Colwell Lecture and Reading Series

The R. Forrest Colwell Chair of English was established in 1972 in honor of R. Forrest Colwell, businessman, philanthropist, and former IWU trustee, and the Colwell Lecture & Reading Series further honors his enthusiastic support of English literature and writing.

This spring the Colwell Lecture & Reading Series is bringing to campus The Nomadic Symposium: Creative Writing Education, Comparative Cultural Studies and South Asia by Professor Arun  Gupto, and Vasectomania by Matthew Guenette.

In previous years, the English department has sponsored or co-sponsored such respected visiting scholars as Beowulf expert Benjamin Bagby; poets Kimberly Blaeser, Cornelius Eady, Martn Espada, Denise Duhammel, and Carolyn Forch; and fiction writers Carlos Fuentes, Joshua Ferris, Lorian Hemingway, Kimberly Davis and Jac Jemc, '05; and poets Denice Frohman and Jennifer Rane Hancock .

Every year the series brings one new writer or scholar to campus so that students can continue to expand their literary horizons.