2017
June 27, 2018 | CBC
Overlooked: Photography and the Smartphone
Even photo studios of the 19th century and early 20th century provided backdrops, clothes and props for customers to use. Parents have always chosen baby photos and school pictures that conform to their idealized view of how their children should appear. And who hasn't taken a glance in the mirror before getting a passport picture taken? We select the most flattering images of ourselves — that's why visual culture expert Thy Phu sees every photo portrait as a kind of selfie.
June 12, 2018 | Western News
Putting a region in the context of family history
Professor Emeritus Donald Hair, author of Souwesto Lives: John Hair and Alice Runnalls, places the lives of his parents at the centre of the narrative that explores the history and culture of Southwestern Ontario.
June 2, 2018 | CBC
How the city has inspired London's poet laureate
Tom Cull, London's poet laureate, has recently written Bad Animals, a book of poetry focused on the relationship between people, animals and nature. Listen to his interview on CBC London.
May 25, 2018 | Western News
Professor follows The Bard’s words in new directions
Professor James Purkis’ book, Shakespeare and Manuscript Drama: Canon, Collaboration and Text, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Shakespeare’s Globe Book Award, which seeks to celebrate new scholarship and help to extend readership of Shakespeare.
May 24, 2018 | Western News
Professor Thy Phu and The Family Camera Network explore the relationship between photography and the idea of family
Funded by a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, The Family Camera Network is a collaboration with six institutions. In 2016, researchers began building a public archive of family photographs, collecting the stories of the photos and building an archive to be housed at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).
May 18, 2018 | Graduate Studies
McIntosh Prize Winner
Congratulations to Lisa Templin, winner of the 2018 McIntosh Prize. Lisa’s talk, “‘Golden Distraction[s]': Marginal Allusions in Rachel Speght’s A Mouzell for Melastomus” offered a meticulous reading of misogynist marginalia in Rachel Speght’s intervention in the popular early modern debate about women. Speght’s own work was a response to Joseph Swetnam’s misogynist The Arraignment of Women. Lisa's talk made full use of her detailed and exemplary archival work, delving into manuscript and print history to investigate the intertextual discussions enshrined by the anonymous marginalia. With admirable lucidity, Lisa unpacked the knotty relationships between the Calvinist Speght, her unidentifiable attacker, and two of the attacker’s sources: the Jesuit writer Robert Southwell and a popular song recounting a maid’s longing for a husband. In showing how the anonymous interpolator draws on these disparate religious, cultural, and social references to cleverly undermine Speght’s carefully drawn virtue—key to the power of her authorial voice—Lisa not only showcased the depth of her research and knowledge, but also raised fascinating questions about the uses and influences of marginalia and the reading and writing practices of early modern men and women.
April 23, 2018 | Department of English and Writing Studies
Professor Manina Jones appointed Chair of the Department, effective July 1, 2018
Manina comes to the position as an established scholar, an innovative teacher, and an effective and collegial administrator. Manina is author of The Art of Difference: “Documentary-Collage” and English Canadian Literature, co-author (with Priscilla L. Walton) of Detective Agency: Women Re-Writing the Hard-Boiled Tradition, and co-editor (with Marta Dvorak) of Carol Shields and the Extra-Ordinary, and has also published numerous articles in the fields of Canadian literature and detective fiction. She has also taught extensively in both areas, introducing a popular general interest course that works across genres and media of detective fiction, similarly pioneering community-based learning with an undergraduate course on Canadian Literature: Creativity and the Local, and supervising countless graduate students to successful completion of their degrees. As an administrator, Manina greatly expanded the role of Vice-Chair of the Department: in collaboration with the University Students' Council, she introduced the Student Writer-in-Residence position, unique among Canadian universities, and generally not only fostered a sense of community within the department but helped it look outward to its place in the university and beyond. For the past two years, she has been President of the largest organization of college and university teachers of English in Canada, ACCUTE. The Department is fortunate to have Manina serve as its next Chair. Welcome, congratulations, and thank you, Manina!
April 21, 2018 | Stratford Festival Reviews
A professor and a fourth-year honours student on Fun Home
Under the co-supervision of Professor Kim Solga, Rachel Windsor wrote her English 4999E - Undergraduate Thesis on Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home,” the graphic memoir on which Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori’s musical adaptation is based. They saw the Toronto premiere of the musical for Stratford Festival Reviews together.
April 19, 2018 | Western News
'Romantic' effort finding indie success for alumnae
Carly Stone, BA’11 (English and Writing Studies), recently premiered her first movie, The New Romantic, at SXSW, an annual conglomerate of film, interactive media and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas.
