Etta Madden
Dr. Etta Madden is the author or editor of four books, which consider American women writers, Italy, and utopian literature and intentional communities. The most recent is Engaging Italy: American Women’s Utopian Visions and Transnational Networks (SUNY Press 2022). The recipient of a Fulbright award, Etta has been a research fellow at the New York Public Library, an NEH Seminar participant at the American Academy in Rome, and a two-time recipient of a Mellon Fellowship from the Library Company of Philadelphia. She teaches courses on writing and research methods, American literature, women writers, and utopian visions as Clif & Gail Smart Professor of English at Missouri State University. On the faculty there since 1995, Etta has served in several capacities across campus. Etta’s teaching, writing and speaking on these wide-ranging topics emerge from a longstanding interest in what it means to be an individual within communities—religious and spiritual communities, in particular; what it means to be a woman in a world where gender roles are in flux; and the roles of writing and reading for intellectual and emotional health. (The latter is among her favorite workshop topics and most relevant to the podcast!)
