Ƶ

Christl Verduyn

Professor Emerita

Biography

Christl Verduyn joined the Ƶ Allison faculty in 2006 and was cross-appointed to the Department of English and Canadian Studies Program. She was the Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Chair in Canadian Studies from 2010-2020 and Director of the Centre for Canadian Studies from 2010-2018.

Her areas of teaching and publication focus on Canadian literature and Canadian studies, in particular Canadian and Québécois literatures; women’s writing and literary criticism; multiculturalism and minority writing; life writing and archival approaches to literature. She has published books, special issues of journals, articles, and reviews in these areas, and has been an active participant in and organizer of conferences in them as well. Her research has been generously supported over the years by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada and the Canadian Federation for the Humanities.  She has received awards and recognition for both her research and teaching (see list below).

Before joining the faculty at Ƶ Allison in 2006, Christl Verduyn taught at Wilfrid Laurier University (2000-2006), where she was Director of Canadian Studies; at Trent University (1980-2000), where she was Chair of Canadian Studies (1993-1999) as well as founding Chair of Women’s Studies (1987-1990); and at Queen’s University (1979-1980), following the completion of her Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa (1976-1979).

A former president of the national Association for Canadian Studies (2000-2002), Dr. Verduyn is a recipient of the Governor General’s International Award for Canadian Studies (2006) and a past Editor of the Journal of Canadian Studies (2008-2012).  She was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1996 and served as President of Academy of Arts and Humanities from 2007-2009.  She was named Member of the Order of Canada in 2017 and a 3M National Teaching Fellow in 2018. 

Publications

Books (authored, edited, co-edited)

  • 2023    Her Own Thinker: Canadian Women Writers as Essayists.  Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2023. 239 pp.
  • 2018    Saint John, A Creative City (with G. Davies and P. Larocque). James Lorimer/Formac Publishing Co. 2018. 144 pp.
  • 2015    Public Poetics: Critical Issues in Canadian Poetry and Poetics (with B.Vautour, E. Wunker and T. Mason). Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015. 365 pp.
  • 2014   Critical Collaborations: Indigeneity, Diaspora, and Ecology in Canadian Literary Studies (with S. Kamboureli). Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2014. 286 pp.
  • 2012   Canadian Studies: Past, Present, Praxis  (with J. Koustas). Fernwood Press, 2012. 324 pp.
  • 2011    Archival Narratives for Canada: Re-telling Stories in a Changing Landscape (with K. Garay). Halifax: Fernwood Press, 2011. 303 pp.
  • 2010   Marian and the Major: Marian Engel's "Elizabeth and the Golden City ." Montreal/Kingston:   McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010. 308 pp.
  • 2010   Tulips and Maple Leaves: Perspectives on 65 Years of Dutch-Canadian Relations (with C. Steenman Marcusse). Netherlands: Barkhuis Press (NL), 2010. 192 pp.
  • 2008    Asian Canadian Writing Beyond Autoethnography   (with E. Ty). Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008. 330 pp. Honourable Mention, Association for Asian American Book Award  
  • 2005    Must Write: Edna Staebler's Diaries . Waterloo:   Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2005. 301 pp.
  • 2004    Marian Engel: Life in Letters  (with K. Garay). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004. 295 pp.
  • 2002    Identity, Community and Nation: Essays on Canadian Literature  (with D. Schaub). Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2002. 228 pp.  
  • 2001    Essays on Aritha van Herk. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2001. 126 pp.
  • 1999    Marian Engel's Notebooks: Ah, mon cahier, écoute .... Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999. 576 pp.
  • 1998    Literary Pluralities . Peterborough:  JCS/Broadview Press, 1998. 296 pp.
  • 1995    Lifelines: Marian Engel's Writings . Montreal/Kingston: McGill‑Queen's University Press, 1995. 278 pp. 1995 Gabrielle Roy Book Prize  
  • 1995     Dear Marian, Dear Hugh: The MacLennan‑Engel Correspondence . Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. 1995. 134 pp . Quill & Quire Best Books of 1995 Honourable Mention (non‑fiction)  
  • 1988    Margaret Laurence: An Appreciation . Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1988. 265 pp.

