14
Oct
Autumn Poetry Reading
An evening of student poetry, open mic style — bring one poem, your own or someone else's.
Seminar Hall 2 · 5:00 PM
Per Verbum Ad Sapientiam — Through Word to Wisdom
Language explored. Literature lived.
ELLS is a student-run society for anyone who reads closely, writes seriously, and asks how language actually works — through book circles, linguistics labs, open-mic nights, and a journal we publish ourselves.
120+
Active members
5
Journal issues
30+
Events a year
2025
Founded
About ELLS
The English Literature & Linguistics Society brings together students who take language seriously — as literature to be read closely, and as a system worth studying on its own terms. We meet every week to argue about texts, take language apart to see how it works, and make things: essays, poems, translations, a journal.
Whether you're drawn to Woolf or to phonology, to spoken-word or to syntax trees, there's a place for you here.
What we do
Six ways to get your hands into language every week.
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Book Circles
Close reading sessions on one text at a time — slow, argumentative, and open to everyone.
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Craft Workshops
Hands-on sessions on writing — poetry, fiction, essays — with feedback from your peers.
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Debates & Declamations
Structured arguments on literary and linguistic questions — sharpen how you think on your feet.
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Linguistics Labs
Phonetics, syntax, and sociolinguistics sessions — language studied as a working system.
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Open Mic Nights
An informal stage for new work — poetry, prose, spoken word — before it goes anywhere else.
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The Journal
A student-edited publication of essays, fiction, and poetry — printed once a semester.
Get involved
Pick a form, join the society
Every form below is created and published from the admin panel — new ones appear here automatically.
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Two disciplines, one society
ELLS doesn't make you choose between reading and analysing language.
Literature
Poetry, prose, and drama read closely and argued over — across periods, forms, and critical traditions. We look at what a text does, not just what it says.
Close reading circles, critical theory sessions, and a journal that publishes original student writing every semester.
Linguistics
Language as a system — sound, structure, meaning, and change. We take phonetics, syntax, and sociolinguistics seriously as fields in their own right.
Weekly labs, guest lectures, and small research projects open to anyone curious about how language actually works.
Upcoming events
What's on the calendar this semester.
22
Oct
Guest Lecture: The Sound of Meaning
A talk on phonetics and how sound shapes meaning across languages.
Main Auditorium · 2:00 PM
05
Nov
Annual Literary Debate Finals
The society's biggest debate of the year — this semester's motion: "The author is dead."
Debate Hall · 4:00 PM
Student voices
A few pieces our members have written recently.
What the Kettle Knows
A short, quiet poem about waiting rooms, tea, and the sound a house makes when no one's talking.
On Reading Slowly in a Fast Feed
An essay on why close reading feels radical now, and what it costs to actually sit with a text.
The Translator's Daughter
A short story about growing up between two languages, and never quite finishing a sentence in either.
The
Quill Review Volume III — 2026
Quill Review Volume III — 2026
Our journal, made by us
Once a semester, ELLS puts together a print journal of student essays, fiction, and poetry — edited, designed, and proofread entirely by members. It's the clearest record of what the society is actually thinking about.
Read the latest issueFrom our events
A few moments from the semester so far.
Read. Write. Question. Join us.
Membership is open to any student, any year, any discipline.
Join Now