Situated in the heart of McGill in the historic McCall MacBain Arts Building, the Department of English is home to interrelated graduate and undergraduate programs united in their attention to creative works of imaginative cultural production. Even as they differ in their objects of study, specialized knowledge or methods, each program in English promotes opportunities for discovery made available through creative works of literary, cinematic, televisual, and dramatic arts. Our classes help students to develop both a critical appreciation of aesthetics as well as skills in rigorous formal analysis and interpretation. Students in our program excel in and enjoy critical thinking and problem solving; explorations of multiplicity, particularity, and difference; fine attention to context and to variables. 

English fosters cross-disciplinary enquiry. The interdisciplinary program in Medieval Studies and the interdepartmental World Cinemas program both live here. Moyse Hall Theatre likewise operates through the Department of English and is the principal venue for the Department’s two annual student-driven theatre productions. The Department hosts a number of major, collaborative research projects and research groups, including the Montreal International Poetry Prize, Novelists on the Art of the Novel, English-language Theatre in Quebec, and TRaCE, which animate our intellectual exchange.  

Ours is a vibrant and growing community of diverse learners. At the undergraduate level, approximately 900 undergraduate students are enrolled in major, minor, and Honours programs. Graduate students, key participants in all areas of Department life, have the opportunity to explore aspects of literature, cultural studies, performance, and theatre history in their seminar work and research. On average, there are 80 graduate students enrolled in the MA and PhD programs.