3000-Level Course Descriptions
FALL 2025 | FALL WINTER 2025-26 | WINTER 2026
ENGL-3110-001 | Writing Creative Nonfiction | J. Wills
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
In this course, students will read and write across genres of creative nonfiction, including but not limited to memoir, personal essay, blogging, and literary journalism. Students will think about narrative development, language, and aesthetics in relation to form and the delivery of information. We will also discuss issues related to realism, ethics, and representation. We will explore different formats and venues for publishing creative nonfiction. This workshop-based course will include shorter writing assignments as well as a final major writing project.
ENGL-3160-001 | Topics in Young People's Texts and Cultures: Imagning Salem: The Salem Witch Trials in History and Narrative | C. Tosenberger
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
The Salem witch hunt occupies a key place in the American imagination. Despite the fact that the 1692 trials were small-scale, and far less lurid, than their European analogues, their imagery—particularly of the howling “afflicted” girls—has become central to Western ideas not just of the early modern witch hunts, but also of the dangers of intolerance, misogyny, religious fanaticism, and judicial malfeasance. In this course, we will examine both historical documentation and literary/media interpretations of the Salem trials, with a special focus on the young people at the centre of the trials as both accusers and accused.
In the first part of the course, we will closely examine the trial documents themselves, to hear the voices of the participants in their own words; through focusing on specific individuals—such as Tituba, Abigail Hobbs, Ann Putnam Jr., and Mercy Lewis—we will see how early New Englanders, and Puritans specifically, constructed and interpreted categories of gender, race, age, class, and ability. Particular attention will be paid to the Puritans’ white supremacist theology, and the impact of ongoing war against Indigenous peoples, on the trials. The second part of the course will study modern creative responses to the trials, in both literature and film, that centre young people; we will be especially concerned here with how Salem has been imagined and invoked as a cultural touchstone.
Readings are still being finalized, but will definitely include the following texts:
Baker, Emerson W. A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience
Dimaline, Cherie. VenCo
Godbeer, Richard. The Salem Witch Hunt: A Brief History with Documents
Hemphill, Stephanie. Wicked Girls
Jackson, Shirley. Hangsaman
ENGL-3520-001 | Contemporary Poetry | H. Milne
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course offers a broad survey of contemporary poetry from the 1950s to the present, covering a range of poetic movements, including Beat poetry, the New York School, Language poetry, the Black Arts movement, feminist poetry, dub poetry, conceptual poetry, ecopoetics, and queer poetics. We will divide our time between close readings of poems and broader analysis of the history, culture, aesthetics, politics, and controversies attached to different poetic movements. Readings will consist of poems as well as essays on poetry and poetic movements.
ENGL-3708-001 | Canadian Literature and Culture | C. Rifkind
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course will focus on how Canadian writers have represented the lived experiences of Indigeneity, settler colonialism, immigration, and diaspora in Canada in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will read across several forms, including the novel, poetry, drama, comics, and short fiction, and students will learn how to read closely for literary techniques as well as how to situate works within their broader historical, cultural, and artistic contexts. Emphasis will be placed on how Canadian writers have explored questions of individual and collective identity through writing about race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, peace and war, class and morality, nationalism and internationalism, and language and belonging. Classes will alternate between lectures and discussion, including small group discussions, and evaluation will include participation, one short essay and one research project, and a final exam.
ENGL-3709-001 | Topics in Canadian Literature | CAS
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course focuses on a topic in Canadian Literature and Culture which varies from year to year. Possible topics are: memoirs and life writing; the gothic; travel writing; historical fiction; Canadian comics; Black Canadian writing; trauma and memory; Mennonite Writing; representations of disability; dystopias; and bestsellers and prize winners. Students should consult the English Department website for more specific information about the iterations of this course. This course may be repeated once when the topic varies. Restrictions: Students may not hold credit for this course and ENGL-3713.
