If CMU’s English Department looks a little preoccupied, it’s because every member is moonlighting as an author or editor. It’s been a banner year for the department: faculty members have published an incredible number of poems, chapbooks, novels, non-fiction work, and short stories. Several CMU authors have been nominated for various literary prizes, including the Pushcart, which honors the year’s best works from small presses.
“The department as a whole is busy publishing all the time,” Professor Bill Wright said. “My work this year included seven poems in journals from Chicago, San Francisco, Michigan, Los Angeles, Tulsa, and elsewhere, eight poems accepted for news year, and two chapbook publications of, say, 30 pages of poetry each. I am also publishing a book chapter on critical theory in the teaching of tech writing.”
Wright was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
This isn’t an unusual amount of work for the department’s faculty. Some members, including Luis Lopez, self-published award-winning books, while others, like Pushcart nominee Alana Voth, regularly have their work featured in collections and journals. Dr. Doug Cox’s first book of poems, “The Last Decent Jukebox in America,” was published by LS&S Press in April.
“It’s their first book,” Cox said. “It’s kind of the trial run, the maiden voyage, I guess. They actually solicited the manuscript from me. Dan Manchester, the guy who runs it, has an online journal that’s really fantastic called Suss. He published a few of my poems in there and liked them enough to ask me if I had a full manuscript. That’s pretty rare. Usually you’ve got to go through contests. I’d sent out the manuscript to several contests, but you have 800 people send in their manuscripts and they publish one book, so it’s really competitive.”
Poetry books like “The Last Decent Jukebox in America” tend to be published by independent presses rather than large publishing houses.
“Big publishing houses don’t make any money off of it, so they might publish a very well-known, world-famous poet, or at least nationally-famous,” Cox said. “That might be an oxymoron, though, a famous poet.”
While the university pays faculty members to teach, the department supports its authors’ and editors’ busy publishing schedules. Award-winning writing brings commendations to the department and the university, and CMU authors are often invited to read their work in venues across the country.
“It obviously brings some recognition to the department if our writers get more of a readership and publish, but it’s kind of like our second job,” Cox said. “It’s definitely encouraged.”
Wright listed 19 faculty members who have recently published academic or creative work.
“That’s a lot, and that’s only the stuff I know about. Even the emeritus faculty are busy,” Wright said.
Cox said that CMU’s atmosphere is partially responsible for the varied volume of work produced.
“There’s a great writing community here. There are so many of the faculty members and students, too. There are a lot of returning students who have books out and have published stories. We have fiction writers and folks who have published novels and poetry, short stories, non-fiction,” Cox said.

ssummar@mavs.coloradomesa.edu