Welcome to the Department of English
NEW APPOINTMENTS
The Department of English is pleased to announce the appointment of two new faculty members: Daniel Heath Justice (Associate Professor and Chair of the First Nations Studies Program) and Gregory Mackie (Assistant Professor, Drama).
Daniel Heath Justice is a Colorado-born Canadian citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He is the author of Our Fire Survives the Storm: A Cherokee Literary History and numerous critical essays in the field of Indigenous literary studies, as well as co-editor of a number of critical and creative anthologies and journals, including the recent Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature. His Indigenous epic fantasy novel, The Way of Thorn and Thunder: The Kynship Chronicles, was released last year by the University of New Mexico Press. His current and forthcoming projects include a cultural history of badgers, a new fantasy novel, a critical monograph on kinship in Indigenous writing, and, with co-editor James H. Cox, the Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature. He is delighted to be joining UBC and to learning from and contributing to its vibrant intellectual community.
Gregory Mackie received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2006. His areas of specialization include late-Victorian drama, especially Oscar Wilde; book history and print culture; and turn-of-the-twentieth century architecture and design. He has articles published or forthcoming in University of Toronto Quarterly, Modern Drama, ELT, and Theatre Survey. His current book projects concern dramatic forgeries of Oscar Wilde and the impact of the aesthetic movement on the Victorian stage.
HONOURS AND AWARDS
John Cooper's poem "O seasons, O cities" won first prize in the 2011 Vancouver International Writers Festival creative writing competition in the poetry category. See http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/writingcontest.
Barbara Dancygier has won a Killam Research Prize. She is the author of the recently published The Language of Stories: A Cognitive Approach (Cambridge UP, 2011).
Sandra Tomc and Roger Larry's film, Citizen Marc, was one of five films in English Canada to receive a Telefilm Canada /Rogers Group Award. See Telefilm Canada press release.
ENGLISH UNDERGRADUATE JOURNAL
THE ENGLISH EXOTERICS
The English Exoterics (l-r: Donna Shanley, Kevin McNeilly, Deanna Kreisel, Angela Kaija and Paul Stanwood) tied with the Department of Mathematics for first place at the 2nd Annual UBC Library/United Way Spelling Bee. The Exoterics also placed first during last year's competition.