Bennington Reads
Bennington is a community of readers.
At Bennington, reading isn’t just a required assignment or just in preparation for writing. It’s a shared passion, a way of thinking, a way of questioning and learning, and a way of tapping into the imagination. Conversations with the texts become conversations we have with each other, and books move through our campus like water flows through the earth. Books appear in backpacks and studio spaces, they materialize in libraries and hammocks, they show up in workshops and lectures, and they often become part of conversations that last well into the night.
Some students arrive here knowing that they are readers. Some discover this love after they arrive. That is the beauty of a reading community like Bennington. It’s a place where books matter.
Let us welcome you to Bennington Reads.
Readers are everywhere at Bennington
They are your fellow students, your faculty, the alumni, and even the staff around you. Reading here is both deeply personal and unmistakably communal. We are always recommending books to one another.
"I read like a glutton. I do like fiction, but I am really fussy and picky and impatient. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, which I read while finishing Wards of the State, blew me away... I gravitate most toward narrative nonfiction. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City was hugely inspiring for me... And All God’s Children by Fox Butterfield was also influential. I read crime fiction and true crime... In Cold Blood was a big one for me when I was in college. I was inspired by Truman Capote’s idea about making a true story as textured and real-feeling as a novel. "
- Claudia Rowe '88
Great Writers Read Here
Bennington has long been a home for writers, and every writer once began as a reader. Notable literary alumni from Bennington’s undergraduate and MFA in Writing program include:
- Donna Tartt
- Bret Easton Ellis
- Kiran Desai
- Jonathan Lethem
- Michael Pollan
- Ann Goldstein
- Safiya Sinclair
- Anaïs Duplan
- Anne Waldman
- Mary Ruefle
- Claudia Rowe
- Cynthia Sweeney
- Jamie Quatro
- Amy Gerstler
- Morgan Jerkins
- Charles Bock
Bennington College’s alumni include 12 Pulitzer Prize winners, three U.S. poets laureate, four MacArthur Fellows, and countless New York Times bestsellers and National Book Award recipients.
Their work began in the same place all writing begins, with reading.
Where Reading Happens
Unlike many other colleges and universities, reading at Bennington is not confined to classrooms. It unfolds across campus in quiet corners and unexpected spaces.
Ask Bennington students where they read and you’ll hear many answers: A bench in the orchard. In a hammock outside Franklin. A nook in Jennings. Under a tree at the End of the World. One of the deep armchairs in Crossett Library. The Dickinson Reading Room. The Music Library in Jennings. Snuggled in the “sky couches” on the third floor of Commons.
Literary Publications at Bennington
At Bennington, making is a tradition. Students and faculty actively contribute to the literary world through a range of in-house publications. These include:
- Bennington Review: A nationally recognized journal of innovative, intelligent, and moving poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and film writing.
- Silo: The student-run literary and arts magazine since 1942.
- (M)othertongues Magazine: A journal of student works of translation.
- The End of the World: The literary journal for the Bennington Writing Seminars.
The Tradition Continues
The culture of reading and writing at Bennington extends far beyond graduation.
Recent graduates have gone on to attend PhD and MFA programs in literature and creative writing at institutions including Stanford University, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, New York University, the University of Virginia, Columbia University, Cornell University, the University of Massachusetts, Arizona State, and Brown University.
Their work has appeared in publications such as The Atlantic Wire, Boston Review, Christian Science Monitor, Denver Quarterly, The Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Ploughshares.
For many, their paths began simply, with a book passed between friends or discovered in the Crossett Library on a quiet and snowy afternoon.
Tell Us What You're Reading
Tell us what’s on your nightstand, in your backpack, or open in your browser tabs. Submissions to this form can appear as part of our growing community reading list.