Joseph Harrington

Joseph Harrington is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Kansas, where he teaches creative writing, poetry, and literary studies. His work bridges critical scholarship and poetic practice, focusing on the intersections of poetry, history, and cultural politics.

Education: While specific degrees are not listed in the text, his academic trajectory includes fellowships at the Huntington Library, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program, indicating a strong foundation in literary studies and American culture.

His research explores documentary poetry (docupoetry), mixed-genre writing, and the cultural role of poetry in American public life. He is particularly interested in how poetry engages with historical trauma, race, surveillance, and the climate crisis. His recent poetic work, such as The Poem of Our Climate, directly confronts eco-anxiety and environmental collapse, using lyrical and experimental forms to process planetary grief.

The 15 most recent articles reflect a consistent engagement with experimental nonfiction, archival poetics, and the political unconscious in literature. Themes of memory, disappearance, voice, and embodiment recur across genres. His work often blurs boundaries between poetry, essay, and scholarly critique, creating a unique hybrid form he terms "amneoir"—a memoir of memory loss.

• Scientific Awards & Honors:
• Conger-Gabel Teaching Professorship (2013–2016)
• Millay Colony Resident Fellow (2013)
• Pushcart Prize Nominee (2011)
• Hall Center for the Humanities Fellow (Creative Work, 2010; Research, 2000)
• Finalist, Howard Foundation Fellowship (2010)
• Walt Whitman Chair, Fulbright Distinguished Chair (2005)
• Mayers Fellow, Huntington Library (1999)
• Mortar Board Outstanding Educator Award (1998)

Harrington advises graduate students in the MFA and PhD programs in Creative Writing and Literature. He has received internal and external grants supporting his research and creative work, including funding from the Hall Center and the Fulbright Program. His blog, Writing Out of Time, extends his public intellectual engagement with climate chaos and literary response.

He is affiliated with the Department of English within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and contributes to initiatives such as the First Year Writing Program and the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction. His recent book Disapparitions (2024) represents a culmination of his long-standing interest in the spectral—whether as ghost, spy, or racial epithet—and how these converge in American history.