ENGL-3719-001 | Literature of Manitoba | C. Russell
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
In this course, we explore the literary culture of the Canadian Prairies through poetry, fiction, and drama by authors who live or have lived in Manitoba, and in which Manitoba is a main setting. History and geography of the province will provide a framework as we examine representations of the experience of Indigenous people before and after European contact; colonization by French and British fur traders and settlers; subsequent waves of new immigrants; and contemporary life in this province. Themes examined will include: establishing new communities in unfamiliar territory while recalling a cultural history from another place; different perceptions of nature and the land; small town life versus big city life; and the search for intellectual, social, and religious freedom amidst perceived parochialism. Particular topics will include representations of the North End of Winnipeg, the Winnipeg General Strike, the fur trade, and rural life in the province. We will include some exploration of texts that represent Manitoba for children and young people. Evaluation in the course likely will include three tests, a group presentation, a term project, and a final exam.
ENGL-3725-001 | Topics in Cultural Studies: Collecting Media and Media Collections | A. Burke
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This iteration of Topics in Cultural Studies will focus on media collections and media archives, examining the extent to which we are still surrounded by the analog remnants of the twentieth century, from vinyl records to compact cassettes, from VHS tapes to photo albums. Combining cultural studies, media archaeology, and archive theory, this course investigates the desire, even compulsion, to collect media, while also appraising the use and value, both cultural and economic, of media collections. At its heart, the course is about the history of media, and about the persistence of analog media even in the digital age. Classes will be discussion-based and organized around the reading of articles on media history and analog formats, but will also include some hands-on work with old media. Evaluation will primarily take the form of research-based essays, but there will be the opportunity for assignment submissions that take up the central questions of the course in creative and experimental ways.
ENGL-3980-001 | Topics in Comitcs and Graphic Narratives: Canadian Comics | C. Rifkind
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
Since the early 1990s, Canadian cartoonists have been at the forefront of the alternative comics movement (versus superhero or mainstream comics) that continues to gain critical, academic, and popular attention. This course introduces students to an array of Canadian comics and graphic novels that tell a diversity of stories, in genres ranging from coming-of-age to autobiography to fairy tales and speculative fiction, and in print and digital forms. Since many of these works fall under the category of life writing, we will pay attention to how and why the hybrid visual-verbal medium of comics invites cartoonists to redraw such genres as autobiography, confession, and travel writing. Some of the cartoonists we may study include Kate Beaton, Jillian Tamaki, Guy Delisle, Teresa Wong, Seth, Scott Chantler, and Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas. In addition to the comic books and graphic novels, students should be prepared to read critical and theoretical material. Classes will alternate between lectures and discussion, including small group discussions, and evaluation will include participation, one short essay and one research project, and a final exam.
FALL/WINTER 2025-26
ENGL-3101-770 | Creative Writing Comprehensive | L. Wong
Course Delivery: *ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS
*This creative writing workshop will be taught virtually on Zoom synchronously. Students are expected to arrive on-time, keep their mics muted when others are speaking, and use the raise hand function when they wish to ask a question and/or comment. I ask that the video be turned on when you are giving peer feedback during the workshop so that the author can see the person who is speaking.
Fiction is one of the few experiences where loneliness can be both confronted and relieved. Drugs, movies where stuff blows up, loud parties — all these chase away loneliness by making me forget my name’s Dave and I live in a one-by-one box of bone no other party can penetrate or know. Fiction, poetry, music, really deep serious sex, and, in various ways, religion — these are the places where loneliness is countenanced, stared down, transfigured, treated.”- David Foster Wallace
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”-Anne Lamott
The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself. -Jim Rohn
An autobiography can distort; facts can be realigned. But fiction never lies: it reveals the writer totally. - V.S Naipaul
In this intensive workshop-based creative writing course, we will focus on crafting memoir, short fiction, and novel chapters written for young people (ages 13+). Student manuscripts will form the primary texts, in addition to some assigned reading and in-class exercises.
Questions that we will explore but are not limited to: What is “emotional truth” told when using only the facts? What are the best ways to understand quality in a text written for young adults? How do we construct powerful pieces of short fiction? Within a stylistical, literary, and ethical context, what should we be aspiring to, as practitioners of this genre, and how can we be successful in breaking into the writing industry?
