VCU College of Humanities and Sciences

VCU News featuring upcoming events sponsored by the Center for the Study of Global Religions and Spiritualities of which I am a founding member.... news.vcu.edu/article/religi… @VCUCHS @VCUnews

VCU and RVA: Come listen to a couple colleagues and me speak on Love Magic on the eve of Valentine's Day on Thursday, 2/12, at 4:00! My talk is titled "Love Me or Else! - Santa Muerte, the Mexican Queen of Hearts and Death" @VCUCHS

If you want to feel gratitude in your life, embrace nostalgia, according to a new study led by @VCUPsychology @VCUCHS professor Jeffrey Green. news.vcu.edu/article/if-you…

“[David] Coogan, Ph.D., an associate professor of English @VCU’s @VCUCHS, is using his new book—‘The Cambridge Companion to American #PrisonWriting & #MassIncarceration’—to trace history through the eyes of those who lived it.” Read more: jlusa.org/2025/11/28/new…

The deadline draws closer! Submit to the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award today. Submissions close Dec. 30th, 2025. 🔗 firstnovelist.vcu.edu/submit-a-novel/ @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

Town & Country just listed their "25 Must-Read Books of Winter 2026" and Brooke Newman's latest book "The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas" made the list! Publishing on January 27, 2026: bit.ly/4pCvgnP

Earlier in the day, Chief Adkins made history as the first chief of a federally recognized Indigenous nation in Virginia to speak @VCU. #VCU’s relationships with Virginia’s Native nations are deeply meaningful to us and I’m grateful for the time and wisdom that everyone shared.

We've been celebrating bold first novels since 2002. Here's an overview of how a Cabell First Novelist Award winner is chosen. @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

What a night! We were delighted to host winning author Anne de Marcken and @NewDirections editor Barbara Epler for the 2025 Cabell First Novelist Award night. We so appreciated the insights they shared on writing, publishing, art, and life. @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

New Blackbird alert! Read the latest issue of VCU's literary journal online at blackbird.vcu.edu. @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

Our favorite night of the year is one week away! Join us on Nov 5th for a night of celebration with Anne de Marcken, author of It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over, and Barbara Epler, editor and president of New Directions Publishing! @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

Feeling overwhelmed? With the help of a new resiliency program coordinated by academic advisors within @VCUCHS, @VCU students are gaining skills to navigate school and life. news.vcu.edu/article/2025/1…

Send us your debuts! The VCU Cabell First Novelist Award is still open for submissions. Debut novels conventionally published anytime in the 2025 calendar year are eligible. Submissions close Dec 30th, 2025. 🔗 firstnovelist.vcu.edu/submit-a-novel/ @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

Here's a small taste of what to expect when you crack open this year's Cabell First Novelist Award winner. 🐦‍⬛ @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

Anne de Marcken will be at Shelf Life Books in Richmond on November 5th from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM to sign copies of her book! 📖 ✍️ @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

“His life offers a powerful witness at the intersection of science, sanctity and social justice,” said Andrew Chesnut, the chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and an expert on devotional life in Latin America. americamagazine.org/dispatches/202… @VCUCHS @VCUnews

Congratulations to past Cabell First Novelist Award winner Jade Chang, whose new novel, What a Time to Be Alive, is out now from @eccobooks! @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

Bloomland by John Englehardt was the 2020 winner of the Cabell First Novelist Award. It's now available in paperback — check it out from Dzanc Books: dzancbooks.org/all-titles/p/b… @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries

Professor @GAEspinoza101 of VCU History and I discussing the papacy of Pope Leo XIV yesterday at my VCU lecture series on Catholic Studies. Dean Catherine Ingrassia of @VCUCHS introduced us.

Did you know that this year's Cabell First Novelist Winner also won the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction? 🤩 Here's what the panel had to say about Anne de Marcken's It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over. @VCUCHS @VCUEnglish @VCULibraries