Lincoln University Students Present Work at 2026 Sigma Tau Delta International Convention

From left: Professor Eli Burrell, Savannah Contreras, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Megan Twehus, Emma Nunamaker and Anna Perrigo at the Sigma Tau Delta 2026 Convention.

Three Lincoln University students were accepted to present their work at the 2026 Sigma Tau Delta International Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, a significant academic distinction for undergraduate writers and scholars. Each year, student creative and critical work is selected from around a thousand submissions for presentation at the national convention.

From left: Emma Nunamaker, Savannah Contreras and Megan Twehus. 

Lincoln University students Savannah Contreras, a psychology major minoring in English creative writing; Emma Nunamaker, an English creative writing major; and Megan Twehus, an English education major, represented the university through both creative and scholarly presentations.

Contreras presented a collection of poems titled Blonde Espresso. Nunamaker presented a critical essay titled “Nature’s Reflection in The Tale of Genji.” Twehus presented a critical essay titled “Flipping Pancakes: Isolation and Hopelessness in Rural America.”

Savannah Contreras.

Two Lincoln University faculty members accompanied the students to New Orleans: Professor Eli Burrell and Anna Perrigo, assistant professor of English and director of LU’s Writing Center. Both serve as faculty advisers for the Omega Pi Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta on Lincoln University’s campus. Burrell has accompanied students to Sigma Tau Delta conferences and events for nearly 14 years.

“These essays and poems were born in our creative writing workshops and classrooms right here at Lincoln University,” Burrell said. “Savannah, Emma, and Megan worked diligently to ready their work, revise and polish every last line, and then present it to a large audience of peers and mentors at the convention. It was beautiful to see.”

Megan Twehus.

The convention also featured keynote speakers Jesmyn Ward and poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Ward won the National Book Award for fiction in 2011 for Salvage the Bones and again in 2017 for Sing, Unburied, Sing. She is the only woman and the only Black author to have won the award twice in that category. Burrell noted that the students also had the chance to learn from Nezhukumatathil, “a poet whose work I have taught for many years,” in a more intimate craft workshop where they generated new writing.

Lincoln University recognizes Contreras, Nunamaker and Twehus for earning the opportunity to share their work on a national stage. Their accomplishments reflect the depth of student talent at the university and the rigorous literary study, creative ambition and public-facing scholarship it continues to foster.

Emma Nunamaker.

“The fact that our three talented students were chosen to present at this convention is a reminder that serious intellectual, artistic work is happening here at Lincoln and we should be willing to support that and encourage it at all costs,” Burrell said.