Where Artificial Intelligence and Fiction Meet: Dr. Teresa Heffernan of @smuenglish.bsky.social delivered the 2026 Wiegand Memorial Foundation Lecture on Feb. 23. A recording of the @jhievents.bsky.social event is now online. @tjheffernan.bsky.social #SMUEnglish #AI #fiction #artswithimpact
Event poster with photo of Dr. Heffernan sitting near a painted brick wall. Text Lecture Series on the Contemporary Polycrisis Disturbed by fascism and oligarchies? Distressed by the current polycrisis in Canada, the US and globally? Disillusioned by the fragmented state of democracy? Don't know where to start? Come hear Dr. Teresa Heffernan speak. Q + A to follow. Friday, March 27, 7 pm Location: King's College (Halifax) Archibald Room, New Academic Building Lecture description "From Alan Turing and Samuel Butler to Peter Thiel and J.R.R. Tolkien, to Elon Musk and Gene Roddenberry, the fiction and science of artificial intelligence have long been entangled and conflated in the cultural imaginary. Obscuring the important social, political and ethical questions these technologies raise, the AI industry co-opts fiction only to marginalize the literary imagination in discussions of a technological future. What are the costs of collapsing animals with machines? Of turning language into numbers? And why is this field steeped in orphic language? As the AI industry reshapes knowledge, this talk considers what gets lost when the centuries-old study of human society and culture is swallowed up by a very different type of knowledge generated algorithms, linear algebra and statistics, and why it is imperative to keep the tension between computation and languages alive."
Friday at 7 pm: Dr. @tjheffernan.bsky.social of @smuenglish.bsky.social is giving a talk as part of a "Lecture Series on the Contemporary Polycrisis". Archibald Room, New Academic Building, University of King's College (see ALT text for the lecture description). #SMUEnglish #AI #fiction
An event poster with a photo of poet Wanda Campbell and the cover of her new poetry collection. Text: The SMU Reading Series presents: An evening with Wanda Campbell Come celebrate the changing of the seasons with one of Canada’s best poets, reading from her newest collection, Spring Theory. Spring Theory meets the chaos of the current times with forms that are fractured and familiar in poems of lament and love, hunger and hope. It moves from exploring the darkness of fall to capturing spring’s rejuvenating light. Wednesday, April 1, 2026 7:00 p.m. | Atrium 101, SMU Campus Admission free | All welcome
The SMU Reading Series presents an evening with Wanda Campbell! Celebrate the changing of the seasons with one of Canada’s best poets, reading from her new collection "Spring Theory". Wednesday, April 1, 7-9 pm, AT 101 at SMU; all are welcome: loom.ly/lvpfflI #SMUEnglish #PoetryMonth #artswithimpact
Where Artificial Intelligence and Fiction Meet: Tomorrow evening in Toronto, Dr. @tjheffernan.bsky.social of @smuenglish.bsky.social will deliver the 2026 Wiegand Memorial Foundation Lecture. Learn more about her research at www.socialrobotfutures.com. #SMUEnglish #AI #fiction #artswithimpact
A poster promoting the annual short story writing contest. An abstract illustration shows a colourful typewriter with a jumble of letters floating upward from it.
Due by Feb. 20: Submit your #shortstory entries for the 2026 Margó Takacs Marshall Prize for Excellence in Short Story Writing! 🏆 Presented by @smuenglish.bsky.social, the annual contest is open to all currently enrolled students across SMU. Learn more: loom.ly/nNjWVMg. #SMUEnglish #CreativeWriting
Poster advertising the annual poetry prize. An abstract illustration shows a fountain pen dipping into an ink pot.
