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  • We are a community of scholars, artists, and students dedicated to the study and creation of literature in English. We choose to immerse ourselves in the language’s rich and varied literary tradition, its long history and expansive present, because we believe literature is synonymous with good—ethical and pleasurable—living. Reading, we encounter other people and ideas across time and space. Writing, we give clarity and shape to the world and our experiences of it. These intellectual values are reflected in how we teach and learn. Our faculty devote individual attention to each and every student, and our consistently small classes become intimate intellectual communities in their own right. Join us!


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  • No one can give you a better sense of what it’s really like to study English at Lewis & Clark than our current students and recent alumni.

  • <div class="flexbox"><div class="student_profile_image item"><a href="/live/profiles/10557-yash-bisht"><img src="/live/image/gid/186/width/310/height/310/crop/1/src_region/0,0,3200,2136/78702_CAS-0419-SPP-Bisht-009.rev.1559249267.jpg" alt=""/></a></div><div class="student_profile_content item"><h4><a href="/live/profiles/10557-yash-bisht">Yash Bisht</a></h4><div class="student_profile_details"><div class="student_profile_class">Class of 2021</div><div class="student_profile_hometown"><strong>Hometown:</strong> Dehradun, India, and Singapore</div><div class="student_profile_extracurriculars"><strong>Extracurriculars:</strong> Bollywood Club, Pause Journal, PioLog, Cochair of South Asia for International Fair</div><div class="student_profile_overseas"><strong>Overseas program:</strong> Australia 2020</div></div></div></div>
  • <div class="flexbox"><div class="student_profile_image item"><a href="/live/profiles/9451-brynn-rova"><img src="/live/image/gid/7/width/310/height/310/crop/1/src_region/0,0,800,534/72468_brynnrova.rev.1527710116.jpg" alt=""/></a></div><div class="student_profile_content item"><h4><a href="/live/profiles/9451-brynn-rova">Brynn Rova</a></h4><div class="student_profile_details"><div class="student_profile_class">Class of 2019</div><div class="student_profile_hometown"><strong>Hometown:</strong> Saint Michael, Minnesota</div><div class="student_profile_extracurriculars"><strong>Extracurriculars:</strong> Anything in the theatre department, a cappella, L&C Quidditch Club, Admissions Ambassadors program, Writing Center</div><div class="student_profile_overseas"><strong>Overseas program:</strong> Dublin, Ireland</div><div class="student_profile_quote"><em><p> I’ve always been in love with writing and reading. Books are such an essential part of my past and who I am that I can’t imagine not being an English major.</p></em></div></div></div></div>
  • <div class="flexbox"><div class="student_profile_image item"><a href="/live/profiles/10667-tuse-mahenya"><img src="/live/image/gid/186/width/310/height/310/crop/1/src_region/0,0,3200,2136/78752_CAS-0419-SPP-Mahenya-009.rev.1559686203.jpg" alt=""/></a></div><div class="student_profile_content item"><h4><a href="/live/profiles/10667-tuse-mahenya">Tuse Mahenya</a></h4><div class="student_profile_details"><div class="student_profile_class">Class of 2021</div><div class="student_profile_hometown"><strong>Hometown:</strong> Dar es Salaam, Tanzania</div><div class="student_profile_extracurriculars"><strong>Extracurriculars:</strong> Theatre, Student Philanthropy Council, Editorial Meridian Journal, Auditor (ASLC), Student Advisory Board (Career Center), Overnight Host, International Fair, Senior Experience, Literary Review</div><div class="student_profile_overseas"><strong>Overseas program:</strong> South Korea (spring 2020)</div></div></div></div>
  • <div class="flexbox"><div class="student_profile_image item"><a href="/live/profiles/8969-ellie-wilde"><img src="/live/image/gid/7/width/310/height/310/crop/1/src_region/0,0,2048,1367/71357_elliewilde.rev.1519943698.jpg" alt=""/></a></div><div class="student_profile_content item"><h4><a href="/live/profiles/8969-ellie-wilde">Ellie Wilde</a></h4><div class="student_profile_details"><div class="student_profile_class">Class of 2018</div><div class="student_profile_hometown"><strong>Hometown:</strong> Niwot, Colorado</div><div class="student_profile_extracurriculars"><strong>Extracurriculars:</strong> Public Relations and Communications, Model UN Security Council</div></div></div></div>
  • <div class="flexbox"><div class="student_profile_image item"><a href="/live/profiles/9441-arista-engineer"><img src="/live/image/gid/7/width/310/height/310/crop/1/src_region/0,0,800,534/72455_aristaengineer.rev.1527699588.jpg" alt=""/></a></div><div class="student_profile_content item"><h4><a href="/live/profiles/9441-arista-engineer">Arista Engineer</a></h4><div class="student_profile_details"><div class="student_profile_class">Class of 2019</div><div class="student_profile_hometown"><strong>Hometown:</strong> Pune, India</div><div class="student_profile_extracurriculars"><strong>Extracurriculars:</strong> Bollywood Club, International Fair, Lunch Host for Admissions, works in the AES Department and Watzek Library</div><div class="student_profile_overseas"><strong>Overseas program:</strong> London, England</div><div class="student_profile_quote"><em><p> The classes on my overseas program in London provided me with opportunities to explore English literature in more varied ways, such as through the study of contemporary works and linguistics.</p></em></div></div></div></div>
  • <div class="flexbox"><div class="student_profile_image item"><a href="/live/profiles/9526-sydney-owada"><img src="/live/image/gid/7/width/310/height/310/crop/1/src_region/0,0,799,559/72910_sydneyowada.rev.1529097737.jpg" alt=""/></a></div><div class="student_profile_content item"><h4><a href="/live/profiles/9526-sydney-owada">Sydney Owada</a></h4><div class="student_profile_details"><div class="student_profile_class">Class of 2019</div><div class="student_profile_hometown"><strong>Hometown:</strong> Fresno, California</div><div class="student_profile_extracurriculars"><strong>Extracurriculars:</strong> Pioneer Log opinions editor, LC Dance Company president, Dance X and Y participant/choreographer</div><div class="student_profile_overseas"><strong>Overseas program:</strong> London, England</div><div class="student_profile_quote"><em><p> My favorite class was Medieval Manuscripts with Karen Gross, in which we studied the history of manuscript production and paleography. The practical aspect of this class stands out in my mind as a unique aspect of the type of education Lewis & Clark facilitates: unconventional and widely applicable. </p></em></div></div></div></div>

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  • Nikky Finney

    A Poetry Reading by Nikky Finney

    March 17: 6:00pm

    Finney has authored four books of poetry: Head Off & Split (2011); The World Is Round (2003); Rice (1995); and On Wings Made of Gauze (1985). The John H. Bennett, Jr. Chair in Southern Letters and Literature at the University of South Carolina, Finney also authored Heartwood (1997), edited The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (2007), and co-founded the Affrilachian Poets. Finney’s fourth book of poetry, Head Off & Split was awarded the 2011 National Book Award for poetry.

  • The 2019-2020 Dixon Award Application

    The Lewis & Clark College English Department is pleased to announce this year’s application process for the Dixon Award.  Through the efforts of two of our alumni, Hillary and Adam Dixon, this $2,500.00 award was established in 2002 by the Dixon Family Foundation. It is given to one junior English major each year.
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