Department of English - News

Congrats to Prof. Allan Hepburn on his new publications!

��VR��Ƶ — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:25:54 +0000

Distinguished James ��VR��Ƶ Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature Allan Hepburn recently published Elizabeth Bowen in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2026) and Citizenship in Mid-Century British Literature: War, Statehood, Ex

Meet the ��VR��Ƶ Arts students behind the Montreal International Poetry Prize

��VR��Ƶ — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 20:34:27 +0000

Curious about what goes on behind the scenes of an international poetry prize? The Faculty of Arts spoke to MA student Izzi Holmes and U3 Physics and English major Clara Costello about the important work they do for the Montreal International Poetry Prize and the positive impact it has on the ��VR��Ƶ community, and on poets around the world.

Catherine Bradley in ��VR��Ƶ News!

��VR��Ƶ — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:56:40 +0000

Submissions for the 2026 competition are open!

��VR��Ƶ — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 16:58:08 +0000

The Montreal International Poetry Prize is committed to encouraging the creation of original works of poetry, to building international readerships, and to exploring the world’s Englishes.

We award one prize of $20,000 CAD to a poet for a single poem of forty or fewer lines. A jury of internationally reputed poets and critics selects a shortlist of approximately sixty poems, from which a judge chooses one winner. The shortlist is published in The Montreal Poetry Prize Anthology.

Professor Alexander Manshel has won the MELUS Book Award

��VR��Ƶ — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 21:28:52 +0000

Congratulations to Professor Manshel for winning the MELUS Book Award!

Professor Erin Hurley receives SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant

��VR��Ƶ — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 21:10:08 +0000

Congratulations to Professor Erin Hurley for receiving a SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant!

Carmen Faye Mathes Has Been Awarded the 2025 Keats-Shelley Association Essay Prize

��VR��Ƶ — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:44:54 +0000

Congratulations to Professor Carmen Faye Mathes!

Professor Mathes has been awared the 2025 Keats-Shelley Association Essay Prize for her essay “Apostrophe’s Occasions: Two Postures of Abolitionist Address.”

The committee writes:

Ricardo Wilson is the 2025-26 Mordecai Richler Writer-in-Residence

��VR��Ƶ — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 15:19:49 +0000

The Department of English is delighted to announce Professor Ricardo Wilson as the 2025-2026 Mordecai Richler Writer-in-Residence.

Camille Owens Receives Honorable Mention for "Like Children"

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 15:25:45 +0000

Congratulations to Professor Camille Owens!

Professor Owens received an honorable mention from the Modern Language Association of America for her book Like Children: Black Prodigy and the Measure of the Human in America.

Prof. Sandeep Banerjee on CBC Ideas

��VR��Ƶ — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 18:51:45 +0000

Professor Sandeep Banerjee was a guest in the CBC Ideas episode "How this 19th-century Indian feminist flipped the colonial travelogue on its head."

Listen to the episode

Professor Manshel's 'Writing Backwards' was awarded the 2026 Perkins Prize!

��VR��Ƶ — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 15:44:32 +0000

The Barbara Perkins and George Perkins Prize is awarded to 'Writing Backwards', Professor Manshel's recent book!

Established in 1994, the Perkins Prize honors Barbara Perkins and George Perkins, the founders of both The Journal of Narrative Technique and the Society itself. The prize is awarded to the book making the most significant contribution to the study of narrative in a given year.

Professor Nathalie Cooke appointed to Royal Society of Canada

��VR��Ƶ — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 15:02:39 +0000

Congratulations to Professor Nathalie Cooke on her election as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada!

Nathalie Cooke's Latest Book: Tastes and Traditions

��VR��Ƶ — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 21:03:09 +0000

Tastes and Traditions: A Journey Through Menu History by Professor Nathalie Cooke
Published by Reaktion Books

Feminist pedagogy through creative assessments

��VR��Ƶ — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 20:34:39 +0000

Zine-making 101: Feminist pedagogy through creative assessments

Professor Manshel's "Writing Backwards" released as an audiobook

��VR��Ƶ — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:45:56 +0000

Associate Professor Alexander Manshel's publication Writing Backwards: Historical Fiction and the Reshaping of the American Canon (Columbia University Press, 2023) has been released as an audiobook by University Press Audiobooks.

English PhD candidate heads Montreal’s first trans film festival

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 14:33:07 +0000

English PhD candidate, Iris Pintiuta, created Exposure, Montreal's first trans film festival. The festival aims to promote inclusive representation for trans people, as well as create programs and events that advance trans acceptance.

'“Too often, queer and trans scholarship doesn’t make it back to the people it speaks about. I wanted to change that – I wanted to build a bridge between academic knowledge and public access and use what I was learning to support my community, not just advance my own career.”'

PhD Candidate Jay Ritchie on his latest book "Listening in Many Publics"

��VR��Ƶ — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 19:10:45 +0000

Jay Ritchie, PhD Candidate in the Department of English, spoke to the Faculty of Arts about his newest collection of poems 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘴, shortlisted for the Quebec Writers’ Federation A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry.