Online publication

  • 2018    HEAR! HEAR! Voice of Canadian Women. Aritha van Herk and Christl Verduyn, editors*         
    Click here: HEAR! HEAR! Voice of Canadian Women

    * May also be accessed through

Journals - special guest-edited issues

  • "Resurfacing: Women Writing in 1970s Canada/Refaire surface: écrivaines canadiennes des années 1970/1970s Canadian Women's Writing," special guest-edited issue of SCL/ELC (Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en littérature canadienne). 44:2 (2019). Co-edited with A. Cabazsky, A. Beverley, K. Bell. 355 pp. Introduction 5-15.
  • "Meeting Places/Lieux de rencontre" Journal of Canadian Studies 49:2 (Spring 2015).  With R. Hulan.
  • "Taking a Stand! Activism in Canadian Cultural Archives," Archivaria 67 (Spring 2009). Guest-edited special section and introduction (with K. Garay).
  • "Activism in Archives," Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies 20 (Fall 2008). Guest-edited feature section and introduction (with K. Garay).
  • "Archives and Canadian Literature," Journal of Canadian Studies 40:2 (Spring 2006). Co-edited with K. Garay and Introductory essay.
  • "Niagara!" Journal of Canadian Studies 39:3 (Fall 2005). Co-edited with J. Koustas.
  • "Locating Canadian Cultures in the 21st Century," Journal of Canadian Studies 35:3 (Autumn 2000). Editor and Introductory essay.
  • "Suzanne Jacob," Voix et Images 21.2 (Hiver 1996). Presentation, Introduction, author interview, and lead article. In collaboration with L. Saint-Martin.
  • "Pulling Together: Canadian Literary Pluralities," Journal of Canadian Studies 31.3 (Fall 1996). Editor, Introduction, and contributed article.

Articles and Essays in Journals and Books

  • “(Es)Saying It Her Way: Carol Shields as Essayist,” Relating Carol Shields’s Fiction and Essays: Crossing Borders, Nora Stovel, ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.
    * Republished with permission of original publication in Carol Shields and the Extra-Ordinary, eds. Marta Dvorak and Manina Jones. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007. 59-79.

  • “Cocktail: Women in Early Modern Quebec Drama,” Canadian Performance Documents and Debates: A Sourcebook. Anthony Vickery, Glen Nichols, Allana Lindgren, editors. University of Alberta Press, 2022. 291-296.  
    *Canadian Performance Documents and Debates
    received the 2024 co-winner of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research's Patrick O'Neill Award for best edited collection.

  • “‘Knowing nothing about EDI’: A collaborative autoethnography exploring how an anti-racist project was created, publicized, and silenced,” (with E. Pohl et al), International Journal for Students as Partners, Vol. 6, No. 1 (2022): 30-46.

