sharon d. engbrecht
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3577-3011
Professional Appointments
2025-present
Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Guelph
Education
2016-2025
Doctor of Philosophy, Department of English Language and Literatures, University of British Columbia
Dissertation: “Challenging Romance’s Story of Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women’s Critical-Romance Novels”
2014-2016
Master of Arts, Department of English and Cultural Studies, McGill University
2013-2014
Bachelor of Arts Honours Certificate (Creative Thesis), Department of English, University of Regina
2009-2010
Bachelor of Arts, Department of English, University of Regina
2003-2008
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Department of Visual Arts, University of Regina
Research Expertise
Literary and narrative analysis; literary theory; critical studies in gender and sexuality; women’s writing; intercorporeality; cultural studies; film and media studies; histories of feminism; critical race theory; queer and trans* studies; the neuroqueer and crip theory; affect theory; phenomenology; feminist critiques of romance; feminist critiques of pornography; feminist approaches to abortion and reproductive justice.
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
2026
“Encountering the ‘Difficult’ Text: Teaching Nalo Hopkinson’s ‘Inselberg’.” Studies in Canadian Literature. (forthcoming)
2025
“The Gloriously Ugly in Marian Engel’s No Clouds of Glory (Sarah Bastard’s Notebook).” Canadian Literature, 263, pp. 175-196.
2023
“‘the suitcase in the closet’: Talking Zombi(e)s with Junie Désil (an Interview).” Canadian Literature, no. 252, 2023, pp. 104-27.
Peer-Reviewed Articles (Under Consideration)
2026
“Deconstructing the Prescience: Margaret Atwood’s Production of Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth.” General submission to Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada. (under peer-review)
2025
“Dwelling In and On the Body: Improvised Unknowings of Gender through Sexuality.” Gender Reimagined special issue of Critical Studies in Improvisation. (submitted)
Editorials
2023
“Producing Canadian Literature.” Canadian Literature, no. 252, pp. 5-14.
Book Reviews
2024
“Margaret Atwood’s Burning Questions.” University of Toronto Quarterly, vol. 93, no. 3, pp. 479-81.
2024
“Refined Language: How the Oil Industry Rebranded Itself.” Literary Review of Canada, September, p. 25.
2024
“Home Alone.” Literary Review of Canada, Bookworm, no. 41, 30 Apr.
2024
“What Art Thou?” Literary Review of Canada, Bookworm, no. 27, 23 Jan.
2023
“Updating the Companion.” Canadian Literature, no. 252, pp. 183-86.
2023
“Secrets, Deception, Celebrity.” Canadian Literature, no. 252, pp. 147-149.
2019
“Woman about Town (Book Launch for Outside In).” Literary Review of Canada.
2016
“Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder.” Bull Calf Review.
Op-Eds
2025
“The Handmaid’s Tale Reflects Margaret Atwood’s Eerie Talent for Reading the Palm of Power.” The Conversation Canada, 25 May.
2022
“Why It’s Worth Considering a PhD Co-op.” University Affairs, July-August, p. 48.
2022
“Fiction about Abortion Confronts the Complicated History of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Rights.” The Conversation Canada, 7 June.
2021
“Verse Forward: A Canadian Literature Poetry Reading Series.” Canadian Literature, no. 245, pp. 175-83.
2019
“Being a Graduate Student at Congress 2019 (Blog Post),” Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Other Publications
2024
“A Search for Belonging: James Jean’s Meadowlark Exhibition at CICA (gallery show review).” CICA Vancouver, July.
2016
(editor/ghost writer) This Dance of Ours: The Memoirs of Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien III.
2015
“Giller Prize Longlist unveiled at Moyse Hall.” McGill Reporter
2014
“I Am a Child of the Earth (Poem).” the carillon, vol. 56, no. 20, “the literary supplement,” U of R
2013
“White Box (Short Story).” the carillon, vol. 55, no. 21, “the literary supplement,” U of R
Public Lectures
2026
“Virginia Woolf: Writing (through) Gender.” One-hour public lecture, European Studies, University of Guelph
2025
“Tracing the Life of Violence.” Ninety-minute talk and guided discussion, for Guelph’s Iteration of “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence,” Guelph Public Library
2025
“World-Building: Improvisation and Narrativity.” One-hour public lecture, International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation and the School of Languages and Literatures, University of Guelph
Invited Panel Discussions
2026
“Life After the PhD: What Is a Postdoc?” International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, University of Guelph
2025
“Building a SXGN Career: Gender and Sexuality Studies in Context.” SXGN Networking Social, Sexualities, Gender, and Social Change Student Society, University of Guelph
Research Dissemination (Other)
2025
“What Makes a Relationship Healthy?: An Interview with Dr. Sharon D. Engbrecht.” Podcast for Media from the Margins, with Lindsay Schreder and David Lawee, www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9xOjSld1FU&t=1s
Conference Organizing Experience
VIFF 2020 (online)
During the COVID-19 shutdowns, I was hired as an assistant in the Creative Engagements’ department at the Vancouver International Film Festival to help coordinate and implement festival programming. This included working closely with the Marketing Manager to implement the Creative Director’s vision for VIFF LABS, AMP, IMMERSED, and Totally Indie Day. These programs cater to new and upcoming creators in the independent film industry. In the months leading up to and during the festival, held digitally from Sept. 24 – Oct. 9, I worked closely with teams from community organizations and other VIFF departments to facilitate experiences for 500+ participants, including welcoming them into different events, moderating, behind-the-scenes production assistance and crowd management, as well as coordinating 60+ Talent Accelerator creators and 80+ LAB attendees. Part of this work included establishing a contact list with 80+ communities locally, nationally, and internationally, while increasing year-round outreach from 160 to 260+ organizations with 65 confirmed community partnerships.
