Laurie McNeill wins 2021 Killam Teaching Prize

Congratulations to UBC Department of English’s Laurie McNeill for winning this year’s Killam Teaching Prize!

McNeill is a long time reviewer and contributor to Canadian Literature with a specialization in life narratives and auto/biography. We are pleased to feature some of her writing to celebrate this occasion.

In our issue on Literature and War, McNeill looks at an author’s self awareness—“how her narrative must disappoint, describing a time marked above all by boredom instead of heroics, ‘discomfort’ instead of real pain.” Read her full article “Preforming Genres: Peggy Abkhazi’s A Curious Care and Diaries of War” by downloading the full issue here.

Our special issue on Auto/biography features McNeill’s book reviews entitled “Recovering Women’s Lives” and “Subjects of Empire.” Download the full issue here.

The breadth of McNeill’s knowledge of Canadian life writing and auto/biography is reflected in her reviews published in our special issue on Archives and History.

In her review “Rethinking the Diary,” McNeill writes, “Lejeune’s scholarship has been instrumental in revising such intellectual snobbery (including his own, as he readily admits).” Read the full issue here.

Cheers to a marvellous scholar and professor!