  • "Scratching the Surface: Marian Engel's 1970s Writing," SCL/ELC (Studies in Canadian Literature/Etudes en littérature canadienne), Vol. 22, No 2 (2019): 81-101  
  • "North and South of the 49th Parallel in Seth's The Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Cartoonists," Beyond the 49th Parallel: Many Faces of the Canadian North.Eds. Evaine Le-Calvé-Ivicevic and Vanja Polic. Brno: Masarysk Universiy Press, 2018.125-132
  •  "Encountering Canada: Immigrant and Ethnic-Minority Writing," Immigrant and Ethnic-Minority Writers since 1945 . eds. Sandra Vlasta and Wiebke Sievers. Leiden, NL: Rodopi/Brill, 2018. 106-150.
  • "Forward." New Brunswick at the Crossroads: Literary Ferment and Social Change in the East. ed. Tony Tremblay. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. 2017. vii-xviii.
  • "The Understanding Canada Program and International Canadian Literary Studies," in Beyond "Understanding Canada": Transnational Perspectives on Canadian Literature, Melissa Tanti, Jeremy Haynes, Daniel Coleman and Lorraine York, eds. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2017.23-36
  • "Literary Editorial Theory and Editing Marian Engel," in Editing as Cultural Practice in Canada, eds. Dean Irvine and Smaro Kamboureli. Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2016. 17-28
  • "Giving the 21st Century a Try: Canadian and Québécoise women writers' as essayists" Canada and Beyond:A Journal of Canadian Literary and Cultural Studies. 3.1-2 (2013): 289-303.
  • "Discursive Space: Canadian Women Writers' Essay Writing," Re-exploring Canadian Space/Redécouvrir l'espace canadien, Jeanette den Toonder and Bettina can Hoven, eds. Groningen (NL): Barkhuis, 2012. 163-170.
  • "Emmy Andriesse, "Dutch Wartime Photographer: The Hunger Winter of 1945" (with Conny Steenman Marcusse), Bearing Witness: Perspectives on War and Peace in the Arts and Humanities, eds. Sherrill Grace, Patrick Imbert, Tiffany Johnstone. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2012: 121-144
  • "More than an observer: Emmy Andriesse: Dutch Underground Photographer," (with C. Steenman Marcusse), Photographs, Histories, and Meanings, ed. M. Kadar et.al. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009. 139-166.
  • "A Canadian Bear, A Woman's Heart: Douglas Glover's Elle and Marian Engel's Bear," TransCanadiana: Polish Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol. 1 (2008): 74-85.
  • "Canadian Women Writers as Essayists: The Examples of Aritha van herk and Di Brandt," From Inside and Outside: Different Perspectives on Canada: Multidisciplinary Approaches, Judit Molnar, ed. Kiadta [Hungary]: Debrecen Press, 2008. 107-119.
  • "Marian et le Major: étude de manuscrits et d'archives," Archives littéraires et manuscrits d'ecrivains: politiques et usages du patrimoine, Jacinthe Martel, ed. Montreal: Editions Nota Bene, 2008. 205-220.
  • "Self as Garbled Translation: Douglas Glover's Elle/Elle," in Traduire depuis les marges/Translating from the Margins, Denise Merkle, Jane Koustas, Glen Nichols and Sherry Simon, eds. Montreal: Edition Nota bene, 2008. 59-74.
  • "(Es)Saying It Her Way: Carol Shields as Essayist,"in Carol Shields and the Extra-Ordinary, Marta Dvorak and Manina Jones, eds. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 2007. 59-79.
  • "Canadianization of the Curriculum," History of the Book in Canada Vol. 3 Gerson, Carole and Jacques Michon, eds. Toronto: UTP, 2007. 556-63. (With Lucie Robert and Janet Friskney)
  • "'Creative Criticism': the 'Writer as Critic' in Canadian Literature," (with J. Saul), Open Letter 12:9 (Summer 2006): 65-76.
  • "A Piece of the Picture: Kryn Taconis Photojournalist," Building Liberty: Canada and World Peace 1945-2005. eds. Conny Steenman-Marcusse and Aritha van Herk. Groningen: Barkhuis Publishing, 2005. 53-73.
  • "Culture and Gender in Kristjana Gunnars' Writing," Essays on Kristjana Gunnars, Monique Tschofen ed. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2004. 172-189.
