51社区黑料

English Literature | doctoral degree | Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences

Tell us a little about yourself, including what inspires you to learn and continue in your chosen field

I am a PhD student and poet in the Department of English at 51社区黑料. I hold a Masters of Arts in English Literature (2023), a Bachelors of Arts Honours in English Literature (2020), both from Concordia University, and a Diploma of College Studies in Liberal Arts (2016) from John Abbott College. I have worked as a Teaching Assistant at 51社区黑料and Concordia, and a Research Assistant for the SpokenWeb project, the Women's Print History Project, and currently the Women's Manuscript History Project. I have also served as Production Coordinator for the Association of English-language publishers of Quebec, Associate Publisher for the Montreal Review of Books, Staff Intern for the Blue Metropolis International Festival, and Prose Editor for Soliloquies Anthology Magazine.

I am passionate about books, the arts, and community. What inspires me to continue my studies at the doctoral level is to pursue a deeper understanding of British Romanticism, women's print and manuscript culture, archival poetics, and digital humanities, and to continue to engage in community literary and arts spaces across Canada.

Why did you choose to come to SFU?

SFU's English department has a strong reputation in teaching and research in 18th and 19th century print/manuscript culture and book history, and I was excited for the opportunity to learn from faculty like Michelle Levy and Betty Schellenberg (and many others). I appreciated, too, the emphasis on poetry/poetics, research-creation, and archival research methods in the department.

How would you describe your research or your program to a family member?

My dissertation considers women's fair copy labour in the British Romantic period, and asks how the female body (or the female hand) was implicated in the production of manuscripts. Through case studies such as Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley, Teresa Guiccioli, Catherine Blake, and Dorothy Wordsworth, I will examine women's relationships to copying, their textual intimacies, and the significance of this work within their literary networks.

What three (3) keywords would you use to describe your research?

manuscripts; gender/sexuality; the body

How have your courses, RA-ships, TA-ships, or non-academic school experiences contributed to your academic and/or professional development?

Working as a Research Assistant for the Women's Print History Project, and its sister project, the Women's Manuscript History Project, has enriched my sense of women's historical involvement in literary culture. I have gained hands on training in archival work, and developed a passion for considering the dynamic relationships which emerge when encountering manuscript objects (both digitally, and intimately in person). Moreover, as a poet, working on the SpokenWeb project, and attending poetry events in Vancouver, I've come to deeply appreciate women's continual presence both in the archive and in community.

Have you been the recipient of any major or donor-funded awards? If so, please tell us which ones and a little about how the awards have impacted your studies and/or research

I am grateful to have received the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, and the Aphra Behn Graduate Scholarship, which support my studies and research.

Contact Salena: salena_wiener@sfu.ca