The end of term was an exciting time for the Department of English Language and Literatures — our graduate and undergraduate students collectively participated in three consecutive academic conferences: the English Students’ Association 11th Annual Colloquium, the inaugural UBC Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference and the English Graduate Student Caucus’ Endnotes 2025 Conference: Solidarity and Spaces. Congratulations to everyone involved!
Members of the conference committee pictured with keynote speaker Dr. Alice Te Punga Somerville at Endnotes 2025: Spaces and Solidarity
Attendees at the 2025 UBC Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference
Attendees at the 2025 UBC Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference
Conference organizer CJ McGillivray and presenter Liliana Yao at the 2025 UBC Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference
The English Students' Association 11th Annual Colloquium
Nicole Sobolewski presenting at The English Students' Association 11th Annual Colloquium
Lian Lo presenting at The English Students' Association 11th Annual Colloquium
Anika Islam presenting at The English Students' Association 11th Annual Colloquium
Sim Deol presenting at The English Students' Association 11th Annual Colloquium
Matthew Phan presenting at The English Students' Association 11th Annual Colloquium
Presenters Sim Deol, Anika Islam, Lian Lo, Matthew Phan, and Nicole Sobolewski at The English Students' Association 11th Annual Colloquium
Photos courtesy of Diana Andrews, Cal Smith and Taylor Zaremba.
Conference #1: The English Students’ Association 11th Annual Colloquium
The ESA hosted their 11th Annual Colloquium Friday, March 21st in the Peña Room at IKB. Every year, the association runs an open call for academic papers and students with the top submissions are invited to present their work. The program included presentations by Sim Deol, Anika Islam, Lian Lo, Matthew Phan, and Nicole Sobolewski. Their work was supported by student editors Aisha Chaudhry, Makayla Conn, Sally Elennawy, Henrique Vieira Fernandes, and Adam Mah.
“It was such a joy to get an up-close view of other students’ projects and create a space to engage with emerging research as a community.”
– Diana Andrews, ESA VP Academic and Colloquium Organizer
“Huge congratulations to everyone at the ESA for a highly successful ESA Colloquium this year! This is a chance to showcase some of the brilliant work that our students do, and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing this year’s presentations. And of course, well-deserved congratulations to Diana Andrews, who organized and presided over the whole thing.”
– Miguel Mota, Associate Head (Undergraduate)
Conference #2: The UBC Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference
Sponsored by the UBC Department of English Language and Literatures and the UBC Department of Theatre and Film, the first annual UBC Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference took place on Tuesday, April 1st, both online and in person in the Dodson Room at IKB. Students, family and friends came together to celebrate excellence in undergraduate research, embrace interdisciplinary perspectives, and explore the curious tensions between literary analysis and live performance.
The program included presentations by Lauren Michaud, Jess Lee, Olivia Richards, Frasier Panton and Liliana Yao, interspersed with monologues performed by theatre students Raven Mutford, Paula Goldie and special guest Cassie Unger.
“Learning from and collaborating with these emerging scholars and artists was such an amazing experience! The research was unconventional and brilliant, but also accessible and incredibly fun. I was inspired seeing people come together so we could celebrate Shakespeare while also engaging in radical critiques of his elevated role in both academia and theatre.”
– CJ McGillivray, 2025 Conference Organizer
Conference #3: Endnotes 2025: Solidarity and Spaces
The conference committee for Endnotes 2025 had an incredibly successful paper proposal drive this year — they received a record number of proposals from across North America, Asia and Europe. The committee accepted a total of 33 proposals, presented across 10 panels. Dr. Alice Te Punga Somerville gave a phenomenal keynote address, and the conference was attended by around 50 people in person and 20 on Zoom. Congratulations to all of the participants and to conference committee members Aamna Rashid, Alicia Mathews, Alexandra Lamb, Cal Smith, and Charlotte Von De Bur.
Final Thoughts
“It is genuinely astonishing to see the level of thinking, reading, and writing consistently produced by our students, and these conferences provide an ideal and welcoming space to feature but a small portion of this work. Congratulations again to all!”
– Miguel Mota, Associate Head (Undergraduate)