Congress 2019 at UBC
In the yearlong lead up to Federation of the Humanities and Social Science’s Congress in 2019, hosted at UBC, I worked closely with the Academic Convenor (AC), Dr. Laura Moss, to create and organize programming for the week-long conference. I was responsible for working with the AC on UBC programming, which included managing invoicing, with a team of 50+ subvention leaders, as UBC welcomed 10,600+ guests attending 70+ association conferences. I also worked with the leadership team on UBC logistics for the Federation’s Congress flagship events, including Musqueam Elder welcomes and the opening reception, as well as 6 President’s receptions and 6 Big Thinking lectures where I escorted and prepped internationally recognized presenters such as David Suzuki, Esi Edugyan, and Stan Douglas. During this time, I gained intricate knowledge of conference organizing, working with national and internationally recognized associations, as well as university organizations and stakeholders.
Conference Activities
Paper Presentations
2026 (upcoming)
“Worldbuilding through Improvisation.” Worldbuilding as a Political Practice Panel, ACCUTE 2026, Concordia University, Montréal, QC
2026 (upcoming)
“When the Past and Future Collide: Spatiality in The Past Is Red.” Imagining Spatiality in End of the World Narratives Panel, ACCUTE 2026, Concordia University, Montréal, QC
2022
“‘…the most desperate and splendid of adventures’: Dizzying Orientations in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando.” Con/Figurations of Female Adventure, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2019
“Complicating Gendered Sexuality: Self-Witnessing towards Female Identity in Daphne Marlatt’s Ana Historic.” ACCUTE, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2019, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2018
“‘Make Margaret Atwood Fiction Again’: The Treacherous Boundary Between Fiction and Reality in Using The Handmaid’s Tale as a Forum for Dissent,“ Margaret Atwood Society panel, ACCUTE, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2018, University of Regina, Regina, SK
2018
“Rejecting the Institution: The Domesticated ‘Lady PhD’ in Marian Engel’s No Clouds of Glory,” Resurfacing: Women Writing Across Canada in the 1970s, Mount Allison University and Université de Moncton, Sackville, NB
2016
“Early Modern Sermon Culture: The ‘Monstrous Mariage’ in Thomas Middleton’s A Chaste Maid in Cheapside,” Society for Textual Scholarship, Carlton University, Ottawa, ON
Workshop Facilitation
2026 (upcoming)
“Improvisatory Practices in Research and Pedagogy.” ACCUTE, Concordia University, Montréal, QC
Panel Presentations
2021
“Persistence in Precarity: Academia’s Gendered Cost of Living,” Women’s Caucus for the Modern Languages, Modern Language Association Conference (hosted in Toronto, ON)
Panel Chair
2026 (upcoming)
The Pregnant Text: Reimagining the Maternal Body. ACCUTE, Concordia University, Montréal, QC
2018
Citizen Spaces; Aging Ungracefully.
ACCUTE, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2018, University of Regina, Regina, SK
Graduate Student Conferences
2017
“The Threshold of Love: Between ‘You’ and ‘I’.” Endnotes, English Graduate Students’ Caucus, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2016
“The Difficulty of ‘Chinese-ness’ in Modernist Poetry: The After Life of ‘The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter’.” (Un)restrained Intentions, English Graduate Students’ Association, McGill University, Montréal, QC
2015
“‘The Perfect Woman-Eater’: Lovelace’s Grotesque Imagination in Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa.” Violations: Representations in Literature and Culture, English Graduate Students’ Association, McGill University, Montréal, QC
2013
“The Mechanics and Ethics of Writing Historiographic Metafictions.” Trash Talking: New Directions in Popular Culture and Creative Writing, Regina, SK
2010
“Real Bodies and Avatar Worlds: James Cameron’s Avatar and James Tip Tree, Jr.’s ‘The Girl Who Was Plugged In.” Trash Talking: New Directions in Popular Culture and Creative Writing, Regina, SK
Teaching Expertise
University and college writing; business communication; critical reading; literary analysis; literature studies; film and media studies; genre and narrative studies; creative non-fiction writing; rhetoric and persuasive writing; adaptation theory; visual and textual representation; intertextuality.
