Celebrating the retirements of our esteemed faculty members!
The Department of English would like to honor our esteemed faculty members who have retired this year: Ken Borris (Literature), Catherine Bradley (Drama and Theatre), Nathalie Cooke (Literature), Marianne Stenbaek (Literature) and Paul Yachnin (Literature, Drama and Theatre). We would like to highlight the invaluable contribution that they have made to the Department over the years and we wish them the best for the chapter ahead.
A New Article by Professor Carmen Faye Mathes in New Literary History
Congratulations to Professor Carmen Faye Mathes for her article "Literary Derivativeness and Poetic Attachment" in New Literary History: A Journal of Theory & Interpretation.
2026 Louis Dudek Award
Congrats to Louis Dudek Award recipients, Teaching Assistant Taylor Rousselle and Professor Amber Rose Johnson!Last April, the Department of English Student Association announced the winners of the Louis Dudek Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Teaching Assistant Award for Excellence.
Congrats to Professors Sandeep Banerjee and Allan Hepburn on their new publications!
Associate Professor Sandeep Banerjee co-edited Partition, Belonging and the Birth of Bangladesh (Routledge, 2026) with Subho Basu.
Meet the McGill Arts students behind the Montreal International Poetry Prize
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 McGill community, and on poets around the world.
Catherine Bradley in McGill News!
Faculty Lecturer and Resident Costume Designer Catherine Bradley spoke with McGill News about her two-part course, Costuming for the Theatre. Offered in the Department of English's Drama & Theatre program, Costuming for the Theatre I and II are hands-on courses that give students the opportunity to design and produce a costume from head to toe and learn techniques such as millinery (hat-making) and draping.
Submissions for the 2026 competition are open!
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.
Professor Alexander Manshel has won the MELUS Book Award
Congratulations to Professor Manshel for winning the MELUS Book Award!Professor Alexander Manshel has won the 2023-2024 MELUS Book Award for Writing Backwards: Historical Fiction and the Reshaping of the American Canon. The awards committee judged it the most outstanding book published between 2023 and 2024 for both its
Professor Erin Hurley receives SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant
Congratulations to Professor Erin Hurley for receiving a SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant!Professor Erin Hurley will lead a project exploring the rich history and cultural significance of Montreal’s Centaur Theatre as it approaches its 60th anniversary in 2028.
Carmen Faye Mathes Has Been Awarded the 2025 Keats-Shelley Association Essay Prize
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
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"
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.The committee writes: "Camille Owens’s Like Children: Black Prodigy and the Measure of the Human in America is a groundbreaking study of the “Black prodigy” and
Prof. Sandeep Banerjee on CBC Ideas
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!
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
Congratulations to Professor Nathalie Cooke on her election as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada!Professor Cooke was elected a Fellow to the