Research & Interest Groups

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WRITE BACK: A Public Humanities Forum is a colloquium at Rutgers University that organizes expert panels and workshops, connects members with editors, publishers, and authors doing public-facing work, and hosts writing events and retreats. WRITE BACK has a three-pronged mission statement:

     1. To advocate for the importance of public-facing work;

     2. To develop skills in pitching, writing, and publishing across various public-facing venues;

     3. To foster a supportive writing community in the English department.

Born from a desire to understand the public humanities and its relationship to literature, WRITE BACK is a politically minded thinking group designed to help English PhD students navigate their research at a time in their discipline's history when it is increasingly undervalued and under attack. 

We refuse to capitulate to the idea that literature, literary criticism, and literary theory do not have relevance or purpose today

Please come along to any of our events, or email us to join our mailing list, if you have found yourself asking any of the following questions:

• How do we assert the value of literary studies in a world that feels increasingly antagonistic towards literature?
• How can we make literary criticism matter to the general public?
• How do we make our own research more politically meaningful?
• What stakes are we investing in our own writing?