Eileen G'Sell

Eileen G'Sell

Senior Lecturer in College Writing
MFA, Washington University in St. Louis
MA, University of Rochester

contact info:

mailing address:

  • College Writing Program
    MSC 1096-153-122
    Washington University
    1 Brookings Drive
    St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

Born in St. Louis, Eileen G’Sell is a poet and culture critic who mingles the literary with the critical, the creative with the academic, focusing on gender, sexuality, and economic class. She earned her BA at Knox College, her MA at the University of Rochester, and her MFA at Washington University in St. Louis. Her first full-length volume of poetry, Life After Rugby, was published in 2018 by Gold Wake Press; her second book of poetry, Francofilaments, will be published October 2024 from Broken Sleep Books. Her first book of nonfiction, Lipstick, will be published by Bloomsbury Academic's Object Lessons series in late 2025.

G’Sell’s poetry has appeared in Poetry magazine, Fence, DIAGRAM, Oversound, The Rumpus, and The Boston Review; recent essays have appeared in The BafflerThe Hopkins ReviewThe Los Angeles Review of BooksCurrent Affairs, Jacobin, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. She serves as movie critic of The Hopkins Review, and makes frequent contributions to Hyperallergic, Reverse Shot, and The Riverfront Times. In 2023, she received the Rabkin Foundation award for visual arts journalism.

She teaches writing and media studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

Featured Courses

College Writing: Power & Commodity Culture

"Commodity culture" refers to what aspects of culture can be evaluated in terms of supposed "worth" or economic value. Readings will explore a range of cultural texts and topics--whether it’s the popularity of Grey Poupon in hip hop or racial tension in the St. Louis restaurant scene, the role of smartphones and social media in the rise of self-branding, or the blurred line between high art and Instagram.