Due by Feb. 20: Submit your #poetry and #spokenword entries for the 2026 Joyce Marshall Hsia Memorial Poetry Prize! 🏆 Presented by @smuenglish.bsky.social, the annual contest is open to all currently enrolled students across SMU. Learn more: loom.ly/nNjWVMg. #SMUEnglish #CreativeWriting
Open to the public through our Arts for Everyone program! #ArtsForEveryone #SMUEnglish #FutureHowl #artswithimpact
Carbon Arc Cinema's #NovaScotia Retro Film Festo is coming up soon! Dr. Jennifer VanderBurgh of @smuenglish.bsky.social will host a Q&A with short films by pioneering film director #MargaretPerry, at the Nova Scotian Vintage Shorts event Feb. 1 at 1 pm. www.carbonarc.ca/events/nova-... #SMUEnglish
A poster promoting the Arts for Everyone program at Saint Mary's. An illustration shows five silhouettes of people, standing against a colourful row of giant books. Text: Arts for Everyone The Faculty of Arts invites community members to attend a selection of courses on a drop-in basis. Arts courses are for everyone - come join us! Learn more: https://www.smu.ca/arts/outreach/arts-for-everyone.html
Four free courses for Winter 2026! Open to members of the public. Find the complete #ArtsForEveryone course lineup here: www.smu.ca/arts/outreac... #SMUEnglish #SMUHistory #SMUAnthropology #A4E #artswithimpact
An image of the book cover for 'Unforgetting and the Politics of Representation: Voices from Contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina' (Routledge, 2025). Along with the book's title and author, the cover includes an abstract artwork in shades of turquoise and greenish gold.
While overseas for her book launch, Dr. Tatjana Takševa of Saint Mary's University also delivered guest lectures at the University of Sarajevo and International Burch University. Her talks opened space for interdisciplinary dialogue on traumatic experiences, collective identity in post-conflict settings, and the role of dialogue in peacebuilding processes. Special focus was devoted to the experiences of children born of war, specifically those born as a result of wartime sexual violence. "The discussions with local faculty and students were deeply meaningful, reaffirming the importance of creating environments where young people and community members can critically reflect on issues shaping contemporary civil society," said Dr. Takševa.
A book launch photo with Dr. Takševa at left, reading from her new book. On the right is Ajna Jusić, President of Zaboravljena djeca rata / Forgotten Children of War Association. Also in attendance were research participants whose first-person narratives appear in the book, as well as other survivors, activists, students and scholars. “Their involvement underscored the profound collaborative nature of the project and highlighted the courage of survivors who chose to share their lived experiences,” said Dr. Takševa.
Unforgetting and the Politics of Representation: Voices from Contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina | The Forgotten Children of War Association hosted a #Sarajevo book launch in November for Dr. Tatjana Takševa, Chair of @smuenglish.bsky.social. Read more: loom.ly/HIdWkHo. #SMUEnglish #artswithimpact
How AI is shaped by fiction: Check out @halifaxexaminer.ca for @timbousquet.bsky.social's video interview with Dr. @tjheffernan.bsky.social of @smuenglish.bsky.social. #SMUEnglish #artswithimpact
Dr. Luke Hathaway of @smuenglish.bsky.social is onstage tonight in Kitchener, performing with ANIMA. The concert is BORDER BALLADS: an evening of fluid(folk) songs of work, love and rebellion. Follow the links below to an interview with Promenade community radio magazine! #SMUEnglish #ANIMA #music
"Resist the AI hype and question the uncritical adoption of this technology," Dr. @tjheffernan.bsky.social of @smuenglish.bsky.social warns in her latest commentary piece for @halifaxexaminer.ca. #SMUEnglish #OpEd #ArtificialIntelligence #AI
The religious roots of AI and the rise of neo-feudalism: A new article by Dr. @tjheffernan.bsky.social of @smuenglish.bsky.social. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/G5VBJ... #SMUEnglish #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #humanities #artswithimpact
A photo of Dr. Goran Stanivukovic, Professor of Early Modern English Literature and cultural studies at Saint Mary's University in Halifax. He's standing in front of a sign advertising the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Edward II.
A screen shot of Dr. Stanivukovic's article, "Based on a True Story: The extraordinary (supposed) life of Christopher Marlowe - and what drew him to the scandalous King Edward II"
The program for the Royal Shakespeare Company's recent production of Christopher Marlowe's tragedy 'Edward II' includes an essay by Dr. Goran Stanivukovic of @smuenglish.bsky.social. Read more: loom.ly/Sq4cbH0 #SMUEnglish #Halifax #Shakespeare #EdwardII #artswithimpact
