Since 2006, the English Department has brought Scotiabank Giller Prize winners to campus for public readings and book signings, with graduating students in English receiving free copies of the prize-winning book. This has been made possible by the generosity of donor Diane King and, more recently, the support of the Scotiabank Giller Foundation. Starting in 2022, the Scotiabank Giller Prize Event will be built into a course for graduating students in English and Creative Writing and will be planned and run entirely by students.

Scotiabank Giller Prize winners who have participated in this event include:

• Souvankham Thammavongsa How to Pronounce Knife (2020)
• Michael Redhill Bellevue Square (2017)
• Madeleine Thien Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016)
• André Alexis Fifteen Dogs (2015)
• Sean Michaels Us Conductors (2014)
• Lynn Coady Hellgoing (2013)
• Will Ferguson 419 (2012)
• Esi Edugyan Half-Blood Blues (2011)
• Johanna Skibsrud The Sentimentalists (2010)
• Linden MacIntyre The Bishop’s Man (2009)
• Joseph Boyden Through Black Spruce (2008)
• Elizabeth Hay Late Nights on Air (2006)

Our 2023 Giller Prize Event

Our 2022 Giller Prize Event 
Watch Dr. Sam McKegney, head of the English department, interview 2021 Giller Prize winner and Queen's Writer in Residence Omar El Akkad: 

Watch our 2022 Giller Prize Event with Omar El Akkad: 

Our 2021 Giller Prize Event

Watch the Department of English’s 2020 Writer in Residence Kaie Kellough in conversation with 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize Winner, Souvankham Thammavongsa, author of How to Pronounce Knife.

Our 2018 Giller Prize Event

Our 2017 Giller Prize Event

For a decade, the English Department has brought renowned Canadian writers to campus to reflect on artistic craft through the evocative prompt of “the page.” Supported by Steven Page and family, this event honours the late Kingston author and painter Joanne Page and has hosted a diverse array of writers from across the country. Many of the lectures have been published as chapbooks.

This Year's Page Lecture

Our 2022 Page Lecture 

Our 2021 Page Lecturer

Helen Humphreys

Our 2020 Page Lecturer

Fred Wah

Our 2019 Page Lecturer

Marilyn Dumont

Celebrated dub poet Lillian Allen was the inaugural Queen’s Writer in Residence in 2006. Since that time, writers in residence have organized a diverse array of intimate, public, collaborative, and performative events for the Queen’s community and others.

In recent years, the inaugural event featuring the Writer in Residence has been considered the Welcome Event, which has come to be a highlight of the school year.

This Year’s Writer in Residence Lecturer (2022)

Omar El Akkad

Our 2020 Writer in Residence Lecturer

Kaie Kellough

Watch Kaie Kellough performing “Maroon Time,” at his 2020 Writer in Residence Welcome event.

Our 2019 Writer in Residence Lecturer

Canisia Lubrin

As a part of Queen's Global Summer's Creative Writing Studio, The Department of English and Queen's Biological Station was delighted to offer "Reflections from the Writers' Studio" featuring Smokii Sumac, John Elizabeth Stintzi, and moderated by Omar El Akkad.

Smokii and JES discussed their respective creative processes, inspirations, and their time at Queen's Biological Station at the QUBS Writers' Studio.