  • "Ecrire l'invisible: éthique et écriture dans Les filles du 5-10-15 et Jeux de patience d'Abla Faroud," Dalhousie French Studies "Littérature et éthique" Vol. 64 (Fall 2003): 33-39.
  • "Tongue in Cheek: Dutch in Aritha van Herk's Writing," Adjacencies: Minority Writing in Canada. Moyes, Lianne, Licia Canton and Domenic Beneventi, eds. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2004. 157-167. Reprint from Verduyn 2001.
  • "'Breath on a window pane': André Alexis's Childhood," Identity, Community, Nation: Essays on Canadian Writing. D. Schaub and Christl Verduyn, eds. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2002. 18-33.
  • "Dynamic Cultural Exchange," Introduction (with Licia Canton). The Dynamics of Cultural Exchange: Creative and Critical Works. L. Canton, ed. Montréal: Cusmano Editions, 2002. 19-25.
  • "Stor(y)ing Cultural Difference - Rediscovering Canada," Rediscovering Canadian Difference, Gudrun Bjork Gudsteins ed. Reykjavik, Iceland: NACS 2001. 214-221.
  • "L'éth(n)ique, La Québécoite et l'écriture migrante québécoise," Tessera Vol. 29 (Winter 2001): 73-81.
  • "Femme(s) sans lettres: Le Bonheur B la queue glissante d'Abla Farhoud," La Francophonie au pluriel: une nouvelle cartographie de l'imaginaire au féminin, eds. Lucie Lequin & Catherine Mavrikakis. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2001. 295-307.
  • "Cavewomen Div(in)ing for Pearls," Margaret Laurence: Critical Reflections David Staines, ed. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2001. 23-37.
  • "Personal Papers: Putting Lives on the Line: Working with the Marian Engel Archive," Working in Women's Archives, Researching Women's Private Literature and Archival Documents eds. Helen Buss and Marlene Kadar. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2001. 91-101.
  • "Migrance et Folie," Trajectoires au féminin dans la littérature québécoise (1960-1990), ed. L. Joubert. Montreal: Les Editions Nota Bene, 2000. 119-130.
  • "Cultural Locations, Cultural Locutions," Journal of Canadian Studies 35:3 (Autumn 2000): 5-15.
  • "Disjunctions: Place, Identity and Nation in 'Minority' Literatures in Canada," Canadian Issues/Thémes canadiens XX (1998): 164-75.
  • "Re-constructing Canadian Literature: the Role of Race and Gender," Painting the Maple: Essays on Race, Gender, and the Construction of Canada, eds. Veronica Strong-Boag et al. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998. 100-13.
  • "Relative(ly) Politic(al)s: Comparing (Examples of) Québec/Canadian "ethnic" immigrant" writings," Cultural Identities in Canadian Literature/ Identités culturelles dans la littérature canadienne, ed. Bénédicte MaugiPre. New York: Peter Lang, 1998. 211-25.
  • "Interdisciplinarity and the Study of Canadian Literature," Arachne 4.2 (1997): 77-89.
  • "Perspectives critiques dans des productions littéraires migrantes au féminin, au Québec et au Canada," Special Issue: "Pulling Together: Canadian Literary Pluralities," Journal of Canadian Studies 31.3 (Fall 1996): 78-86.
  • "Etre est une activité de fiction: l'écriture de Suzanne Jacob," Voix et Images 21.2 (Hiver 1996): 232-42.
  • "Teaching E/Merging Literatures," Canadian Ethnic Studies, ed. J. Pivato. 28.3 (1996): 39-46.
  • "Ecriture et migration au féminin au Québec: de mPre en fille," Multi-culture, multi-écriture. La Voix migrante au féminin en France et au Canada, eds. Lucie Lequin et MaVr Verthuy. Paris, France: L'Harmattan, 1996. 131-44.
  • "Migrant Writing/Memory Work: Mediating Me/Moi," Intersexions: Issues of Race and Gender in Canadian Women's Writing, eds. Barbara Godard and Coomi Vevaina. New Delhi: Creative Books, 1996. 99-111.
  • "The MacLennan-Engel Letters," Hugh MacLennan, ed. Frank Tierney. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1995. 23-34.
  • "Marian Engel's cahiers," Prairie Fire, Special Issue: "Life writing," ed. Helen Buss, 16.3 (Autumn 1995): 127-34.
  • "The Mule and the Muse: Marian Engel's Monodromos," Voyages: Real and Imaginary, Personal and Collective, Canadian Issues/ThPmes canadiens, XVI, eds. John Lennox, Lucie Lequin, MichPle Lacombe and Allan Seager. Montreal: Association for Canadian Studies, 1994. 33-43.
