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Toronto Metropolitan University English

The Department of English at Toronto Metropolitan University

The Department of English is part of Canada's fastest-growing and most ambitious university, located in the pulsing heart of its largest and most cosmopolitan city. In many ways, Toronto Metropolitan University – and indeed our Department – is a reflection of the diversity and cosmopolitanism of Toronto. Through the books and articles we write, the scholarly and creative events we host, and the va

riety of bold projects we undertake, our faculty and students together make up a thriving intellectual community.

08/27/2026

Highlights from “Moominalism: Tove Jansson and the Art of the Miniature”.

Hosted by the Department of English (Faculty of Arts, Toronto Metropolitan University )and the Special Collections at the TMU Library (Toronto Metropolitan University ). The Summer children’s literature talk with Dr. Björn Sundmark (Björn Sundmark )

08/17/2026

Black Arts, Black Power introduces students to some of the key historical and contemporary moments, debates, movements, texts, and cultural expressions that characterize the Black experience across time (with a focus on Canada). Join ENG142 to read great books, watch fascinating documentaries and films, and venture off campus to see some Black art and maybe even create our own!

08/11/2026

How to get to “Moominalism: Tove Jansson and the Art of the Miniature”. Hope to see you there.

08/10/2026

Looking at children’s books and media, how they speak to the child audiences they are meant to address, reveals a great deal about how our culture understands childhood.

Enrol for the fall semester today!

08/01/2026

What does it mean to read a river, a wildfire, a landfill, or a bee as a cultural object as much as an ecological one? This course offers an accessible introduction to the field of Environmental Humanities, an interdisciplinary field that brings the tools of literature, history, philosophy, art, and media to the environmental crises of our time. Its premise is that climate change, extinction, and pollution are not only scientific and technical problems but problems of imagination and storytelling. We will move through a set of charged keywords — sublime, wilderness, garden, land, animals, more-than-human, toxicity, grief, water, ice, energy, futures — pairing them poetry, short stories, novels, film, and artworks as well as journalism and scholarly papers to pull out and better understand both the problems we are facing so we can ask better questions and proffer solutions. No prior background in environmental studies or literary theory is required; curiosity and willingness to explore and experiment are. Assignments are keyed to slow research methods, and scaffold from field notes to keywords to capstone project and a mini-exhibition.

07/29/2026

One common idea about fairy tales and works of fantasy is that they are “timeless,” set in some amorphous once-upon-a-time time rooted in an imaginary past. In English 222, we will challenge this idea of timelessness by examining the historical and cultural considerations that affect stories: both the oral folk tales from which the early fairy-tale collectors were drawing and the later literary fairy tales and fantasies that evolved from them. Through an exploration of storytelling practices, folk and fairy tales from a variety of cultures, picture books, films, and children’s fantasy novels, we will move beyond the Disneyfied assumptions that tend to underlie the popular approach to these categories and take our own journey into the metaphorical woods.

Register for fall 2026!

07/28/2026

Summer children’s literature talk with Dr. Björn Sundmark (Malmö University)
“Moominalism: Tove Jansson and the Art of the Miniature”
Hosted by the Department of English and the Special Collections at the TMU Library
August 11, 2026 4-6 PM
Location: TMU Library 4th floor

Come tour highlights of the children’s literature and special collections at the TMU Library from 4-4:30 PM .
Talk starts at 4 with Q &A to follow. Nibbles and refreshments served.

Toronto Metropolitan University Björn Sundmark Faculty of Arts, Toronto Metropolitan University

07/13/2026

Environmental Humanities

What does it mean to read a river, a wildfire, a landfill, or a bee as a cultural object as much as an ecological one? This course offers an accessible introduction to the field of Environmental Humanities, an interdisciplinary field that brings the tools of literature, history, philosophy, art, and media to the environmental crises of our time. Its premise is that climate change, extinction, and pollution are not only scientific and technical problems but problems of imagination and storytelling. We will move through a set of charged keywords — sublime, wilderness, garden, land, animals, more-than-human, toxicity, grief, water, ice, energy, futures — pairing them poetry, short stories, novels, film, and artworks as well as journalism and scholarly papers to pull out and better understand both the problems we are facing so we can ask better questions and proffer solutions. No prior background in environmental studies or literary theory is required; curiosity and willingness to explore and experiment are. Assignments are keyed to slow research methods, and scaffold from field notes to keywords to capstone project and a mini-exhibition.

07/09/2026

ENG 706: Shakespeare and Performance

Drama in the early-modern period was the most important medium not just for entertainment, but for also conveying contemporary social and political realities. It was the performance on stage that brought the text alive for the audiences. Shakespearean drama, with its wide variety of genres (Tragedy, Comedy, Romance etc.) perhaps best captures the vitality of the period on stage. A mark of Shakespeare’s continued relevance and popularity is the constant remaking of his plays in a variety of media.

In this course, students analyse the challenges of the creative process of adapting Shakespearean plays for different media – Stage (both Renaissance and contemporary), Film, Television, Music etc. We will deal with a series of significant performances from Hollywood, Bollywood, Japanese cinema, English language stage adaptations and music videos inspired by Shakespearean plays and poetry. In order to understand the challenges of performance, we will analyse the plays from different thematic and theoretical perspectives (Feminist, Q***r, Postmodernist, Disability Studies etc). For instance, we will analyse how Phyllida Lloyd’s pathbreaking all-female production of Shakespeare’s political play Julius Caesar (2012) attempts to give voice to female prisoners to highlight their victimization. We will also explore the ways in which disability and performance intersect in Shakespearean drama. Some of the productions that we plan to discuss are adaptations of the following plays: Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, King Lear, Julius Caesar etc. (This is not the final list. The plays / productions will be finalized after a discussion with the students in fall).

Image: Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd. The Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy on Screen. Drama Online. Web. 4 Jul. 2026. www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/donmar-shakespeare-trilogy-on-screen.

07/07/2026

📚 Interested in literature, history, hospitality, event-planning or audio visual work? Volunteer with the Hemingway in Toronto International Conference this July 20-25!

Address

380 Victoria Street 10th Floor Jorgenson Hall
Toronto, ON
M5B2K3

Website

http://www.torontomu.ca/english

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