English Graduate, Doug Diaczuk, wins the 2015 3-Day Novel Competition

The Department of English wishes to congratulate Doug Diaczuk, a graduate of our Master's program, for winning the "world's most notorious writing contest," the 3-Day Novel Competition. Doug's novel, Chalk, tells the story of "You" and L, who "hit the road on a mission to find the meaning of life." It will be published by Anvil Press and released on August 15, 2016. It is also available for pre-order: www.3daynovel.com

Congratulations again, Doug!

Take Ten! live plays

When was the last time live theatre was written and performed by English students? It may have been in the ’70s; however, this past fall ENGL 3817 Creative Writing focused on writing 10 minute plays. Students not only wrote their own plays but also acted in them. Along with workshops with theatre professionals, students benefited from using the Media Lab room, which enabled a collegial writing environment. For the final assignment, groups of two or three students collaboratively wrote a 10 m. play; the plays were then performed on Dec. 3 at the Bora Laskin Auditorium. The event, Take Ten: Plays in Process, was well-attended and organized thanks to the assistance of the English Students Association. For the new playwrights, the process of both writing and acting in their own plays was transformative, fostering a sense of professionalism, accomplishment and elation.

New Publication from Dr. Hayes and Dr. Khoury on medieval drama and Digital Humanities

Dr. Douglas W. Hayes (English) and Dr. Richard Khoury (Software Engineering) have published "Alliteration and Character Focus in the York Plays," _Digital Medievalist_, November 2015. This is the first result of a five-year project to develop a new analytical method based on the techniques of philological analysis and natural language processing as part of an effort to bridge humanities and applied science in a new digital humanities initiative.

New Publication by Dr. Cheryl Lousley

Dr. Lousley has recently published, “Narrating a Global Future: Our Common Future and the Public Hearings of the World Commission on Environment and Development.” Her essay appears in Global Ecologies and the Environmental Humanities: Postcolonial Approaches. (Ed. Elizabeth DeLoughrey, Jill Didur, and Anthony Carrigan).

Thunder Bay Literacy Group

Dr. Mike Richardson, Department of English, is currently the Vice-Chair of the Thunder Bay Literacy Group. Mike has been on its board for 4 years now, first as Treasurer, then as Vice-Chair.

Distinguished Instructor Award Winner

Dr. Scott Pound has won the 2015 Distinguished Instructor Award.

Congratulations Scott!

From all the Faculty, Lecturers and Staff in the Department of English.

English professor to be invested in The Order of Canada

Dan Needles (Creative Writing professor, Orillia Campus) is being invested with the Order of Canada on Nov. 18th in Ottawa. Congratulations, Dan!

The Artery; CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The ESA's literary magazine, The Artery, is now accepting submissions for the upcoming Spring 2016 edition. We accept all forms of creative writing including poetry, short stories, plays, rants, jokes and everything in between.

How to submit:

Email your piece as a .pdf or .docx file to luartery@lakeheadu.ca before Feb 19 2016 WITHOUT YOUR NAME IN THE DOCUMENT (for anonymity during editing). 

No more than 5 pieces/submissions per person. 

Students, alumni, and faculty from both Lakehead campuses are encouraged to submit. 

Poetry or similar must be 150 lines or less.  

Prose or similar must be 1500 words or less. 

Email any questions or concerns to luartery@lakeheadu.ca

Dr. Lesley Clement co-edits collection

The English Department congratulates Dr. Lesley Clement on the publication of two new essay collections she has co-edited. Global Perspectives on Death in Children's Literature, which Dr. Clement co-edited with Dr. Leyli Jamali (Assistant Professor of English Literature at the Department of English Literature and Translation Studies, Tabriz Branch Islamic Azad University) is new from Routledge Press. L.M. Montgomery's Rainbow Valleys: The Ontario Years, 1911-1942, is co-edited with Dr. Rita Bode (Trent University) and is published by McGill-Queens University Press. Congratulations again on this great accomplishment!

Dr. Monica Flegel co-edits collection

Dr. Monica Flegel has recently published a co-edited collection of essays with Dr. Sabine Baumann (Jade University of Applied Sciences, Germany). The volume, entitled All the World's a Stage: Theorizing and Producing Blended Identities in a Cybercultural World, features international and interdisciplinary scholars and is published by Interdisciplinary Press.