Inaugurating The Peter Sabor Fellowship

��VR��Ƶ — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 19:37:57 +0000

The Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and the Burney Society of North America have partnered to establish a new fellowship named after Distinguished James ��VR��Ƶ Professor Emeritus, Burney editor, long-time member, and past President of CSECS, Peter Sabor.

Kizziah Burton - Winner of the Montreal International Poetry Prize 2024

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:02:48 +0000

Congratulations to Kizziah Burton, the winner of the Montreal International Poetry Prize 2024. Her poem, “Portrait of Me Incensing the Mushrooms Channelling Demeter,” has been awarded the $20,000 prize. Read the poem here.

Faculty Spotlight on Camille Owens!

��VR��Ƶ — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 16:45:26 +0000

Assistant Professor Camille Owens spoke about her latest book Like Children: Black Prodigy and the Measure of the Human in America for the Faculty of Arts' Faculty Publication Spotlight!

Montreal International Poetry Prize 2024

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 23:18:49 +0000

The jury has done its work, the finalists are being announced, and the next anthology is taking shape. READ THE POEMS that are in the running for the Montreal Prize 2024! The one winning poem, to be announced soon, will earn the author $20,000.

Prof. Alexander Manshel in The Nation!

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 21:25:25 +0000

Beginning in the 1980s, a number of key literary institutions transformed in ways that either expressly or implicitly promoted historical fiction as contemporary literature’s most prestigious and politically important genre.

Read Associate Professor Alexander Manshel's full essay "How Historical Fiction Redefined the Literary Canon" in The Nation.

Nathalie Cooke's 'Canadian Literary Fare' Awarded the Gabrielle Roy Prize

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 14:21:06 +0000

We are delighted to announce that Professor Nathalie Cooke has been awarded the prestigious Gabrielle Roy Prize for her outstanding contribution to Canadian literary studies through her book Canadian Literary Fare (MQUP, 2023).

English Alums profiled for ��VR��Ƶ news articles

��VR��Ƶ — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 17:42:56 +0000

The ��VR��Ƶ Reporter profiled recent grad Mai Kutsuna (BASc’23). Mai, who majored in both drama and theatre and chemistry through the interfaculty Bachelor of Arts and Science program, spoke of the opportunity to combine her unique interests.

Paid summer internships for English undergraduates

��VR��Ƶ — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 20:41:13 +0000

Undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts are invited to apply for paid summer internships through the Arts Internship Office (AIO). This year, three internships are directly associated with initiatives run (in whole or in part) through the Department of English.

Alum Anuja Varghese highlighted in ��VR��Ƶ News article

��VR��Ƶ — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 12:43:42 +0000

Anuja Varghese (BA’05) is an award-winning author whose first book, Chrysalis, has been awarded the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers from the Writers’ Trust of Canada and the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction. Varghese was recently profiled by ��VR��Ƶ News, where she spoke about her experience studying literature and its wide-ranging impact on both her writing and professional career.

Montreal International Poetry Prize opens for submissions

��VR��Ƶ — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 21:15:06 +0000

The Montreal International Poetry Prize 2024 is open for submissions! Send us your best poems for a chance to be published in The Montreal Poetry Prize Anthology 2024. One lucky winner will also take home the cash prize of $20,000.

Caret call for submissions

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 13:47:59 +0000

The English Department’s Graduate Student Journal, Caret, is accepting submissions for our Winter 2024 issue from now until January 26th, 2024.

Prof. Manshel interviewed for WNYC's 'On the Media'

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 15:57:31 +0000

Last month, Prof. Alexander Manshel was interviewed for WNYC's On the Media with Brooke Gladstone. They discuss Prof. Manshel's new book and his other recent research on the politics of race when it comes to literary prizes.

Listen now!

From On the Media:

Prof. Stenbaek awarded honourary doctorate from the University of Greenland

��VR��Ƶ — Sat, 09 Dec 2023 20:44:15 +0000

The Department of English congratulates Professor Marianne Stenbaek who has been awarded the prestigious title of honourary doctorate from Ilisimatusarfik (University of Greenland) in recognition of her research on and with the Inuit. The honour is given to individuals who have made "comprehensive and meaningful" contributions to research and research education at Ilisimatusarfik and who have "worked for the development of society in a considerable number of years." Below is an excerpt from the award ceremony, attended by Prof. Stenbaek on September 29:

"Sita and Helen" on CBC Radio One

��VR��Ƶ — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 15:00:12 +0000

MA student Shailee Rajak joins CBC Radio One's "All in a Weekend" this Sunday, September 24th, to discuss her recently published children's book Sita and Helen. Shailee and host Sonali Karnick will be talking about the book, its intercultural value, its foregrounding of a feminist perspective, and the importance of having it read by children of all backgrounds.

