Students talking in courtyard

Department of English

Learn from nationally and internationally respected scholars and historians in a wide variety of fields; have access to the best of municipal, provincial and national cultural organizations; combine studies in various historical periods, cultural areas, and specializations; get top-quality, personalized education and becoming part of an academic community.

Welcome

First and foremost, the Department of English at the University of Ottawa strives to be an active and supportive community of learning. We pride ourselves on the high quality of our academic programs and the international reputation of our professors, but we are equally dedicated to making our Department a welcoming space on campus for students and faculty to come together as a social and intellectual community. 

We invite you to make yourself at home in our departmental foyer, which is furnished as a place to read and study, to meet and converse, or just to take a break between classes. Our academic assistants and staff are on hand to help you navigate the complexities of university life, and our faculty members are dedicated to sharing their critical and scholarly expertise with you. The Department is also blessed at both the graduate and undergraduate levels with active student organizations that represent your interests and promote student social and cultural life. As chair of the Department, I welcome you to our community; I am here to assist you with any concerns you may have. 

Robert Stacey 
Department Chair 

Contact the Department of English
Simard Hall
Simard Hall

Undergraduate programs

Besides providing an excellent base for professional development, a degree in English literature can offer you unmatched intellectual challenges. 

The Department provides courses in all major historical and national areas of literature in English. It also offers courses in creative writing and literary theory, along with general interest courses in literature and film, children’s literature, science fiction, and literature and the environment. Courses cover Canadian, American, British, Indigenous, and African and Asian diasporic literatures. The curriculum also covers the full range of historical periods and a wide variety of thematic approaches, such as environmental literatures, new media studies, decolonization and globalization studies.

Arts Writing Centre

If you are enrolled in one of our classes and need help with your writing, you can make an appointment with our dedicated writing tutors at the Faculty of Arts Writing Centre

Book an appointment here

Graduate programs

Master’s

  • One-year MA in English with Coursework 
  • One-year MA in English with Research Paper 
  • Two-year MA in English with Thesis
  • Collaborative MA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies 
  • Collaborative MA in English and Women's Studies

PhD

Kagiso Lesego Molope

Writer in Residence

Kagiso Lesego Molope, novelist, young adult author, and playwright
Discover this year Writer in Residence
Accelerate! a History of the 1990s
May 23

Book Launch: Accelerate! a History of the 1990s by Prof. James Brooke-Smith

Join us for the launch of Prof. James Brooke-Smith's new book

Q&A, readings, music, 90s nostalgia, and more ...

"If the 1990s can be defined at …

Contact us

Department of English

Hamelin Hall, room 338
70 Laurier Avenue E.
Ottawa ON Canada K1N 6N5
Map

Tel.: 613-562-5764
Fax: 613-562-5990
[email protected]

Office hours

Monday to Friday
From 8:45 a.m. to 12 p.m.
From 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
(June to August: closed at 4 p.m.)