April Best

April D. Best (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at Michigan State University. She received her BA in English and French and her B.Ed. from York University. She obtained her MA in Literature from Grand Valley State University. Her research focuses on the intersections between twentieth and twenty-first century poetry and environmental policy through the lenses of environmental humanities, Black and Indigenous studies, and feminist theory.

Stand-Alone Courses / August 2022 – December 2025
ENG 210: Introduction to Literary Studies
IAH 231: Gossip in Art and Literature
ENG 129: Introduction to Reading Poetry

Graduate Teaching Assistant / August 2022 – April 2025
IAH 207: Afrofuturism with Dr. Julian Chambliss
IAH 202: Europe and the World with Dr. Salah Hassan
IAH 207: Gothic Literature with Dr. Stephen Arch
IAH 209: Dangerous Art with Dr. Stephen Deng
IAH 241: Sex and Violence in Film with Dr. Rick Blackwood

Amsterdam Study Abroad Program Assistant / July – August 2024
ENG 355: Readings in Sexuality and Literature
HST 420: History of Sexuality since the 18th Century
MC 388: Sexual Politics: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
WS 202: Introduction to Contemporary Feminist Theories
WS 304: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) and Sexuality Studies
WS 424: Seminar in Queer Studies

Conferences and presentations

Best, April D. “Relationality is not a Luxury: Water and Stone in Lehua M. Taitano’s ‘Current, I.’” ASAP/15, New York City, 2024.

Best, April D. “Birdsongs Across Borders: Poetic Portrayals and Environmental Realities of Border Walls.” Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada. Waterloo, 2024.

Best, April D. “Collaborative Online International Learning Palm Oil Project with University of
Jambi Students.” AIFIS-MSU: Conference on Indonesian Studies, virtual, 2024.

Best, April D. “Across Space and Time: Relationality in the Poetry of Joy Harjo.” Newberry
Consortium for American Indian and Indigenous Studies Graduate Student
Conference, Newberry Library, Chicago, 2024.

Best, April D. “Mutating Modes of the ‘Human’ in W. E. B. DuBois’s ‘The Comet.’” Modernist
Studies Association, Brooklyn, 2023.

Publications

Best April D. Review of The Cambridge Companion to American Poetry and Politics since 1900. Edited by Daniel Morris. JMMLA, vol. 57, no. 1, Spring 2024, pp. 179-182.