April 19, 2018 | Undergraduate Studies
Extraordinary Performatives Start Here
Created by Thomas Sayers for his final project in Theatre Studies 2202G - Performance Beyond Theatres, this 15-minute long audio walk critically engages with the Be Extraordinary posters that make up our university landscape. Take this walk to become more aware of how these posters could shape your time at Western and find out what they're really saying (and doing!).
Start in front of the Western Road and Lambton Drive gates. Start the audio track and then follow the directions. Make sure to make a left turn after passing through the gates!
April 12, 2018 | Mountain Life
Hiking and Loss: How Trails Can Lead Us Out of Grief
Friends often recommended meditation, noticing my chronic restlessness. I thought it was a waste of time—too slow, not enough immediate gratification. The Japanese have a name for gardens where nothing grows: karesansui.
March 22, 2018 | Western News
Cuba’s revolutionary heroine made of ‘honey and iron’
Inspired after reading One Day In December: Celia Sánchez and the Cuban Revolution, writer, cyclist, independent solo traveller and Writing Studies instructor, Melanie Chambers, visited Cuba to learn more about Fidel Castro's right-hand woman, Celia Sanchez.
March 22, 2018 | The University of Western Ontario Faculty Association
Kathleen Fraser awarded the CAUT Dedicated Service Award
In recognition of the valuable and important service to UWOFA, Kathleen was awarded the CAUT Dedicated Service Award which honors outstanding service to academic staff associations at the local or provincial level.
March 15, 2018 | Teaching & Research Excellence
Professors Joel Faflak and Jonathan Boulter awarded Western’s highest honours for teaching and scholarly achievements
Joel Faflak has been awarded the Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Pleva is Western’s highest award for teaching, and Joel joins a long list of distinguished teachers from our department to have won the award.
Jonathan Boulter has been awarded the Graham and Gale Wright Distinguished Scholar Award. The award recognizes Jonathan’s many scholarly contributions in the fields of 20th-century literature, theory, and cultural studies.
March 2, 2018 | The University of Western Ontario Faculty Association
Jamie Johnston awarded Tom Murphy Memorial Award for Outstanding Service to UWOFA
This award acknowledges the hard work and commitment of a contract faculty member. Jamie has worked with UWOFA in various roles since 2010, and again this year he is on the bargaining team.
February 22, 2018 | Western News
Quest to document Indigenous youth suffering through art
Professor Julia Emberley has begun documenting creative works created by Indigenous youth trapped in Canada’s residential schools.
February 9, 2018 | Western News
FRANKENSTEIN 200
Professors Chris Keep and Steven Bruhm tell us how Frankenstein of 1818 is so identifiable 200 years later as Western News celebrates the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein.
February 8, 2018 | Western News
‘Launch’ catapults grad’s career to new level
After taking a Creative Writing class, English & Creative Writing graduate, Sarah Botelho, found a skill for the craft and didn’t look back.
February 7, 2018 | University Affairs
Making sense of the paranormal
Professor Chris Keep among researchers from various disciplines seeking not to debunk strange events, but rather to understand how people engage with them, and what this reveals about the human experience.
February 1, 2018 | London Free Press
English & Creative Writing graduate, Sarah Botelho was the chosen artist on the CTV reality show, The Launch
After writing her first song at age 9, Sarah (aka Poesy) is now fully immersed in the alternative indie world of music. Her name is derived from an archaic word for poetry, and is a callback to her time as an English and Creative Writing major at Western University. Poesy finds inspiration in literature, 1970s rock, thrift stores, and bus rides, to create the narratives present in her songwriting.
January 25, 2018 | Western News
Cold-case prof wins humanitarian award
Michael Arntfield, Writing studies professor and former police officer, is the recipient of this year’s Western Humanitarian Award. Since 2010, he has worked with Western students to research unsolved historical homicides.
December 14, 2017 | Western News
Western News looks back on 2017
David Huebert, English PhD candidate and Camille Intson, third-year English and Theatre Studies student named Newsmakers of the Year!
November 18, 2017 | The Gazette
No matter your program, mind your P's and Q's
All students should be required to take an introductory writing course. I might be a stickler for clear, grammatically-correct writing, but I can’t take your arguments seriously if I don’t understand them.
November 16, 2017 | Western News
Artist, class making town-and-gown connections
Students enrolled in Professor Jones’ Canadian Literature, Creativity and the Local have helped Penn Kemp, BA’66, CertEd’68, the first Poet Laureate of London and former Writer-in-Residence at Western, curate and promote her work and have even partnered with her in writing and composing poetry.
November 9, 2017 | Western News
Heritage plaque honors Writer-in-Residence program
Jan Plug, Professor and Acting Chair of the Department of English and Writing Studies, said this latest recognition by the university confirms what he’s known for years, which is the department’s role as a centre for the linked activities of intellectual inquiry, cultural creativity and social engagement.
