New Editor of Canadian Literature, Laura Moss

We are proud to welcome Laura Moss as the new editor of Canadian Literature as of this issue. Dr. Moss is an associate professor of Canadian and postcolonial literatures at the University of British Columbia. She has had a long history of involvement with Canadian Literature and its related projects. Since 2004, she has worked as an associate editor at the journal and, since 2012, she has played a pivotal role as one of the contributing editors for the online teaching resource CanLit Guides. She also served as acting editor in 2009 and 2013-2014, overseeing a number of special and regular issues while contributing editorials and book reviews along the way.

Moss succeeds Margery Fee, who has served as editor of Canadian Literature for eight wonderful years. Fee welcomes our new editor:

I’m thrilled that Laura Moss has agreed to take on the editorship of Canadian Literature.  The journal will benefit from her integrity, work ethic, creativity, and international network of fellow scholars in the field. In 2009, she and Cynthia Sugars co-edited the two-volume teaching anthology, Canadian Literature in English: Texts and Contexts. It set the standard for annotations and the inclusion of contextual material. Her edited collection, Is Canada Postcolonial? Unsettling Canadian Literature, foregrounded new questions about and new approaches to Canadian literature. Her postcolonial teaching and research will continue the high standards maintained by Canadian Literature as it moves into the era of transnational literary studies.

Moss’s other publications include a scholarly edition of The History of Emily Montague and Leaving the Shade of the Middle Ground: The Poetry of F. R. Scott, as well as articles on subjects such as literary pedagogy, magic realism, Canadian broadcasting, narrative medicine, and public memorials in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She is currently working on a monograph entitled July 2nd: Tracking Public Policy, Contesting Cultural Nationalism, and Defending the Arts, which studies the intersections of public policy and the history of arts culture in Canada.

In addition to her research and work with the journal, Moss has had an active presence in numerous university communities. She served as chair of the UBC Canadian Studies Program (2008-2011), director of the International Canadian Studies Centre (2008-2011), and leader of the UBC GRSJ-CWILA Research Network (2013-2014). She was also on the CWILA board of directors from 2012-2014. In 2013, she was awarded a Killam Teaching Prize.

Moss says:

I am honoured to be following in the footsteps of Margery Fee, Laurie Ricou, Eva-Marie Kröller, W. H. New, and George Woodcock. Canadian Literature has a long history of excellence and innovation in criticism. My goal is to have it also be the go-to place for discussions of issues that are vital to the study of literature and the humanities in Canada. Particularly in the age of neoliberalism, I think that the journal should have a loud voice on the arts and culture in this country. Whether we are publishing articles on issues of social justice or formal experimentation, I want to see the journal truly reflect the dynamic state of contemporary criticism in the field.

Moss brings a wealth of experience and a clear vision to Canadian Literature. We look forward to the new directions the journal will be taking under her guidance, and congratulate her once more on the appointment. Welcome to our new editor, Laura Moss!