At 6:00 p.m. on October 15, 2025, Stephens College’s Alpha Epsilon Eta Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta came together at the Hugh Stephens Library to discuss the 2026 Common Reader, Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. Junior member Sarah Phillips passed out multiple prompts to inspire both creative and crucial responses to the novel.
In advance of the get-together, members designed an “unplugged campaign.” They crafted handmade posters to advertise the event using slogans such as “Touch Grass,” “Unplug,” and “Get Inked” to encourage students to come to the event ready to leave their phones and laptops at the door. Sitting in beanbag chairs and hammocks in a secluded area on the library’s second floor, they wrote in sketch books with fountain pens, markers, charcoal, and colored pencils as they reconnected with the physical pleasures of writing.
The Salvage the Bones prompts inspired poems, short personal pieces, and flash fiction pieces, which students shared with the group. Many of the pieces they wrote reflected Ward’s novel’s first person coming-of-age narrators and complex sense of place and conflict.
The event was attended by ten Alpha Epsilon Eta Chapter members and two faculty members from the department of English and Creative Writing. During a reception following the event, students and faculty enjoyed refreshments and spoke openly and honestly about how they enjoyed taking time away from technology.
Kristine Somerville
Regents’ Common Reader Award Recipient, 2025-2026
Alpha Epsilon Eta Chapter, Advisor
Stephens College
Regents’ Common Reader Awards
The Regents’ Common Reader Awards provide an opportunity for individual chapters to organize and host a local event or activity based on the common reader. Chapter members do not need to attend the convention to apply. Contact your Regent and you may receive $100 for your event or activity.
Application Guidelines
Organize and host a local event or activity based on this text and apply for award money after your event. Submit to your Regent via email the Regents Fund Request form as well as the following materials in a single PDF:
- A cover letter, signed by the Chapter Advisor (or sent from the Advisor’s email address), confirming that the activity or event took place
- A narrative, not to exceed 500 words, describing the activity or event
- A list of all participating persons or groups
- Pertinent supplemental materials (event program, flyers, website, social media posts, campus news story, etc.)
The Regents’ Common Reader Award is open to all chapters of Sigma Tau Delta. It is completely separate to convention submissions. The Regents hope this award will be a way for chapters in each region to share a convention-related experience even if they are not able to attend the convention. We hope it will encourage relative, text-based activities and events. And, lastly, we hope it will give space to reflect on the power of language both in our own lives and in the lives of others.
Sigma Tau Delta
Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society, was founded in 1924 at Dakota Wesleyan University. The Society strives to
- Confer distinction for high achievement in English language and literature in undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies;
- Provide, through its local chapters, cultural stimulation on college campuses and promote interest in literature and the English language in surrounding communities;
- Foster all aspects of the discipline of English, including literature, language, and writing;
- Promote exemplary character and good fellowship among its members;
- Exhibit high standards of academic excellence; and
- Serve society by fostering literacy.
With over 900 active chapters located in the United States and abroad, there are more than 1,000 Faculty Advisors, and approximately 9,000 members inducted annually.
Sigma Tau Delta also recognizes the accomplishments of professional writers who have contributed to the fields of language and literature.
