SFU Department of English

Are you the main character in a gothic romance novel? If only Jane Eyre or the unnamed second wife of Maxim de Winter knew the tell-tale signs! This Book Riot article will prepare you, should you find yourself in similar circumstances.

Signs that you're the main character in a gothic romance Have you received an invitation to stay at an ancestral manor? Before you accept, take a look at this list. It'll save you a world of trouble.

SFU English alumnus and former writer-in-residence Sam Wiebe's book, "Guns Across the River" is featured in Read Local BC's list of "Summer of Love and Blood: Murder, Mystery, or Love Story".
Check out all the titles.

Summer of Love and Blood: Murder, Mystery, or Love Story – Read Local BC Summer of Love and Blood: Murder, Mystery, or Love Story Featured • August 4, 2026 • Tenaya Fogelman We spend our summers in a trance: under the sweltering sun rays, with sand grazing our skin, the river gliding between our toes, and the crackling of a campfire and chorus of crickets humming in ...

This year, J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" turns 75. Literary Hub examines how the author's wartime experiences influenced the writing of his most famous novel.

How JD Salinger’s Experience of WWII Suffused All of His Writing, Even Catcher in the Rye Among the things troops carried with them on the battlefields of World War II was the “heart shield bible”—a pocket-sized, government-issued book of scripture, sometimes with a metal cover, that fi…

We're grateful to alum Kearnon O. Kanne for her generous support of the SFU English Ellen and Warren Tallman Writer-in-Residence program. For more than 20 years, the program has welcomed writers to SFU who have offered consultations, readings, dialogues, and more with the SFU community and the public.
Learn more about Kearnon's commitment to supporting the next generation of writers.
https://tinyurl.com/2w73xdjf

We're grateful to alum Kearnon O. Kanne for her generous support of the SFU English Ellen and Warren Tallman Writer-in-Residence program. For more than 20 years, the program has welcomed writers to SFU who have offered consultations, readings, dialogues, and more with the SFU community and the public.

Learn more about Kearnon's commitment to supporting the next generation of writers.

SFU Advancement Unfortunately, the page you’ve requested (https://give.sfu.ca/content/sfu/give/content/sfu/give/news-and-stories/engage/summer-2026/empowering-the-next-chapter.html) cannot be found.

Tickets are still available for Professor Paul Budra's Bard Explored talk this Saturday at 11 AM. If you are going to see "Goblin: Oedipus" at Bard on the Beach, you'll want to catch Prof. Budra's insights and join in the Q & A before you see this entertaining production happening at Vanier Park/Sen̓ákw.

Learn more/buy tickets: https://bardonthebeach.org/whats-on/bard-explored/

We are pleased to announce that the 2026 Ellen and Warren Tallman writer-in-residence is Shani Mootoo! Shani is an award-winning author, artist, and filmmaker who will be offering writing consultations to the SFU community and the public beginning in September 2026. Please visit our website to learn more.

https://www.sfu.ca/english/writer-in-residence.html

SFU English alumni: our social and meeting of the SFU English Book Club is coming up in just six days!

Join us for an evening of great conversation, tasty treats, and the chance to connect with fellow English alumni over a short story discussion.

-Wednesday, August 12th, 6:30-8:30 PM
-SFU Harbour Centre (HCC 1500)

Before the event, please read Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Summer People." You can download the PDF from our website: https://www.sfu.ca/english/news-events/english-alumni-book-club.html

Please RSVP to [email protected]

“I think AI could absolutely trigger a literary counterculture. It seems to me that literary fiction will shift even further in the direction of the weird, the esoteric, while personalization takes hold of commercial fiction,” says novelist Laura Brooke Robson.
Read more in this Wired article.

More Typos, Fewer Em Dashes: Writers Are Creating an Anti-AI ‘Literary Counterculture’ Novelists, journalists, and power LinkedIn posters are embracing first-person narratives and idiosyncrasies to avoid being mistaken for chat bots.