Two of the three finalists for an esteemed national literature prize are Trent University English professors: Dr. Rita Bode and professor emeritus Dr. Michael Peterman.

The Association for Canadian and Quebec Literatures (ACQL) recently announced the finalists for the 2018 Gabrielle Roy Prize (English section), which annually honours the best work of Canadian literary criticism published in English. The Trent professors have secured two of the three shortlisted finalist spots. Professor Rita Bode, along with co-editor Jean Mitchell, are being recognized for their edited collection L.M Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s) and professor emeritus Dr. Michael Peterman is being honoured for Delicious Mirth: The Life and Times of James McCarroll.

“I am thrilled to be nominated and so pleased to be in such strong company with my fellow finalists,” said Prof. Bode. “The collection was a team effort all-around – co-edited with Jean Mitchell of UPEI, and created through the excellent work of our contributors who, in addition to Canadian, include U.S. American, Scottish and South African scholars as well as several disciplines. I also feel personally glad of any recognition since it reflects the support of the English Literature department at Trent – as well as the broader Trent community. And the nomination is especially gratifying in recognizing and enhancing Montgomery’s scholarly space in literary studies.”

“The news of the three finalists for the Gabrielle Roy Prize took me quite by surprise,” added Professor Peterman. “I welcome it both for what it says about research in the Humanities at Trent and what it might well do for sales of Delicious Mirth. I also want to extend congratulations to my colleague and fellow nominee Rita Bode and reiterate my heartfelt thanks to those several Trent graduate students in Canadian Studies who helped me with the research into the life of James McCarroll.”

ACQL annually awards two juried prizes, one in English and one in French, for the best book-length studies in Canadian and Québec literary criticism. Established in honour of the late Gabrielle Roy, this competition is open to works of criticism on Canadian or Québec literatures published anywhere in the world in English and French.

This year’s shortlist was chosen by a jury composed of Alison Calder (University of Manitoba), Ian Rae (King’s College, Western University), and Andrea Cabaisky (Universite de Moncton). The winner is to be announced on June 1 at the ACQL annual conference, to be held at the University of British Columbia.

Formed in 1975 and in the centenary period that witnessed the ratification of Canadian biculturalism, ACQL has, over the course of 40 years, emerged as Canada’s principal association for showcasing bilingual research in Canadian and Québec literatures. ACQL holds its annual conference the last weekend of May during the Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences.