Karen Valihora becomes new publisher of Canada’s oldest independent community paper

Karen Valihora, graduate program director and associate professor in the Department of English, purchased The Picton Gazette, a Prince Edward County historic weekly with the intent of continuing its community-building legacy. The Picton Gazette, first published as the Hallowell Free Press in 1830, had been owned by Jean Morrison, and her husband, since 1977. After her husband passed […]

Wendy McGrath wins the inaugural Prairie Grindstone Prize

Wendy McGrath is a poet, writer, and visual artist living in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton) on Treaty 6 Territory. McGrath’s writing practice embraces multiple genres—fiction, poetry, spoken word, and creative non-fiction. McGrath describes her writing as “Prairie Gothic” and gives voice to working class stories. McGrath holds a Master's Degree in English from York University and a Bachelor […]

Nominees announced for the 2023 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards

Jonathan Warren and Alison Halsall's The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader: Critical Openings, Future Directions is named a finalist for the 2023 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards in the Best Academic/Scholarly Work category. The awards, named after the acclaimed comics creator Will Eisner, honour the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels. Winners will […]

Departments of English and Humanities present Patricia Park

8 June 2023 via Zoom 2:30pm-3:30pm Patricia Park is the novelist of Re Jane, a modern-day reworking of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre with a Korean-American Jane, and the new YA novel, Imposter Syndrome & Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim. She’s a tenured professor of creative writing at American University. She’s written for the New Yorker, […]

Professor Patricia Keeney celebrates bilingual volume of poetry

Patricia Keeney, a long-time professor of creative writing at York University, has had her fourth bilingual volume of poetry published in France. The author of 10 books of poetry in English, this is Keeney’s eighth volume in another language. Keeney has also taught English and humanities at York for some 40 years. Selected and translated by […]

Passings: Professor Elizabeth Sabiston

Elizabeth “Betty” Sabiston – professor emerita in the Department of English in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, former acting master of Stong College and an accomplished author – passed away at 85 on April 29. Sabiston’s career at York began in 1973. Having started as a contract faculty member, she was eventually promoted […]

Why Read Literature?

In 2023, our days are spent staring at screens. A laptop is a necessity for most university students. Assignments, lecture slides, and announcements are all posted on online classroom portals. Outside of academia, a day at work likely entails a day at the computer.  Read full article on Excalibur

Professor B.W. Powe publishes book of poetry, essays, rock opera lyrics

This month poet, essayist, novelist and Department of English and Humanities Associate Professor B.W. Powe released his latest book, Ladders Made of Water. Powe’s new work is a collection featuring poems, mini-essays, stories, parables, meditations on contemporary cinema and unfinished rock opera lyrics. Blending essaying and poetry, Powe says Ladders Made of Water was writing in an impressionistic, […]

Department of English presents annual prizes and awards

On February 6, the Department of English honoured award recipients at the annual English Achievements & Awards Reception. The program offers a number of awards each year, including prizes and scholarships that recognize the achievements of majors and minors in English and Creative Writing. Several awards were established to honour former faculty members; one honours […]

Introducing our inaugural Writer-in-Residence, Karen Solie!

The Department of English is proud to welcome award-winning Canadian poet, Karen Solie, as our first ever Writer-in-Residence. Between January 7 and April 30, 2023, Karen will be available for manuscript consultations with York students, faculty and staff who are working on prose and poetry projects. She will also be holding a reading at the end […]