Department of English

Accolades are pouring in for Assistant Professor of English Abdulhamit Arvas and his book, Boys Abducted: The Homoerotics of Empire and Race in Early Modernity.

In March, the Renaissance Society of America (RSA) announced that Arvas’ monograph had been selected as a co-winner of the 2026 Phyllis Goodhart Gordan Book Prize for the Best Book in Renaissance Studies. It shared the distinction with The New Kingdom of Granada: The Making and Unmaking of Spain’s Atlantic Empire, by Santiago Muñoz-Arbeláez. Most recently the book has been named the winner of the 2026 Shakespeare Association of America First Book Award, which is annually awarded “to a monograph with a significant Shakespeare component published as the first book-length publication.”

Boys Abducted builds on Arvas’ broader work and research concerning early modern literature and culture, along with comparative histories of sexuality and race. At Penn, he holds affiliations in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies, Comparative Literature & Literary Theory, the Middle East Center, Theater Arts, and Global Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

See this post as it originally appeared at https://pan-school.sas.upenn.edu/news/english-professors-book-garners-tw...