Kasia Van Schaik's "We Have Never Lived On Earth" longlisted for the 2023 Giller Prize

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 18:44:16 +0000

Recent PhD alumnus Kasia Van Schaik's debut story collection, We Have Never Lived On Earth, has been longlisted for one of Canada's most prestigious literary awards, the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Catherine Bradley was awarded the H. Noel Fieldhouse Award for Distinguished Teaching!

��VR��Ƶ — Wed, 31 May 2023 15:16:05 +0000

Catherine Bradley - Head of Wardrobe, costume designer, researcher, and teacher in the Department of English - was awarded the H. Noel Fieldhouse Award for Distinguished Teaching!

Poetry Matters Featured in ��VR��Ƶ's Arts News

��VR��Ƶ — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 15:13:04 +0000

To mark World Poetry Month, the Arts News team spoke to Professor Miranda Hickman (Department of English) and students Anushree Joshi (MA, English), James Jarrett (U3, English and Music) and recent alum Jana Perkins (MA, English) about the importance of poetry and how research and community initiatives such as Poetry Matters are building spaces for poetic discussions both on and beyond ��VR��Ƶ's campus.

The Department of English Welcomes Visiting Scholar Deanna Reder

��VR��Ƶ — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:02:41 +0000

Cree-Métis scholar Dr. Deanna Reder did not study Indigenous literatures as an undergraduate. At the time such courses did not exist at her university. Propelled by this lack, she began to read outside of the conventional canon, with a keen eye on texts written by Cree or Métis authors. By the time she began her doctoral work in 2001, the field began to shift and a generation of 21^st Century Indigenous writers began to be published.

Listen to Prof. Manshel on the podcast "On the Media"

��VR��Ƶ — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 21:28:22 +0000

Listen to Professor Alexander Manshel, author of the forthcoming book Writing Backwards: Historical Fiction and the Reshaping of the American Canon, in the podcast On the Media. Manshel speaks of the ressurgence of historical novels and their focus on disregarded histories in the segment "How Historical Novels Can Help Us Remember".

Listen here!

Congratulations to Professors Nathalie Cooke, Fiona Ritchie and Tabitha Sparks!

��VR��Ƶ — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 20:06:36 +0000

Professors Fiona Ritchie and Tabitha Sparks have both published new books!

Fiona Ritchie, Shakespeare in the Theatre: Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble. Bloomsbury.
Tabitha Sparks, Victorian Metafiction, University of Virginia Press.

Apply to the Reynolds Workshop 2022-23

��VR��Ƶ — Sat, 26 Nov 2022 20:52:06 +0000

Arte Video Povera and DIY Self-Portraiture: How to tell stories through images without professional equipment

Congratulations to Professor Fiona Ritchie on her fellowships!

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 14:23:09 +0000

Professor Fiona Ritchie has been awarded a short-term Visiting Fellowship at Jesus College, University of Oxford, which she will take up in Winter 2023 during her sabbatic leave. While in Oxford, Professor Ritchie will conduct archival research for her research project on women and regional theatre in Britain in the long eighteenth century.

Congratulations!

Professor Robert Lecker has been awarded the prestigious Lorne Pierce Medal

��VR��Ƶ — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 17:37:04 +0000

Congratulations to Professor Lecker!

Professor Robert Lecker has been awarded the prestigious Lorne Pierce Medal, a biennial prize recognizing achievement in critical or imaginative literature from the Royal Society of Canada.

The citation reads as follows:

Congratulations to Professor Ara Osterweil on her contributions to an award winning book!

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:32:48 +0000

Professor Ara Osterweil contributed to The Films of Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné, 1963-1965 (ed. John G. Hanhardt, Whitney Museum of Art), which was awarded the 2022 Kraszna-Krausz Moving Image Book Award!

Congratulations to Professor Allan Hepburn on his election to the Royal Society of Canada

��VR��Ƶ — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:23:52 +0000

From the Royal Society of Canada website:

“Allan Hepburn, an internationally renowned literary scholar, has published many books and articles on twentieth-century British, Irish, and American novels. Mid-century literature and culture are his particular expertise. His publications focus on convergences among espionage, human rights, citizenship, nuclear extinction, the Second World War, diplomacy, and fiction. He is a recognized authority on the novelist Elizabeth Bowen. He holds the James ��VR��Ƶ Chair in Twentieth Century Literature at ��VR��Ƶ. “

Montreal International Poetry Prize Submission Deadline

��VR��Ƶ — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 17:06:23 +0000

The Montreal International Poetry Prize is committed to encouraging the creation of original works of poetry, to building international readership, and to exploring the world’s Englishes.

The Montreal Prize awards one prize of $20,000 CAD to a poet for a single poem of 40 or fewer lines. A jury of internationally reputed poets and critics selects a shortlist of approximately 50 poems, from which a judge chooses one winner.

This year's judge is the former poet laureate of Jamaica, Lorna Goodison.