Joshua Roiland
Assistant Professor
Dr. Josh Roiland (he/him) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English. He is a cultural historian of the American news media who specializes in the history, theory, and practice of literary journalism.
Education
Ph.D. • American Studies • St. Louis University
M.A. • English • St. Thomas University (St. Paul, MN)
B.A. • English & Honors • University of North Dakota
Specialization in Teaching
Undergraduate Courses
ENG 101: College Reading and Writing I
ENG 201: College Reading and Writing II
ENG 202: Introduction to Journalism
ENG 205: Introduction to Literary & Cultural Analysis
ENG 302: Journalism Workshop • Writing Literary Journalism
ENG 305: Professional Review Writing • Theory & Practice of Criticism
ENG 306: Essay Writing
ENG 363: Studies in Nonfiction •1898: Writing and Recovering
ENG 363: Studies in Nonfiction • Literary Journalism in America
ENG 491: Directed Independent Study • Recovering the History of Black Wilmington Pre-1898
Graduate Courses
ENG 508: Studies in Nonfiction • Journalism and American Democracy
ENG 508: Studies in Nonfiction • Literary Journalism in America
ENG 510: Theory & Practice of Cultural Studies • History of Journalism in Film & Television
ENG 591: Directed Independent Study • Studies in Nonfiction Grief Literature
ENG 591: Directed Independent Study • Modernist Literature and Culture
ENG 591: Directed Independent Study • Decline of Local Wilmington News: An Oral History
Research Interests
Dr. Roiland is currently working on several research projects, each connected to literary journalism in America: John Sack’s Vietnam-era reportage for Esquire magazine; the literary politics of John Hersey’s classic New Yorker work “Hiroshima”; the flaneur-like reporting origins of Shel Silverstein’s cartoons in Playboy magazine; and local journalism’s role in the 1898 Wilmington Massacre. His previous academic articles examined the terminological history and significance of “literary journalism,” and the longform work of Langston Hughes, Joan Didion, and David Foster Wallace. His own narrative nonfiction has appeared in the Washington Post, Longreads, Popula, and A24 Films, among others.
Honors & Awards
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Center For Teaching Excellence — Discere Aude Award 2022
Longreads
Best of 2017: 25 Most Popular Exclusives of the Year — “A Shot in the Arm” (#20)
Pushcart Prize Nominee
Nominated by Longreads (“A Shot in the Arm”) 2017
Longreads
Best of 2014: 10 Most Popular Exclusives of the Year — “David Foster Wallace and the Nature of Fact” (#9)
Literary Journalism Studies
Article of the Year — “‘Just People’ are Just People: Langston Hughes and the Populist Power of African American Literary Journalism" 2014
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies
Inaugural President’s Panel Selection 2012 — “Reading True Stories: Undergraduate Experiences With Literary Journalism”
Case Western Reserve University
Nominee, Carl F. Wittke Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2012