Biography
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Carlos Dews is a writer, editor, and scholar whose career bridges literary scholarship, creative writing, and higher education leadership. He is internationally recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the life and works of Carson McCullers, while also contributing to contemporary fiction as a writer of fiction and short stories, including his most recent novel Hush, and the Sam Cabot novels he co-authored with S.J. Rozan. Currently, he serves as Professor of English at John Cabot University in Rome, where he has also held several senior administrative roles.
Born in the United States, Dews earned his Ph.D. in American literature and soon established himself as an important contributor to 20th-century American literary studies. His groundbreaking work on Carson McCullers has shaped the field for more than two decades. Among his major editorial contributions are Carson McCullers: A Centenary Collection (Negative Capability Press, 2022), and The Collected Letters of Carson McCullers (HarperCollins, projected 2026). He also served as editor of The Complete Works of Carson McCullers for the Library of America (2017), a landmark in two volumes that secured McCullers’s place in the American literary canon. In addition to his editorial achievements, Dews has published widely on McCullers’s life, correspondence, and cultural legacy, positioning him as one of her most authoritative interpreters.
Dews’s literary career extends beyond scholarship. With S. J. Rozan, he co-authored the Sam Cabot thrillers, a series blending historical mystery, suspense, and supernatural elements. The first novel, Blood of the Lamb (2013), and its follow-up, Skin of the Wolf (2014), received critical acclaim for their ambitious storytelling and richly detailed settings. He is also the author of Hush: A Fiction (Negative Capability Press, 2020), a work of literary fiction that explores themes of identity, secrecy, and the complexities of human relationships.
In higher education, Dews has combined scholarship with leadership. At John Cabot University, an American liberal arts university in Rome, he has served not only as Professor of English but also as Chair of the Department of English Language and Literature and as Dean of Academic Affairs.
Dews is also an active public intellectual, contributing essays, lectures, and interviews that bridge the gap between scholarly research and broader cultural conversations. His editorial projects, creative works, and leadership roles reflect a career dedicated to both preserving the
legacies of the past and engaging with the evolving demands of contemporary education and literature.
With ongoing projects—including the long-awaited publication of McCullers’s collected letters and collected interviews—Carlos Dews continues to influence both literary scholarship and creative writing. His dual identity as a rigorous scholar and imaginative storyteller underscores a career defined by intellectual curiosity, creativity, and a commitment to advancing understanding of literature in all its forms.