Students will submit 1-2 pieces of creative work during the term (depending on workshop size) and are responsible for placing as much attention on critique as on their own craft. Learning to successfully execute these three prose genres will be the focus of the workshop, and we will learn to hone our creative processes to produce compelling, original works of writing. The fall semester will focus on creative nonfiction (memoir) and the winter semester will focus on fiction (adult and young adult writing.)
Attendance, thoughtful feedback on peers’ works, and lively discussion are expected. A final grade will be based on participation, including but are not limited to: one or two workshop submissions, peer feedback letters, and a literary genealogy reflection and/or deconstruction of the structure of a popular YA novel of your choosing, and/or a novel outline/synopsis.
Students are encouraged to think about submitting their work to literary journals such as the University of Winnipeg’s Juice: https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/english/juice-journal-submissions.html
As this is an intermediate 3000-level writing workshop, students should be fairly independent, committed, and motivated to improve their craft. Late workshop submissions without permission will receive a zero if they are submitted a week after the deadline. Similarly, if you are being workshopped and you are unable to attend, we may not be able to accommodate you because of scheduling. It is your responsibility to switch with another student if you know that you will be away that week.
Students are selected for this course based on the strength of their writing sample: 5 pages of fiction and 5 pages of creative nonfiction (double-spaced).
ENGL-3112-770 | Advanced Creative Writing | TBA
Course Delivery: ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS
This course provides further training in the creative writing for students who have successfully completed ENGL-3101(6) and who submit an appropriate portfolio. Student writing is discussed in workshops and individual conferences, and a major project must be completed. The reading and assignments are designed to expand upon students' writing in various genres dependent on the instructor's choice. Note: Interested students should submit a ten-page portfolio to the English Department by June 15. This should include writing as is relevant to the genres being taught in that specific year. Enrolment is limited.
ENGL-3151-001 | Critical Theory | A. Brickey
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course examines current theoretical debates in the fields of literary and cultural studies. Students read a range of selected texts in critical theory, from among Marxism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, reader response, post-structuralism, deconstruction, feminism, queer theory, critical race theory, postmodernism, and post colonialism. Although we may read literary and/or other cultural texts, the focus is on theory. Restrictions: Students may not hold credit for this course and ENGL-2151.
ENGL-3209-001 | 18th Century Studies | K. Sinanan
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course examines Restoration and eighteenth-century British literature, with a consistent attempt to contextualize it within contemporary political, economic, social, and intellectual life. Relevant contexts include the appearance and development of party-system politics: the growth of commercial capitalism, urbanization, and sociability; ongoing debates over the status of women, religious minorities, colonial rule, and the institution of slavery; and the impact on literary culture of an emergent mass reading public. In response to continuing challenges to the established canon of Restoration and eighteenth-century literature, the course may include works once considered representative, as well as works by lesser known writers.
WINTER 2026
ENGL-3116-770 | Creative Writing Comprehensive | TBA
Course Delivery: ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS
This course explores a particular approach to creative writing or a specialized topic in the field of creative writing. The content varies from year to year. The course may focus on a specific genre (e.g., memoir, mystery, or science fiction); an issue of identity (e.g., region, sexuality, or ethnicity); or other topic (e.g., experimental writing; editing; chapbook publishing; or traditions in story-telling). Please consult the English Department website for a detailed course description in any given year. This course may be repeated once when the topic varies.
ENGL-3119-245| Canadian Children's Literature and Culture | TBA
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course investigates children's texts in Canada in order to examine various ideologies of Canadian childhood(s). Topics considered may include multiculturalism and its discontents; historical texts and the production of history; nationhood and border anxieties; the performance of gender and sexual identities; and territory, the land, and dis/possession. Restrictions: Students may not hold credit for this course and ENGL-2116.
