Animals in Literature
with Professor Jennifer Henderson
What does literature do with animals? Do we ever get closer to non-human creatures in the attempt to represent them with words, or do we just project our human ideas onto them? After a brief lecture on the history of animals in literature, we’ll analyze two poems about dogs, birds, and ourselves. This workshop is offered Friday mornings from September to April.

Climate Storytelling
with Professor Barbara Leckie
Students will be introduced to different forms of climate storytelling and the role of stories in generating a social mandate for climate action. They will then be invited to write a short (one paragraph) news-based, personal, or creative climate story using two or three of the components of climate storytelling discussed in the introduction. This workshop is offered Tuesdays and Wednesdays from September to June.

The Secret Lives of Poems
with Professor Dana Dragunoiu
Words are not the only means by which poems communicate. They also communicate by allusion, metaphor, meter, and other literary devices. We will analyze a very short poem by one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century in order to discover how this poem serves as a manifesto for Modernist poetry. This workshop will be especially interesting to aspiring poets and fans of Greco-Roman mythology.

From (English) Degree to Career
with Professor Dana Dragunoiu
Do you wish to pursue a degree in English Language and Literature but are worried that you may not find meaningful, well-paid work after graduation? This session introduces students to the multiplicity of careers that Carleton’s English graduates have gone into after graduation. We will also talk about the kinds of placements that our students find during their participation in Co-op and how they are prepared for the world of work in the “Degree to Career” course offered by the Department of English at the third-year level.

Reading Medieval Texts and Manuscripts
with Professor Siobhain Calkin
This workshop offers students an introduction to medieval manuscripts, how they were made, and how the texts they present were read. We will learn about manuscript production, look at a few actual manuscripts or fragments, and then spend 20 minutes reading a short medieval English poem, exploring digitally how different manuscripts present it and how those manuscripts shape different encounters with the same poem. This workshop is offered Fridays from September to April.

“What Is Your Place?: Thinking Through Place-Based Epistemologies in the Work of Jeannette Armstrong”
with Professor Jody Mason
Building from two short texts by Syilx-Okanagan writer and scholar Jeannette Armstrong––a poem from her 1991 collection, Breath Tracks, and an essay, “Kwtlakin? What Is Your Place?” (2007)––this workshop will offer some reflection on what is means to read Armstrong’s poetry in relation to her People’s land-based epistemologies (or ways of knowing).  This workshop is offered on Tuesdays or Fridays from January to April 2027.