Isbell, Brian

Brian Isbell joined the ASMSA Humanities faculty in 2009. He holds a BA with honors in English, and an MFA in Creative Writing, both from the University of Memphis. His original novel, rather than a traditional MA thesis, given course excellence and graduate student teaching, gained him The Wynn Award for Outstanding Graduate Student, the first MFA student to win the award in the institution’s history. He has advanced Ph.D. coursework at the University of Memphis as well in Textual Studies with a concentration in 17^th century English Poetry and Prose with a specialization in Genre Theory, specifically the novel.

He teaches Composition I and II, Philosophy in Literature, World Literature, Poetry, and Creative Writing, among others. He was a speaker at the national NCSSS conference in Atlanta in November 2022.  The presentation “Blake’s Poetry and Plates: Visual and Literary Analysis” was well-received by fellow consortium instructors. He has been teaching now for thirty years, fifteen at ASMSA, half the institution’s history. In July 2024 was named Instructor of Excellence in Writing and Literature.

He was the featured poet at Kollective Café in Hot Springs, Arkansas in August 2023—the longest running open poetry mic night in the nation. He is author of Ardmore Anecdotal, poetry collection (KDPublishing 2021), and a new collection of poetry forthcoming.