Howell Joins M.F.A. Program as Assistant Professor in Literary Translation and Poetry

Charles Bertram

Rebecca Gayle Howell

The Program in Creative Writing and Translation, a nationally-ranked M.F.A. program in the Department of English, is pleased to welcome literary translator and poet Rebecca Gayle Howell, who joins the faculty as a tenure-track assistant professor this fall.

Howell earned a B.A. and M.A. at the University of Kentucky, an M.F.A. at Drew University and a Ph.D. at Texas Tech University. She is a 2019 United States Artists Fellow and the author of two award-winning novels-in-verse, American Purgatory (2017) and Render (2013). She is also the English-language translator of Amal al-Jubouri's verse memoir of the Iraq War, Hagar Before the Occupation / Hagar After the Occupation (2011). 

"We feel incredibly fortunate to welcome Rebecca to our community of writers. Her presence on our faculty will expand the work of the Program in Creative Writing and Translation and enhance its national reputation. She is an extraordinary poet, an accomplished translator and a brilliant teacher," said Davis McCombs, director of the Program in Creative Writing and Translation.

Howell's work has received critical acclaim from such outlets as The Los Angeles Times, Poetry London (U.K.), The Courier-Journal, Asymptote, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, The Millions, Arts ATL, MINT (India) and The Kenyon Review. 

Among her other honors are the The Sexton Prize (U.K.), the Pushcart Prize, the Carson McCullers Fellowship and two winter fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Since 2014, Howell has served as Poetry Editor for Oxford American, where she commissions and curates a new profile of Southern poetics. She and her fellow editors received the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2016, and in 2021 they were shortlisted for the CLMP Firecracker Award. 

William Quinn, chair of the English Department, welcomed Howell, saying, "The entire English Department is thrilled to have Rebecca Gayle Howell join us as the newest colleague, a shining jewel in the crown of our Translation Program." 

Founded in 1966, the U of A Program in Creative Writing and Translation in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences consistently ranks in the top 40 M.F.A. programs nationwide, according to Poets & Writers magazine. The Atlantic Monthly named the U of A among the "Top Five Most Innovative" M.F.A. programs in the nation. Noteworthy graduates include Barry Hannah, C.D. Wright, Lucinda Roy and Nic Pizzolatto.