  • "Connaître son rapport au réel: postmodernisme, féminisme et l'écriture de Line McMurray," Les Discours féminins dans la littérature postmoderne au Québec sous la direction de Raija Koski, Kathleen Kells et Louise Forsyth. New York: Edwin Mellen, 1993. 135-53.
  • "La Voix féminine de l'altérité québécoise littéraire," Mélanges de littérature québécoise et canadienne-française, offerts au professeur Réjean Robidoux, Yolande Grisé et Robert Major, eds. Ottawa: Editions de l'Université d'Ottawa, 1992. 379-90.
  • "La prose féminine québécoise des années trente," L'autre lecture: critiques au féminin de textes québécois: Tome I, ed. Lori Saint-Martin. Montréal: Editions XYZ, 1992. 57-72.
  • "Une voix féminine précoce au théâtre québécois: Cocktail (1935) d'Yvette Ollivier Mercier-Gouin," L'autre lecture: critiques au féminin de textes québécois: Tome I, ed. Lori Saint-Martin. Montréal: Editions XYZ, 1992. 73-84.
  • "Between the Lines: Marian Engel's cahiers and notebooks," Essays on Life Writing: From Genre to Critical Practice, ed. Marlene Kadar. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992. 28-41.
  • "Nouvelles voies/voix: l'écriture de Nadine Ltaif," Quebec Studies 14 (Spring/Summer 1992): 41-48.
  • "Je: voi(e)s double(s): L'itinéraire littéraire de Nadine Ltaif," Tessera 12 (Summer 1992): 98-105.
  • "Contra/diction/s: Language in Laurence's The Diviners," Journal of Canadian Studies 26.3 (Fall 1991): 52-67.
  • "Métamorphose, Rythmographie, Machinique: l'Éuvre de Line McMurray," Tessera 8 (Spring 1990): 80-95.
  • "Une Voix féminine précoce au théâtre québécois: Cocktail (1935) d'Yvette Ollivier Mercier-Gouin," Histoire du Théâtre au Canada/Theatre History in Canada 11.1 (Printemps 1990): 48-58.
  • "Explod/ing/ed Fictions: Marian Engel's Writing," Atlantis: A Women's Studies Journal 14.1 (Fall 1988): 13-19.
  • "Murder in the Dark: Fiction/Theory by Margaret Atwood," Canadian Fiction Magazine/Tessera 57 (Sept. 1988): 124-31.
  • "La Prose féminine québécoise des années 1930," Québec Studies 8 (Spring 1988): 43-57.
  • "No Tongue in Cheek: Recent Work by English Canadian poets Daphne Marlatt, Lola Lemire Tostevin and Margaret Atwood," Canadian Woman Studies 8.3 (Fall 1987): 60-62.
  • "Family Fictions, Lunatic Villas: Marian Engel's Writing," The New Quarterly, Special Issue: "Family Fictions," VII.1-2 (Spring/Summer 1987): 274-84.
  • "L'écriture féminine contemporaine: une écriture de la folie?" Gynocritics/La Gynocritique: Feminist Approaches to Writing by Canadian and Québécoise Women /Approches féministes B l'écriture des Canadiennes et des Québécoises, ed. Barbara Godard. Toronto: ECW Press, 1987. 71-77.
  • "From 'The Word on Flesh' to 'The Flesh made Word,'" "Women's Fiction in Canada," American Review of Canadian Studies XV.4 (Winter 1985): 449-64.
  • "Ecrire le moi au féminin," Journal of Canadian Studies 20.2 (Summer 1985): 18-28.
  • "La Femme dans la littérature féminine et féministe au Canada anglais et français depuis 1960," Femmes: images, modPles/Women: images, role-models, sous la direction de Evelyne Tardy. Montréal: ICREF/CRIAW, 1985. 93-99.
  • "Les femmes et le langage," RFR/DRF (Resources for Feminist Research/ Documentation sur la recherche féministe) 13.3 (November 1984): 16-18.
  • "Miss Charlie: Subversion in Women's Writing," Room of One's Own/ Tessera 8.4 (Fall 1983): 109-15.
  • "La Religion dans le Journal d'Henriette Fadette (1874-1880)," Atlantis: A Woman's Studies Journal 8.2 (Spring 1983): 45-50.
  • "L'image de la femme dans l'Éuvre de Gérard Bessette," Lectures de Gérard Bessette, ed. J.-J. Hamm. Montréal: Québec/Amérique, 1982. 99-114.
  • "Looking Back to Lot's Wife," Atlantis 6.2 (Spring 1981): 38-47.
  • "La Géographie dans Les Iles de la nuit d'Alain Grandbois," Grandbois vivant: Communications du colloque organisé par Centre de recherche en poésie québécois, ed. Alex.Amprimoz. Montréal: l'Hexagone, 1980. 215-28.
  • "Analyse structurale de Pleure pas, Germaine de Claude Jasmin," Coincidences, Université d'Ottawa, 1979. I.3: 7-24.

