther College certifies students for teaching in the State of Iowa. The Luther program is updated regularly to insure that it meets current state requirements and that students can acquire an Iowa license at the completion of their college academic program. We encourage students to apply for the Iowa license even if they might be planning to teach in another state and will acquire a second state license.

Requirements for teaching licensure are always changing. Luther attempts to keep up with the changes in neighboring states but is not responsible for reporting new official requirements. Students should consult the Education Department website and the Department of Education website for any state in which they wish to be certified to teach.

For further information about the English major, contact English Department head Kate Narveson at narveska@luther.edu. All English majors interested in secondary education should make contact with Jennifer Olufsen, Teacher Certification Officer (Koren 115), as soon as they can, to get information and updates.

Five students and faculty advisor Marie Drews will attend the 2024 conference, presenting both critical analysis and creative writing. The students, all English majors or minors, are members of Luther College’s Sigma Tau Delta chapter. The paper topics range from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to twentieth century poetry and contemporary film. Students will also read from their own short stories.

In 2023, Luther College sent ten students to the conference–one of the largest contingents attending. Luther students included Reagan Anania (’23, Des Moines), Anastasia Baldus (’24, Charles City, IA), Addie Craig (’23,Maquoketa, IA), Christina Dressler (’23, Racine, WI), Mia Irving (’24, Coralville, IA), Grace James (’23, Waukesha, WI), Ethan Kober (’24, Cedar Falls, IA), Scott Rust (’24, Hudson, WI), Amy Webb (’24, Waverly, IA), and Clara Wodny (’25, Duluth, MN).

Luther College professor of English Martin Klammer, who accompanied the students, said, “What was so impressive about the Luther contingent was not only the quality of their papers, but the way they supported each other. They came to each other’s presentations, even at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning! The students learned so much, enjoyed themselves, and really came together as a group.”

Student travel, hotel, and registration costs are supported by grants from the Office of the Provost, the Center for Ethics and Public Engagement, and the English Department.

The English Department is bringing Sheri Brenden ‘81, author of Break Point: Two Minnesota Athletes and the Road to Title IX, to speak at Luther College on April 11 at 7 p.m. in the Center for Faith and Life Recital Hall, along with her sister Peg. In her book, Sheri, a Luther English major, covers Peg’s involvement in a landmark 1973 civil rights lawsuit to allow equal access to sports for women. Both Brenden sisters graduated from Luther College and participated in sports during the early Title IX era.

The talk is hosted and sponsored by the English department at Luther College, with additional support from The Center for Ethics and Public Engagement (CEPE) and from the law and values program.

The book recalls the courtroom battle before Federal District Court Judge Miles Lord and the subsequent appeals to the Eighth Circuit. The ruling opened the way for Peg to compete as a senior for her high school.  In their talk, the Brendens will weave in their family’s and broader women’s history to remind the audience of the wider implications for female students during the era.

The book had its genesis when Sheri Brenden became concerned that an important story about women in sport risked being lost.  She drew on skills learned as a Luther English major, one-time reporter for the St. Cloud Daily Times, and research librarian for two of Minnesota’s largest law firms. To preserve the history, she interviewed teammates, coaches, lawyers and others associated with her sister’s gender-equity case.

The talk is free and open to the general public. A reception will follow.

Poet and translator Mary Jane White gave a talk on Wednesday, March 6 that got us all thinking a whole new way about our own writing, and about what it means to connect with others through literature. White has an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers Workshop and has received NEH grants for both poetry and translation, and has recently published an acclaimed translation of the poems of Marina Tsvetaeva. White shared the pleasures and challenges of literary translation, speaking on how translation hones a poet’s skill as well as what opportunities are out there for writers in the world of translating. The event started with pizza and a translation activity that had people muttering “is that a metaphor or can she really mean ‘mildew’?”

Lindsey Row-Heyveld, Associate Professor of English, has been awarded the 2023-25 research fellowship in the Center for Ethics and Public Engagement (CEPE. Her project will combine a scholarly component (organizing a conference and collection of essays) and a campus component (a discussion group on able-bodiedness, ableism and health humanities).

Professor Row-Heyveld describes the impetus behind her project in this way:

Studying the history of disability and ableism and practicing the methodologies of disability studies and disability justice has never been more essential for engaged, ethical citizens. Following the mass disabling event of the Covid-19 pandemic, we find ourselves constantly facing questions about who deserves to be part of our community, how we ought to care for immunocompromised and disabled people, and how we balance safety and freedom. Although focused on the sixteenth- and seventeenth-centuries, [the conference] “Ableism and Able-bodiedness: Past and Present” directly addresses many of these same questions we find ourselves wrestling with today. Further, the source of many of these issues is the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Scholars increasingly recognize the Reformation as a foundational event in the construction of disability as a category of identity, and the English Poor Laws of Queen Elizabeth I, some of the very earliest disability-specific legislation, as the model for American disability policy even today.

