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Department of English

Department of English recognizes student excellence with creative writing awards

During the recent Creative Writing Awards, hosted by the Department of English, students were recognized for their outstanding work in a range creative writing forms, including poetry, short fiction, screenplay and stageplay. The award ceremony celebrated award-winning students from the past two years, with a total of 28 awards presented at the event. Read the […]

New LA&PS scholarship honours the late Elizabeth Sabiston, Professor Emerita of York’s English Department

York Professor Emeritus Hédi Bouraoui has donated a total of $4 million to create the Elizabeth (Betty) Sabiston Graduate Scholarship in the Study of Women, the Hédi Bouraoui Graduate Fellowship in Liberal Arts, and the Hédi Bouraoui Research Fund, which will be housed within York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). The scholarships were established […]

Department of English professor discusses the dangers of privatizing personal data in article for The Conversation

Department of English professor Julia Creet discusses how the company 23andMe recently filed for bankruptcy and what this means for its customers’ privacy in a recent article published in The Conversation. Creet, who has studied the family history industry for 20 years, says that 23andMe aimed to circumvent the health care industry to provide consumers […]

Yaniya Lee, Listening for Something: March 17, 2025

Yaniya Lee is the author of Selected Writing on Black Canadian Art (2024, figure ground/Art Metropole) and Buseje Bailey: Reasons Why We Have to Disappear Every Once in a While, A Black Art History Project (2024, Artexte).  Join Tiana Reid’s class, “Hauntings: Late 20th Century Black Poetics in the United States and Canada,” for a […]

Cody Caetano, Literary Agent & Author: A Conversation and Q&A

Cody Caetano is a writer and literary agent at CookeMcDermid. He is an off-reserve member of Pinaymootang First Nation. His memoir, Half-Bads in White Regalia, won the 2023 Indigenous Voices Award for Best Published Prose. Excerpts from the book earned the 2020 Indigenous Voices Award for Best Unpublished Prose. He lives in Toronto. Join Cody […]

LA&PS Department of English celebrates student achievements at its annual English Awards Reception

The Department of English held its annual English Awards Reception on Feb. 3, honouring 14 students for their exemplary essay writing and academic achievement. This year's recipients represent the 21st cohort since the awards began, which aim to recognize academic excellence and inspire future students through a maintained online catalogue of award-winning essays. Read the […]

York U alumna makes history as Ghana’s first female vice-president

By Christopher Douris | January 10, 2025 When Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang was sworn in as Ghana’s first female vice-president on Jan. 7, it marked the latest barrier shattered by the York University alumna. Her inauguration is another milestone in her journey from distinguished academic to national leader. Long before entering the political arena, she achieved […]

Canadian literary gems to read this holiday season

By Dana Patrascu-Kingsley, Gail Vanstone | December 20, 2024 Organizers of York University’s acclaimed Canadian Writers in Person Lecture Series – humanities Professor Gail Vanstone and Department of English contract faculty member Dana Patrascu-Kingsley – offer their 2024 list of best books to read over the holiday break and beyond. Vanstone and Patrascu-Kingsley organize the annual series that brings new and established […]

DARE program transforms student’s research journey

Edited by Ashley Goodfellow Craig York University student Matteo Cerilli knew immediately what he wanted to do when he saw the list of DARE (Dean's Award for Research Excellence) research projects. Drawn to a project led by Assistant Professor Tom Hooper, in the Department of Equity Studies, investigating protests that followed the 1981 Toronto bathhouse […]

Assistant Professor Katarina O'Briain awarded SSHRC Insight Development Grant

Assistant Professor Katarina O'Briain was one of several LA&PS faculty members who received funding under the SSHRC Insight programs. The SSHRC grant programs fund research focused on building knowledge and understanding of people, societies, and the world. Among these newly funded LA&PS-led projects is a study on the inequality of retirement time in Canada, research […]