Emerald Rutledge

Bio:

Emerald Faith Rutledge (emerald faith, they/them) is a Visiting Assistant Professor of African American Literature. They earned their PhD in English, Literary Studies with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies in May 2026 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They were recently awarded a New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship, which will support their work on their manuscript-in-progress tentatively titled Black Feminist Brazen Experimentalisms: Mapping the Literary, Cultural, and Political Intervention of Black Queer Women Writers. emerald's editorial and public-facing written work has appeared on platforms including Black Perspectives, Black Women Radicals, them, and JSTOR Daily. They have a forthcoming essay in a special anniversary issue of Callaloo titled “Venus’s South: On the Social, Cultural, and Literary Influence of Venus Magazine in 1990s Atlanta and Beyond.”

Education:

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison

M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison

B.A., The College of Wooster

Teaching and Research Interests:

20th century African American literature

20th and 21st century Black queer literature

Black queer and lesbian feminisms

Jazz and literary formal experimentalism

Selected Publications:

“Venus’s South: On the Social, Cultural, and Literary Influence of Venus Magazine in 1990s Atlanta and Beyond.” Callaloo, 2026, forthcoming.