Student News 2026

Carrie Olivia Ferguson Adams (BA 2000) will publish her fifth book of poetry, The Book of Marys and Glaciers (Tupelo Press), this April. In addition, the award-winning independent publishing company she co-founded and still runs as Executive Editor, Black Ocean, is celebrating its 20th year in publishing in 2026 with events and readings around the country throughout the year. 

Maxime Berclaz organized and presented on the panel and reading "The Place of the Horizon" at Punch Bucket Lit in Asheville. He also organized this year's edition of the Spotlight Graduate Symposium, bringing together Art and Creative Writing graduate students to present their creative work. He introduced Garret Hongo at the UGA Poetry Festival, and finally he has received the Jane Mulkey and Rufus King Green Graduate Fellowship to further his archival research on Dada in Zurich.

Holly Haworth's essay "Woman in the Woods," originally published in The Bitter Southerner, was listed as notable in The Best American Essays, edited by Jia Tolentino. Her essay "A Circling Story," published in Emergence Magazine, was selected as a Top 5 of the Week by Longreads.

Brianna Phillips's article ''Till you hear me!': Sonic Suffering and the Unsounded in Ellen Wood's East Lynne" will be published in the fall 2026 issue of Studies in the Novel.

Fourth-year PhD candidate Abhijit Sarmah presented his paper “How to Be Good Ancestors? Examining Native Ancestors in Miko Kings and Man Made Monsters” at the MLA Convention in New Orleans and later delivered “Isaac Rosenberg’s Literary Reputation” at the SAMLA Conference in Atlanta. His creative work also earned recognition, as he was named a finalist in the Steven R. Guthrie Memorial Writers’ Festival Contest at Agnes Scott College. Additionally, he served as Guest Editor of Poetry for The Headlight Review (Volume 3, Issues 1–2) and his poem “In Her Last Phone Call” will appear in the Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English 2024. Beyond these accomplishments, Abhijit contributed to public and interdisciplinary initiatives, including a community reading at the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art (ATHICA), a collaborative presentation on Native American effigy sites at the University of Georgia, and an invited poetry performance for Because of You: Healing Mental Health Issues Through Music at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.