Department of English

Upcoming Events

International Anchoritic Society/Early Middle English Conference

September 18-20, 2025

Flyer for Defining Ourselves in the Early Middle Ages Brandeis University, Boston, MA (Hybrid Event) 18–21 September 2025 Keynote Speakers: Liz Herbert McAvoy and Michelle M. Sauer. Join scholars from around the world for an interdisciplinary exploration of identity, boundaries, and cultural intersections in the early Middle Ages. This hybrid conference will examine themes of periodization, religious and secular literatures, linguistics, and more, with a focus on how medieval communities—and modern scholars—define themselves. Hosted by the International Anchoritic Society and the Early Middle English SocietyThis conference is a joint meeting of the International Anchoritic Society and Early Middle English Society. Our keynotes include Michelle M. Sauer, Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor at University of North Dakota and Liz Herbert McAvoy, Swansea University (emerita), who will discuss "Postmedieval Anchorites: Nostalgia and the Art of Scholarly Attachment." This is a discussion of Rita Felstein's attachment along with theories of nostalgia to discuss postmedieval anchorites in relation to gender and sexuality.

(Film screening flyer) Join us for a screening of Caroline Golum’s film Revelations of Divine Love. Time: 6:30-8:30 PM Film Screening 8:30-9:30pm Q & A with director Caroline GolumSnacks Provided!Location:Wasserman Cinematique Located in the Sachar International CenterBrandeis University. Sponsored by the International AnchoriticSociety and the Early Middle English Society. Free for the Brandeis CommunityWe will also be having a screening of an independent film adaptation of Revelations of Divine Love (the work of Julian of Norwich) which has premiered at the FID Marseille in July which is co-sponsored by Film, Television and Interactive Media. There will be a Q and A with the director, Caroline Golum, after the film. Julian of Norwich was a 14th-century Norwich anchoress who wrote a religious and philosophical English treatise.

Conference Program

Register online. All Brandeis community members can register for free.

Philip Metres
Philip Metres Poetry Reading

October 21, 2025

5:30 pm in Rapaporte Treasure Hall

Philip Metres is the author of twelve books, including Fugitive/Refuge, Shrapnel Maps, and The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance. His poetry, translation, essays, fiction, criticism, and scholarship have garnered fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the recipient of the Adrienne Rich Award, three Arab American Book Awards, and other honors. Metres has been called “one of the essential poets of our time,” whose work is “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original.” He is professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. Philip’s reading will be followed by a Q&A. All are welcome.