Monica Berlin, the Richard P. & Sophia D. Henke Distinguished Professor of English at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, died on November 4 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, Illinois. She was 49 years old.
Professor Berlin received a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Knox College in 1995. She earned a master’s degree in literature and composition from Western Illinois University in 1998, and a master’s of fine arts degree in poetry from Vermont College in 2002.
A member of the Knox faculty since 1998, Professor Berlin made a significant impact on the Knox College community with her courses on creative writing, poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, and modern, contemporary, and 21st-century American literature. She served as chair for the English department, associate director of the creative writing program, and locally on the Galesburg Public Library board of trustees.
Berlin published three books, including her most recent release Elsewhere, That Small (Parlor Press, 2020), a collection of poetry used to address the relentless nature of day-to-day experiences and ordinariness.