ENGL-3403-001 | Canadian Drama | J. Riley
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course is dedicated to the study of plays written since the late twentieth century in the land known as Canada. This is a course about legacies: artistic, stylistic, canonical, dramaturgical, ideological, and colonial. Through an examination of plays and supplementary readings students in this course explore where we have come from and where we are headed in theatre in this country. Note: This course can be used towards the Humanities Requirement. Cross-listed: THFM-3402(3). Restrictions: Students may not hold credit for this course and THFM-3402.
ENGL-3723-250-290 | Indigenous Texts and Cultures | P. DePasquale
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course examines Indigenous literary and other cultural productions, such as music, film, and art. In an era when racism and neo-colonialism continue to challenge First People's sovereignty, Indigenous artists, along with scholars, activists, and community members are contributing to Indigenous peoples' health, healing, and self-determination. The course emphasizes Indigenous values, knowledge, and theories. In a given year, students may focus on a specific artist, nation, genre, or period. Students should consult the English Department Handbook for a description of the course offered in a given year. This course may be repeated once for credit when the topic varies. Cross-listed: IS-3723. Restrictions: Students may not hold credit for this course and IS-3723.
ENGL-3725-002 | Topics in Cultural Studies | K. Sinanan
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course examines specific topics, methodologies, and/or theoretical concerns in cultural studies and cultural theory. Possible topics include critical approaches to popular culture; fandom, audiences, and reception; mass culture and the mass media; intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in cultural studies; writing methods and practices at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS); Stuart Hall; cultural studies and activism; popular cinema and cultural studies. Students should consult the department website for information about the specific topic offered in a given term. This course may be repeated once when the topic varies.
ENGL-3756-001 | Topics in Ancient Literature: Ancient Folklore | C. Tosenberger
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
In this course, we will study popular narratives and beliefs in the Greek and Roman world, through the lens of folklore studies. We will examine some well-known works of literature, some that originate in oral culture, and others written as plays or novels; we will also look at how widespread folk beliefs about sex, death, and magic affected literature, art, politics, religion, and everyday life. We will pay special attention to narratives of magic, and the role they play in the development of the European fairy tale tradition. Of particular interest will be stories and folk beliefs concerning concepts of the Other—in terms of gender, sexuality, social class, national origin, or religious practice—and their impact on Greco-Roman culture.
Texts are still being finalized for this course, but will definitely include the following:
Hansen, William. The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends, and Myths
Ingemark, Camilla Asplund, and Dominic Ingemark. Representations of Fear: Verbalising Emotion in Ancient Roman Folk Narrative
ENGL-3812-001 | History of English Literature | Z. Izydorczyk
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course offers a concise survey of the English language as a medium of literature from Old to Modern English. It introduces students to the metalanguage used to describe linguistic change and emphasizes the connection between such change and literary expression. Students read excerpts from Beowulf, Chaucer, and Shakespeare, among others, to discover the profound shifts that occurred in the structure and use of English over the last millennium and half. Students also explore the consequences of those shifts for literary practices over the centuries. The course challenges students to enhance their awareness of the time-bound character of both language and literature. Restrictions: Students may not hold credit for this course and ENGL-2811.
ENGL-3920-770 | Representations of Disability | TBA
Course Delivery: ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS
This course examines social, cultural, historical, political, and aesthetic ideas about disability as they are expressed in literary and cultural texts. Students use the skills of textual and theoretical analysis to examine a range of texts that may include novels, performance texts, poetry, short stories, children's and young people's texts, feature films, documentary films, visual art, graphic narratives, blogs, YouTube videos, and other texts generated by social media. Students consider representations of disability in relation to a wide range of topics including aging, creative identity, colonialism, culture, ethics, ethnicity, family, gender, human rights, imperialism, memory, mythology, nation, and sexuality.
ENGL-3980-002 | Topics in Comitcs and Graphic Narratives | TBA
Course Delivery: IN PERSON
This course focuses on a particular topic in the study of comics and graphic narratives. Possible topics are: autobiographical comic books; feminist comics; superhero comics; comics and film; comics and/as history; comics culture(s); individual creators. Course readings may include some non-comics texts and theoretical material. Students should consult the department website for information about the specific topic offered in a given term. This course may be repeated once when the topic varies.