Conferences Organized/Co-organized

2018   Re-Surfacing: women writing across Canada in the 1970's; Refaire surface : écrivaines canadiennes des années 1970. 26-28 April 2018. Ƶ Allison University-U de Moncton.   

2016   Speaking Her Mind: Canadian Women and Public Presence 20-22 October 2016, University of Calgary.

2016   "Dimensions of Difference: Patterns and Politics"  5-7 May 2016 Ƶ Allison University.

2015   Literary Passages Littéraires 12-13 March 2015 Ƶ Allison-Université de Moncton.           

2014   Discourse and Dynamics: Canadian Women as Public Intellectuals 16-18 October 2014 Ƶ Allison University.

2013   Meeting Places, 18-21 September 2013. Ƶ Allison and St. Mary's universities.

2012   Public Poetics, 20-23 September 2012. Ƶ Allison University.

2009   TransCanada 3: Literature, Institutions, Citizenship. Ƶ Allison, 16-19 July 2009 Ƶ Allison University.

2009    Archives and the Canadian Narrative - Re:Telling Canada's Stories and Regional Archives in the Digital Universe," Ƶ Allison University, 10-12 June 2009.

2009    Canadian Studies: The State of the Art,  Ƶ Allison University, 12-14 February 2009.

2008    O.Canada/Canadian Writing Research Collaboratory Symposium, University of Alberta, 17-19 April 2008.

2007    TransCanada Two: Literature, Institutions, Citizenship, Guelph University, October.

2007    Taking a Stand: A Conference on Activism in Canadian Cultural Archives,  Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, 12-14 June 2007.

2005    "'Turning the knobs on writers' closets': Archives and Canadian Literature," McMaster University 24-26 May 2005. 

2005    Beyond Autoethnography: Writing Race and Ethnicity in Canada, Wilfrid Laurier University, 29-30 April 2005.

2004    Re/Writing the Past: Literature and History, (co-organizer Joanne Saul), Wilfrid Laurier University, 27 February 2004.

2003    Niagara!  An interdisciplinary conference, co-sponsored by the Association for Canadian Studies 24-26 April 2003.    

1998    Crossing Borders: Revitalizing Area Studies, Funded by the Ford Foundation. Trent University, June 1999.

1995    "The Windy Pine Colloquium: Ethnic and Racial Minority Writing and Criticism in Canada," Trent University, 24‑27 August 1995.

1994    "Making Canadian Culture," six workshops Fall 1994-Spring1995. Trent University.

1990    "Moving Forward: Creating a Feminist Agenda for the 1990 s," National Women's Conference Trent University, Peterborough, 15‑17 June 1990.

Education

B.A. (Trent University)
M.A. (University of Ottawa)
Ph.D. (University of Ottawa)

Teaching

Christl Verduyn has taught a wide variety of courses in Canadian and Québécois literatures, Canadian Studies, and Women's Studies, from feminist, postmodern, and post-colonial writing and theories, to "ethnic or racial minority or multicultural" writing, and special topic courses on selected authors and issues.

Professor Verduyn is recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching (Trent University, 1996), Ƶ Allison University's Paul Paré Award for excellence in teaching, research, scholarship, service, and outreach (2012) and the Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award (2014), and was named a 3M National Teaching Fellow (2018).

Research

Christl Verduyn's research interests include Canadian and Québécois literatures; women's writing and criticism; multiculturalism and minority writing; life writing and archival approaches to literature; and the interdisciplinary field of Canadian studies. She has published books, special issues of journals, articles (See Publications), and reviews in these areas, and has been an active participant in and organizer of conferences in them as well. Her research has been generously supported over the years by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada and the Canadian Federation for the Humanities.

Grants, awards & honours

2018 3M National Teaching Fellow
2017 Member of the Order of Canada
2016 Liverpool University Press Award for Outstanding Journal Reviewer
2014 Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award (Ƶ Allison University) 
2012 Paul Paré Medal of Excellence for research, teaching, and outreach (Ƶ Allison University)
2011 Annual Vickers-Verduyn Lecture in Canadian Studies (Carleton University)
2010 Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Book Award *Honorable Mention (for Asian Canadian Writing Beyond Autoethnograpy 2008)
2010 Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Chair in Canadian Studies (Ƶ Allison University)
2006 Governor General's International Award for Canadian Studies 
2006 Fellow, Royal Society of Canada
1996 Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching (Trent University)
1996 Gabrielle Roy Book Prize (for Lifelines: Marian Engel's Writings 1995)
1996 Quill & Quire Best Books of 1995 *Honourable Mention (for Dear Marian, Dear Hugh 1995)