English and Film Studies
Welcome to English and Film Studies!
Welcome to the Department of English and Film Studies, located on Treaty Six territory and in Region 4 of the Métis Nation of Alberta. One of the four founding departments of the University of Alberta in 1908 and today one of the largest in the Faculty of Arts, the Department of English and Film Studies is a dynamic place to study, learn and create. We are internationally-recognized and multi-disciplinary. Our faculty members are leaders in the field, with a reputation for high-quality research, innovative teaching, and meaningful community impact. Among our distinguished colleagues are three Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, and many award-winning teachers.
Programs
Undergraduate Programs
Undergraduate Degree in English
Students have access to internationally renowned professors and can take courses spanning a broad range of topics, cultures, histories and perspectives. Study Medieval, Canadian, Indigenous, queer and children's literature and focus on a number of diverse areas including popular culture, creative writing, film studies, video games and new media.
Undergraduate Honors Degree in English
The English Honors program offers students the opportunity to enjoy even greater specialization in English than afforded by the Major. Students complete a unique course, ENGL 498, which involves mentored independent research culminating in an original honors essay.
Undergraduate Minor in English
Students who minor in English can explore language, literature, and other cultural forms - including popular culture and new media - across a diverse range of courses while majoring in a complementary discipline in arts or science.
Undergraduate Degree in Film Studies
Film Studies provides students with the tools to understand the vast and complex media landscape of the 21st century. Students will develop a theoretical and historical perspective on the evolution of film and understand moving images as a medium of self-expression and a carrier of cultural values.
Undergraduate Minor in Film Studies
A minimum of ★18 in Film Studies or approved cross-listed courses, including at least ★12 at the senior level. Students must take FS 100 (★3), ★6 at the 200-level, ★3 at the 300- or 400-level, ★3 at the 400-level and ★3 of any other FS or variable content/selected topics courses. See course descriptions for prerequisites.
Undergraduate Minor in Creative Writing
This program offers an exciting and diverse range of courses, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry, along with creative research and experimental forms of writing. Our program has our students work closely with active and talented writers, and we also have community-focused courses in which students engage in collective and grassroots creative writing and research projects, expanding thought, asking questions and attending to the voices of others.
Writing Studies
Writing Studies offers undergraduate and graduate courses in the exploration of writing. It also serves as an intellectual home for faculty and students who promote university-wide writing initiatives.
Graduate Programs
MA in English - Course-Based
The requirements for the MA in English - Course Based program are: Seven courses at the graduate level, Proseminar A, GPS Ethics Requirement, Professional Development Requirement, MA Portfolio Proposal and Constitution of Supervisory Committee, and MA Portfolio.
MA in English - Thesis Based
The requirements for the MA in English - Thesis Based program are: Six courses at the graduate level, Proseminar A, GPS Ethics Requirement, Professional Development Requirement, Language Requirement (for students admitted before Sept. 2017), MA Thesis Proposal and Constitution of Supervisory Committee, MA Thesis, and Examining Committee and Oral Defence of the Thesis.
PhD in English
The PhD program is designed to be completed in four years of full-time work. It is primarily intended as the first step in an academic teaching career, although some of our graduates find employment in fields such as publishing, librarianship, or government. Recent PhDs are in tenurable positions at numerous universities in Canada, the United States, and around the world. Still others have secured research employment in government and universities in Canada or internationally.
Undergraduate Programs
Learn more about the undergraduate programs available in the Department of English and Film Studies. Hear from undergraduate students and alumni about their experiences and the value of their programs.
Graduate Programs
Learn more about graduate studies in the Department of English and Film Studies. Hear from graduate students and alumni about their experiences and the value of their programs.
fall term 2026
ENGL 316 - Middle-Eastern Writing in English
An examination of contemporary Middle Eastern writing in English with attention to critical theory and relevant cultural contexts.
O. Ramadan
fall term 2026
ENGL 392 - Queer and Trans Studies
This course will introduce students to a variety of literary and cultural representations of queer and trans identities from varied locations of local, transnational and diasporic as well as nationalist orientations. Through our study of diverse primary texts across genres and media we will consider how different cultural iterations raise unexpected issues of gender and sexuality enmeshed with the exigencies of race, class, religion, nationalism, and caste.
A. Khan
fall term 2026
ENGL 407 - studies in text and cultures: The traumatic event
This course will offer an opportunity to explore figurations of the traumatic event and its aftermath through a range of late twentieth and early twenty-first century theoretical and literary texts that amplify the conditions and limits of bearing witness and/or depict the psychic wounds that painful histories leave behind.
K. Ball
fall term 2026
FS 309 - Quebec Film
Did you know that Quebec filmmakers are excelling on the world stage? Three years in a row (2011-2013) a film from Quebec was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar-an award that Denys Arcand won in 2004 for The Barbarian Invasions. Other filmmakers such as Xavier Dolan and Denis Coté are picking up top prizes at film festivals in Cannes, Berlin, and Locarno. Denis Villeneuve is one of Hollywood’s most sought after directors. So what led up to this watershed moment? This course provides an overview of the achievements in Quebec cinema placing the major developments in Quebec filmmaking in their social, political, and historical contexts.
L. Czach
fall term 2026
WRITE 297 - Introduction to Writing Nonfiction
J. Quist
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The department was founded in 1908 with a single professor, Edmund Kemper Broadus, and a single class of students.
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Famous graduates include Suzette Mayr, Giller Prize Winner in 2022 for her novel The Sleeping Car Porter and Jason Kapalka, founder of PopCap Games.
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There are three programs within the department: English, Film Studies, and WRITE (Creative Writing).
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization Statement
The English and Film Studies Department considers the diversity of its faculty, students and staff to be critical to its educational mandate and we work towards an inclusive community, one that provides a rich learning environment for all people irrespective of their gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, class, national origin, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, ability, socio-economic status, class, neurodiversity, and religion. We acknowledge that we learn and teach on Treaty 6 and Métis territory and we commit to the work of decolonizing our teaching and research. We acknowledge that knowledge-making practices, including the institution of literature, have historically excluded many populations and perspectives; we commit to the work of dismantling systemic barriers within our learning and working environments. We recognize that language and literature can be powerful tools and aim to use them to imagine a more equitable and socially just world.
