MIAD writing instructor publishes critically acclaimed book

Sean Enfield, “Holy American Burnout!” Image courtesy of Sean Enfield.

Sean Enfield, critical studies and writing instructor at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), published Holy American Burnout! in December 2023. Since then, Enfield’s collection of essays has received critical acclaim and widespread support.

“I wrote this book reflecting on a period (of which there have been many in this country) of heightened Islamophobic rhetoric due to the first of now several Trump candidacies, and so while timeliness isn’t something I necessarily think about when writing, writing is generally my primary way of engaging with the world around me,” explains Enfield. “This book emerged from a need to delve into my own not so distant past as well as the nation’s embittered history to make some meaning out of the exhaustion and anxiety of the present political climate.”

Holy American Burnout! explores Enfield’s experiences as a student and “later as a first-year teacher of predominately Muslim students” in Texas, according to the book’s publisher. Weaving “personal essay and cultural critique into the historical fabric of Black and bi-racial identity,” the book has received wide critical acclaim. In addition to receiving a Kirkus starred Review, it won the Discovery Prize for Nonfiction Writers’ League of Texas and was a finalist for the CLMP Firecracker Award in Creative Nonfiction.

“No book is guaranteed any shelf life of any length, and so I am grateful for anybody that has found something in the collection that has resonated with them,” Enfield continues. “It’s a gift to get to read and listen to folks offer their own interpretations and insights on my words. Often which it’s insights that are more astute than anything I could’ve come up with on my own! I’ve been writing and studying literature for so long now, so it feels like a new stage in my relationship to the literary community.”

Sean Enfield. Image courtesy of Sean Enfield.

At MIAD, Enfield sees teaching and writing as intrinsically linked. “The great poet Audre Lorde says that ‘a writer by definition is a teacher,’ and like Lorde, I view my work as a writer and my work as an educator as two versions of the same pursuit,” he explains. “With every piece I write and with every class I teach, I find that I am motivated by the same set of questions: How can we engage with the world as it is? How can I engage with the world as we might imagine it to be? How can we take what we know about words and push that knowledge somewhere beyond our current understanding? How can we create a space of connection through shared points of interest and reach toward something you might call growth? I have found that teaching keeps me open and engaged, and students often bringing a creativity to the classroom that enliven my ideas around writing and storytelling. Working with a dedicated and creative bunch of students like those here at MIAD is a delight.”

Next up for Enfield is a visit to his alma mater, University Alaska-Fairbanks, on February 19th and 20th. Enfield and poet H Warren return as visiting writers. “It’ll be a nice full circle moment as the first full draft of Holy American Burnout! started as my MFA thesis there at UAF,” finishes Enfield.

Keep up with Enfield on his website and learn more about MIAD’s Critical Studies program.