# Martin Puchner Faculty Advisor Byron and Anita Wien Professor of English and Comparative Literature ![Martin Puchner](/sites/g/files/omnuum12666/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/2026-05/Martin%20Puchner_2026.png?itok=Jm99ybYk) email Martin Puchner is Byron and Anita Wien Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard, where he also founded the program in Theater, Dance, and Media. In addition to developing several online courses, he has run an annual summer school in performance and media funded by the Mellon Foundation. At VPAL, he has served on the Task Force for the Future of Teaching and Learning and on the VPAL Council, and is particularly interested in short-form content. In addition to his work in online education, he is a prize-winning author and public speaker. His best-selling *Norton Anthology of World Literature* has brought 4000 years of literature to students across the globe. His book *The Written World*, a *Wall Street Journal* bestseller, has been translated into some twenty languages. The *Language of Thieves*, interweaves family memoir with a reflection on Rotwelsch, the underground language of Central Europe, which he learned from his father and uncle. His new book, *Literature for a Changing Planet*, draws lessons from world literature for addressing climate change. He is a member of the European Academy and has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Cullman Fellowship, the Berlin Prize, the Humboldt Prize and the Massachusetts Book Award. - ## Person type [VPAL Team](/person-type/vpal-team)