PLEASE NOTE:

For the 2011-12 Academic Year, classes begin at Trent University on Thursday, September 8th.

Extra-curricular activities

PAST EVENTS:

Trent University (Oshawa) Students celebrated Black History Month by presenting Four Moments in Black History.

On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Trent University Oshawa, students studying English Literature presented the works of African American and Canadian-American writers as part of this event. History students hosted a history fair with the help of APC church from Pickering to celebrate black history month. For news coverage about this event please go to the following link.

TESSO hosted "READAGEDDON" at Trent University Oshawa on Wednesday, February 9, 2011.

TESSO (Trent English Students' Society in Oshawa) hosted a debate, followed by a faculty mixer, called "Much Ado About.....The Outliers" on October 7, 2010 at the Thornton Road Campus, Oshawa.

The Department of English and Department's Student Representatives launched the Trent English Students' Society (TESS) with a celebration on Thursday, December 10, 2009, from 3-5PM in theTrend Pub at Traill College. The event provided an opportunity for students to meet informally with each other and with faculty, and to take a well-earned break between term-work and exams.

Over the years students in the Department of English Literature have organized and participated in a broad range of activities, including a "Literary Society,” a group which sponsored public readings of James Joyce's Ulysses on the occasion of the author's birthday (with cake at midnight) "Offbook," a drama group which produced plays by Timothy Findley and W.O. Mitchell.  In 2004-05 a senior student dramatized all twelve books of Paradise Lost for Trent Radio.  In March 2009, "Offbook" produced the play Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Melodrama, under the direction of fourth year student, Leah Burnie.

In 2005-06, the students in Advanced Old English (English 431 - now 4100) carried course projects beyond the classroom and produced two issues of an undergraduate academic journal. (Check out the links on the right side of this page.) And some of the students in Milton and his Age (English 201 - now 3200) enterprized the course's reading group with a radio play of Book One of Paradise Lost. (Once again, check out the link on the right hand side of this page.)

English Majors are traditionally active in a number of student-run theatre groups on campus, including the Anne Shirley Musical Theatre Company and the Classics Drama Group.  In 2005-06, students organized a Critical Theory reading group that met with interested faculty once a month. If you have an idea for a student-generated activity related to English literature, you can usually find support.

In addition to supporting student initiatives, the Department organizes a program of writers reading and public lectures with the interest of its students in mind.  And at regular intervals, the Department has hosted major academic conferences in which students have been active participants. 

Please see the Events page for more information.