Alexander Manshel

Both are welcome! It's about the who/what/where/how of reading literature beyond the university campus.

The presenters themselves don't have to be from outside the academy (just their focus!), but they certainly can be!

Modern Language Association Call for Papers. TEACHING DYSTOPIA IN DYSTOPIAN TIMES. This roundtable invites papers from educators at all levels who are working with dystopian texts or at restrictive institutions to share pedagogical, political, and interpretive strategies. 200-word abstracts due March 15 by email to alexander.manshel@mcgill.ca Deadline for submissions: Sunday, March 15, 2026

Call for Papers for MLA 2027 in Los Angeles. The session is titled "Literary Studies Beyond the Academy." What forms of literary study, critical inquiry, and bookish identity-making exist beyond university literature departments? How have readers in marginalized communities and the Global South developed para- or even anti-academic institutions of interpretation? 200-word abstracts. Deadline for submissions: Sunday, March 15, 2026

🚨Just 5 MORE DAYS to submit proposals for these guaranteed sessions @modernlanguage.bsky.social in Los Angeles!

(1) TEACHING DYSTOPIA IN DYSTOPIAN TIMES

(2) LITERARY STUDIES BEYOND THE ACADEMY

Please get in touch with any questions + thanks for sharing!

One fun thing about books is that some of them are in fact very good

Nods in Alex Woloch

Thanks, Annie!!

High School English and the Making of American Readers Abstract. The high school English classroom is the most influential literary institution in the United States, and the most overlooked by literary scholars

"Recent attacks on specific works of literature by Republican state legislatures and conservative orgs...pale in comparison to the large-scale divestment from literature to which liberal and conservative forces alike contribute."

so good, @manshel.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/alh/article/...

i’m “re”reading this because i don’t recall anything about what i read a year ago in the haze and haste of writing my dissertation introduction.
@manshel.bsky.social

Hope it holds up! 🤞

I was particularly interested in Julian's observation that Keegan’s SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE has become "an enormously popular option in schools." Like THE NICKEL BOYS, it's a "perfectly teachable" high school text: short, historical, character-driven, and deeply focused on moral decision-making

Very interesting to read these reflections on how US and Irish schools overlap and diverge when it comes to high school English!

Extra: English classrooms in Ireland and the US Thoughts prompted by an academic paper by Alexander Manshel on US High School English.

(New). Thoughts on English teaching in Ireland and the US, prompted by a paper by @manshel.bsky.social.

juliangirdham.substack.com/p/extra-engl...

Mentions for
@inotenews.bsky.social
@conorsmurf.bsky.social
@sarfern.bsky.social
@clanavtra.bsky.social

Hear me out, @npr.org... new weekly show featuring authors, editors, agents, publishers, prize judges, fanfic aficionados, TV scouts, and READERS of all kinds. It's called "BookTalk" and you've already got your new host IN STUDIO!

A selfie of a woman trying very hard to contain her glee in a WHYY podcast booth.

A big day to be a person with zero chill.

Modern Language Association Call for Papers. TEACHING DYSTOPIA IN DYSTOPIAN TIMES. This roundtable invites papers from educators at all levels who are working with dystopian texts or at restrictive institutions to share pedagogical, political, and interpretive strategies. 200-word abstracts due March 15 by email to alexander.manshel@mcgill.ca Deadline for submissions: Sunday, March 15, 2026

Calling all High School English Teachers, Professors, and Educators of all kinds!

Do you have thoughts on TEACHING DYSTOPIA IN DYSTOPIAN TIMES?

Then please join us for this roundtable at next January's MLA convention in Los Angeles!

Thanks for sharing + please get in touch with any questions!

Remarkable graph here of James Patterson's productivity over time

Call for Papers for MLA 2027 in Los Angeles. The session is titled "Literary Studies Beyond the Academy." What forms of literary study, critical inquiry, and bookish identity-making exist beyond university literature departments? How have readers in marginalized communities and the Global South developed para- or even anti-academic institutions of interpretation? 200-word abstracts. Deadline for submissions: Sunday, March 15, 2026 Alexander Manshel, McGill University (alexander.manshel@mcgill.ca )

If you're thinking about attending MLA 2027 in Los Angeles, please consider submitting an abstract to this *guaranteed session* on "Literary Studies Beyond the Academy"! Details below...

Come to LA! Let's talk Huxley!

P.P.S. The character limit wouldn't let me add this, but...Grad students and NTT folks also VERY MUCH WELCOME!

P.S. This is a guaranteed session, hosted by @modernlanguage.bsky.social's K-16 alliance! Thanks for sharing with anyone who might be interested!

@ncte.org, @edutopia.org, @ebonyteach.blacksky.app, @heymrsbond.com, @annieabrams.bsky.social, @mraleosays.bsky.social, @johndownesangus.bsky.social

Modern Language Association Call for Papers. TEACHING DYSTOPIA IN DYSTOPIAN TIMES. This roundtable invites papers from educators at all levels who are working with dystopian texts or at restrictive institutions to share pedagogical, political, and interpretive strategies. 200-word abstracts due March 15 by email to alexander.manshel@mcgill.ca Deadline for submissions: Sunday, March 15, 2026

Calling all High School English Teachers, Professors, and Educators of all kinds!

Do you have thoughts on TEACHING DYSTOPIA IN DYSTOPIAN TIMES?

Then please join us for this roundtable at next January's MLA convention in Los Angeles!

Thanks for sharing + please get in touch with any questions!

One of the things keeping me afloat is that today I teach one of my favorite essays in recent years, Ted Underwood’s “Why Literary Time is Measured in Minutes” alongside Yauney et al’s “update” from a year later, after teaching Genette last week. The little formalist in me is so happy

Yet another reminder to read Annie’s fabulous history of the AP!
www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

🚨 If you're in Montreal for #ACLA, come see this outstanding seminar! On Saturday at 4:00, I'll be talking about the secondary school's fascination with dystopia in a paper called "The Individual vs. Society: Doublethinking High School English"!

Director and Curator, Special Collections and Archives - Middlebury College Reporting to the Dean of the Library, the Director and Curator of Special Collections provides leadership, vision, and budget oversight for Middlebury’s special collections, including its rare book an...

JOB ALERT! 📜📚

Who wants to be director & curator of special collections & archives at Middlebury College (Vermont!) — & work for a wonderful boss (& one of my favorite people), Rebekah Irwin?

apply.workable.com/middleburyco...

I keep reminding people that admins hate English departments because they are popular (read: inefficient), not because they aren’t. AI is in a long line of technologies that promise to solve that problem for them.

Years ago our admin did a red and black report. It took salaries & how much $ each instructor made in tuition $ for classes we taught-you were in the red or black. They released numbers once & shut it down bc humanities were producing huge $ for uni & engineers, business and scientists were losing $

Please do come to our ACLA session on Conspiracism. I'll be presenting on the comic book series, *The Department of Truth*, and revealing all about the secret history of U.S. Unless They get to me first.

🚨 If you're in Montreal for #ACLA, come see this outstanding seminar! On Saturday at 4:00, I'll be talking about the secondary school's fascination with dystopia in a paper called "The Individual vs. Society: Doublethinking High School English"!

So awesome to see this international bestseller data *out in the world*! That's the goal!

Thanks to @jamesfolta.com, @literaryhub.bsky.social, and F. Poretti for these great pieces.