November 7, 2017 | The Gazette
Every student has a story to tell
Sydney Brooman, Western's Student Writer-in-Residence, believes that students from across all the disciplines represented on campus would benefit if more of those outside the Arts & Humanities took creative writing courses. Read her take on why "creative writing does not belong to any one department — it belongs to people with stories to tell."
November 2, 2017 | Western News
Course looks to capture a ‘Strange Animal’
Tom Cull, London’s Poet Laureate, who teaches in the American and Writing Studies programs, is teaching You’re a Strange Animal: Writing Nature, Writing the Self, a third-year nature-writing elective course. Students spend much time outside of the classroom before sitting down to write poems, fiction and non-fiction works about the nature they encounter.
November 2, 2017 | CBC London
Western Libraries' Archives and Special Collections acquires rare 1685 edition of Shakespeare's Fourth Folio
Having a physical copy of the Fourth Folio helps students appreciate what it would have been like to read a Shakespeare play back in the 17th century.
October 5, 2017 | Graduate Studies
Dr. Zeinab McHeimech (PhD '17) awarded Governor General's Gold Medal
Dr. Zeinab McHeimech electrified the members of her thesis committee this past summer, who unanimously agreed that her dissertation, *Islam’s Low Mutterings at High Tide: Enslaved African Muslims in American Literature,* was the best they had seen in their collective years in the profession. They also noted that her extraordinarily timely, erudite and original research will transform the fields of Arab American and African diasporic studies, as well as American literary history. The external granting agencies have been equally impressed with Zeinab throughout her graduate studies as she has been awarded an Ontario Graduate Scholarship, a Canada Graduate Scholarship and a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Dr. McHeimech is currently a professor of writing and communication at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario.
September 28, 2017 | Western News
New fragments of history link students to past
Western’s Archives and Research Collections Centre recently announced the donation of 10 medieval manuscripts, as well as accompanying custom-designed enclosures, from English studies professor Jane Toswell. This collection includes what is now the university’s oldest manuscript, a fragment of Missal of Susanna and the Elders from Germany, circa 1125.
September 28, 2017 | Western News
'Sinking' signals a career on the rise
English PhD candidate David Huebert’s short-story collection, Peninsula Sinking, is out this month from Biblioasis. Quill & Quire, Canada’s magazine on book news and reviews, dubbed Huebert “one of Canada’s most impressive young writers.”
September 21, 2017 | Western News
Coyote: Mainstream is waking up to the fight
Former Writer-in-Residence, Ivan Coyote, returns to campus to deliver a public performance – Neither / Nor: Circumnavigating the Gender Binary in 7000 Easy Steps – followed by author Q&A and book signing at 2 pm on Thursday, Sept. 28, in the Kingsmill Room, Huron University College.
September 14, 2017 | Western News
Camille Intson takes to stages across the country
A third-year English and Theatre Studies student and accomplished playwright, Camille’s works have been produced professionally across the country.
September 14, 2017 | Western News
Sydney Brooman begins her term as Student Writer-in-Residence
As the Student Writer-in-Residence, she hopes to offer events and programming to nurture all writers across campus and the London community, regardless of age, social status or writing experience. She wants to encourage budding writers to work together and share their ideas and words with one another in a collaborative, welcoming environment.
September 7, 2017 | Western News
Daniel MacIvor, playwright, director and actor, 2017-18 Writer-in-Residence
Beginning September 18, 2017 Daniel will be available to offer feedback to, and consultation with, both experienced and novice creative writers from the University and the London community. Contact vivian.foglton@uwo.ca to make an appointment.
September 3, 2017 | The Gazette
Prof. David Bentley: on attending at university
Attending at university is not just a physical act. It’s a way of using your time, in Prospero’s words again, “most preciously.” Indeed, it’s a way of being.
Autum 2017 | The Dalhousie Review
Doing Voices
By David Barrick
2017-18 | Hamilton Arts & Letters
The Death of Daan De Wees
By Aaron Schneider
August 15, 2017 | The Temz Review
Professor Aaron Schneider launches London-based literary journal
Published 4 times/year (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter), this literary journal publishes work from a diverse range of emerging and established voices. In addition to our core editorial team, we have several different groups of readers who are all actively involved in selecting work for publication. Our goal is to reflect a wide variety of editorial perspectives and publish an eclectic mix of writing.
July 27, 2017 | Western News
Sydney Brooman, 2017-18 Student Writer-in-Residence
In September, Brooman will begin her term as the 2017 Student Writer-in-Residence, a unique to North America position developed by the University Students’ Council (USC) and the Department of English and Writing Studies. The mandate of the program is to provide support for an accomplished undergraduate writer while allowing other students to benefit from the writer’s creativity, expertise, and organizational skills.
