Banu Subramaniam, professor in the Department of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, won the 2020 Society for Literature, Science & the Arts Michelle Kendrick Memorial Book Prize for the best book in Literature, Science & the Arts for the book 'Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism.'

The German and Scandinavian Studies program in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has been designated a German Center of Excellence by the American Association of Teachers of German. The German Center of Excellence designation is presented only to, “well-established and growing German program[s] with strong support from the administration, colleagues, alumni, parents, and students.”

James Smethurst is a scholar of 20th-century African American literature, culture and intellectual history and professor in the UMass Amherst W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. His research and scholarship explore connections between these subjects, and how politics, social relations, and art influence each other.

Milan Dragicevich, professor of acting in the Department of Theater at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was interviewed recently for The State of Shakespeare podcast. During the interview, Dragicevich spoke about his approach to actor training and performance, which is articulated in his recently published book The Persuasive Actor: Rhetorical Power on the Contemporary Stage. He also performed a monologue from Shakespeare's Richard III.

Cristiano Mazzei, lecturer and director of translator and interpreter training in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, has been shortlisted for an award from the Brazilian Association of University Presses (ABEU) in the translation category for his Portuguese translation of Lusophone Africa: Beyond Independence by the late scholar Fernando Arenas.

Ocean Vuong, acclaimed poet, author, and associate professor of English at UMass Amherst, will be honored this month with the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award for his 2019 debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.