WKU News

Emily Shulten Weekley has pursued her love of writing from seemingly every possible direction. She has published three books of poetry and is the winner of the 2023 Wine Poetry Prize. She is the 2024-2026 poet laureate of Key West, Florida, and is currently studying folk and fairy tales in Hungary on a Fulbright Scholarship. Although her work has taken her all over the world, Weekley first fell in love with creative writing during her time right here at Western Kentucky University, where she did her BA (2002) and MA (2004) in English.

Weekley grew up in Bowling Green, but attending WKU introduced her to a whole new facet of the city. “While the Hill was a familiar landmark, Cherry Hall was uncharted territory,” she says. “My fondest memories are from that building, where I found what I loved to learn and learned to pursue it with zeal.” Weekley majored in English with a writing concentration, focusing primarily on creative writing. “These were my first writing workshops, so they not only shaped my understanding of the creative writing classroom as a student and scholar, but also as a teacher. I am still influenced by both assignments and lectures given by Dr. Joe Servant, the poet on faculty at the time,” she explains. Weekley now teaches English and creative writing at The College of the Florida Keys.

During her MA at WKU, Weekley credits current poetry professor Dr. Tom Hunley with encouraging her towards her eventual path of a PhD in creative writing. PhDs in creative writing are still rare, and Weekley explains that the Doctorate, such as the one she did at Georgia State University, fosters both creative and academic work in tandem. “A Ph.D. in creative writing takes the work of the scholarship and combines it with the creative work, such that a writer does not only produce, but also understands the context of the work produced, and the sphere of influence surrounding the work that came before it, as well as what is happening in contemporary poetry (or fiction or nonfiction) around it,” she explains.

Another professor who influenced Weekley was Dr. Ted Hovet. Hovet might be familiar to English students because of WKU’s annual Ted Hovet Conference, an event that honors undergraduate research in literature, language and culture. “At the time, a film studies minor was just developing, and it was housed across several university departments,” she explains. “I was anxious to take these courses in the English department and began with Dr. Hovet’s narrative film course. He went on to agree to develop several independent studies based on my interests, fostering my learning in a way that I’m certain motivated me in my pursuit of my Masters and my PhD. In fact, Dr. Hovet and I corresponded in 2020, when he was kind enough to answer my inquiries when I was designing a course I teach at The College of the Florida Keys, Writing About Film,” she says.

As a Poet Laureate, Weekley has been eager to pay this mentorship forward through her work, integrating poetry into public spaces. “I was fortunate to have the support of the

Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship to complete a civic project that included children's writing workshops, a website featuring writing activities and digital anthologies, and a write-your-own-poem playground panel for children that was installed at Truman Waterfront Park in Key West,” she says.

As a writer, Weekley is currently taking inspiration from parenthood, the natural world of her low-lying island home, and most recently, her scholarly on folk and fairy tales, which are the subject of her Fulbright Scholarship project at the University of Pécs in Hungary. When asked how she has built such an impressive career from her passion, Weekley said, “There certainly has not been a map for me. I have been lucky to have enough encouragement along the way to maintain momentum, and part of that is the privilege that enabled me to pursue my BA and MA at WKU. I will add that being unafraid of rejection was a fortunate lesson for me, and being aware that there is always more insight to pursue helps, too.” WKU is proud to call such a tenacious and inspired writer an alum!