Professor Row-Heyveld will involve the Luther Disability Alliance and the Center for Intercultural Engagement and Support in her project, as well as the Nursing program, Global Health, Identity Studies, the Rochester semester, the Decorah Public Library, and the Decorah Human Rights Commission.

Some updates from the English major class of 2023:

• Gideon Perez received a 2023-24 Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Slovak Republic
• Reagan Anania has been accepted to the University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science
• Jack Geadelman has been accepted to the University of Iowa School of Law
• Grace James has been accepted to, among others, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science

Ethan Kober has been accepted to, among others, Harvard’s Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary, and the Candler Theological Seminary of Emory University.

Student Scholarships

Scholarships for English majors have been established in memory of Iver Opstad, Freemann and Marie Hoffland Sampson, Christian E. and Hazel S. Bale, John and Mabel Bale, and Martin and Mary Lou Mohr.

The Dennis M. Jones Endowed Fund for English

Established in 1991 to honor former colleague Dennis Jones, this endowment fund supports student awards, special library purchases, African-American literature, student travel to conferences, and other English department purposes.

The Young Scholars Endowment in English

Established in 2008 to honor the distinguished teaching careers of emeriti professors of English Dennis Jones (deceased), John Bale, Martin Mohr, Mary Hull Mohr, and Harland Nelson (pictured above, along with former English Professor Gracia Grindal, now Professor at Luther Seminary [center]), these funds help Luther’s English faculty to teach and advise Luther students and assist students as they engage with the larger world of English studies. In particular, this endowment fund provides awards to support research experience for students and junior faculty members of the English department. This endowment fund also supplements funds for travel to regional and national conferences for presenting academic and creative work. Susan Hale has provided a generous fund for matching gifts to this endowment.

Private Gifts

Friends of the English department have supported a small fund that allows for occasional special needs like conference attendance, campus visitors, and student presentations.

Luther College English students and faculty are recognized for excellent work, on and off campus. Our evidence:

• An active chapter of the English Honor Society, Sigma Tau Delta. Members regularly attend the annual national convention (with financial support from the Provost’s Office and the department), and win scholarships and awards.
• Election to membership in Phi Beta Kappa.
• Presentations at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). Our recent presenters have been Addie Craig (2022) and Kari Jacobson (2021).
• National fellowship recipients. Most recently, Gideon Perez was awarded a Fulbright to the Slovak Republic for 2023-24, and Annika Dome won a Fulbright to the University of Agder in Norway for the 2022-23 academic year.
• Outstanding authors. Recent examples: Sheri Brenden ’82 published Break Point (Univ. of MN Press 2023), and Margaret Yapp’s Green for Luck comes out in April 2024 from EastOver Press. Keith Lesmeister’s Mississippi River Museum (2023) followed up his highly praised We Could Have Been Happy Here. Jill Osier ’96 won the Yale Younger Poets prize for The Solace Is Not the Lullaby (Yale Books, 2020). Holly Norton ’90 published Letting Go, Finishing Line Press (2017).
• Collaborative student/faculty research. Examples: Kari Jacobson ’21 conducted summer research that made possible Prof. Kate Narveson’s “Assume a Virtue if You Have It Not: Hamlet and Virtue Ethics,” in Shakespeare and Virtue: A Handbook, ed. Julia Reinhard Lupton and Donovan Sherman (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Annika Dome ’22 served as editorial assistant for Prof. Amy Weldon’s textbook Advanced Fiction Writing: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023). And for a story on Prof. Andy Hageman’s collaboration with Emma Busch ’20, in the Luther Magazine.
• Faculty scholarship: Book publications include Amy Weldon’s Advanced Fiction: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023), which includes writing by Luther students, and Eldorado, Iowa: A Novel (Bowen Press, 2019), Lindsey Row-Heyveld’s Dissembling Disability in Early Modern English Drama (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Kate Narveson’s Bible Readers and Lay Writers in Early Modern England (Ashgate, 2012), and Martin Klammer’s In the Dark With My Dress on Fire (Jacana, 2010). Kate Narveson is past president of the John Donne Society, and faculty also serve on editorial boards for scholarly journals and regularly present their research at national and international conferences,