The Department of English Language and Literature offers Honours, Majors, and Minors in the Bachelor of Arts program. One of the largest at UPEI, the Department offers a program of courses ranging across thirteen centuries of literature written in English in all genres — drama, fiction, poetry, and non-fiction prose. The program seeks to capitalize on students’ love of literature by enhancing both their appreciation and understanding of the discipline of literary studies.

Guided by the Department’s award-winning faculty, who have an active publication and research record, students may expect a variety of approaches: literary-historical, practical, theoretical, cultural, rhetorical, and comparative. Typically, classes are small, and faculty pride themselves on establishing a learning environment that is both engaged and personal.

In addition to core courses in the traditional canon of British, American, and Canadian literatures, the program includes courses in more specialized areas such as creative writing, linguistics, theatre, Atlantic Canadian literature, and new literatures in English (Africa, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, and the Indian subcontinent).

Graduates of the program are well-equipped to enter any field that values culture or communication, including professional fields such as education and law, and many have gone on successfully to pursue graduate studies in literature or creative writing at universities across Canada and beyond. More broadly, the program provides the foundation for a lifetime of enjoyment of the literature that plays a central role in defining our cultural and historical identity.

More information about our faculty and program can be found in the UPEI Academic Calendar and in the Department’s own Calendar Supplement, which is updated annually. Both are available online on this website.

Sincerely,

 Dr. Brent MacLaine, Chair