Teaching Experience
University of Guelph, Guelph, ON
2026 (Jan–Apr)
IMPR 6410 – PhD Pedagogy Lab
Instructor of Record (IOR)
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2025 (Jan-Apr)
ENGL 110 (Approaches to Literature): “Intertextuality,” Teaching Assistant (TA) for
Dr. Mary Chapman
2024 (Sept-Dec)
ENGL 110: “Media Theory,” TA for Dr. Richard Cavell
2024 (Jan-Apr)
ENGL 110: “Warming Worlds, Drowning Worlds, Freezing Worlds: Literary Representations of Climate Change,” TA for Dr. Rick Gooding
2020 (Jan-Apr)
ENGL 111 (Approaches to Non-Fictional Prose): “Remembering ‘Otherwise’: Life Narratives of Resistance,” TA for Dr. Laurie McNeill (online, synchronous)
2018 (Jan-Apr)
ENGL 110: “Theory Across Genres,” TA for Dr. Suzy Anger
2017 (Sept-Dec)
ENGL 110: “Themes of Metamorphosis,” TA for Dr. Patricia Badir
Red Deer Polytechnic, Red Deer, AB
2022 (Sept-Dec)
1 section (online)
ENGL 219 – Essay Composition and Critical Reading (IOR)
2020 (Sept-Dec)
2 sections (online)
ENGL 219 – Essay Composition and Critical Reading (IOR)
2020 (Jan-Apr)
1 section (in-person)
COMM 250 – Business and Workplace Writing
(IOR; transitioned from in-person to online during early COVID-19 shutdowns)
2019 (Sept-Dec)
4 sections (online)
ENGL 219 – Essay Composition and Critical Reading (IOR)
2 sections (online)
INTP 104 – Interprofessional Communication
(IOR; course for first-year nursing students to learn about communication in a variety of care-giving environments)
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Osan, South Korea
2010 – 2012
English Language Acquisition Instructor (IOR)
SungShim Tutoring, Changwon, South Korea
2008 – 2009
English Language Acquisition Instructor (IOR)
Guest Lectures
2026
“A Really Bad Settler? Susanna Moodie and the Forging of Canada’s National Identity.” Eighty-minute lecture, ENGL*3630 Forging the Canadian Nation, University of Guelph
2026
“Narratives of Intimacy.” Fifty-minute lecture, PHIL*1030 Sex, Love, & Friendship, University of Guelph
2025
“Tackling the Fallen Women Trope and Representations of Rape in Early Twentieth-Century Canadian Western Romance Fiction.” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 110 Intertextuality, University of British Columbia
2025
“Dwelling in/on Difficulty: Claudia Rankine’s Citizen and Ian Williams’ ‘The Cameras on Your Phones Make Black People Invisible’.” Three-hour lecture and creative workshop, Engl 100 Making Trouble, University of British Columbia
2024
“The Relationality of Love: Affectively Prickly Situations in Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information.” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 110 Media and Literature, University of British Columbia
2024
“Apocalyptic Visions, Dystopian Presents: The Figure of the Zombi in Nalo Hopkinson’s ‘Inselberg’.” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 110 Literary Representations of Climate Change, University of British Columbia
2023
“Bridging Gaps: Catering Your Graduate Degree to Work for You.” One-hour guest talk, Own Your Future lecture series, Western University (zoom)
2021
“The Experience of Being Named: David Chariandy’s I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You.” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 111 Approaches to Non-fictional Prose, University of British Columbia
2019
“Dangerous Emoting: Intercorporeality in Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 246 Literature and Film, University of British Columbia
2019
“Resetting the World: Margaret Atwood’s Post-Apocalyptic Visions.” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 120 Climate Change and the Environment in the Anthropocene, University of British Columbia
2018
“The Carnivalesque Female Body in Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus.” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 100 Fantasy, Satire, and Play, University of British Columbia
2018
“Specular Economies and Fragmented Selves in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway.” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 221 Literature in Britain, University of British Columbia
2018
“Gender, Sex, and Romance: Virginia Woolf’s Refashioning the Female Body.” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 110 Literature and Theories of Metamorphoses, University of British Columbia
2018
“Margaret Atwood’s Economies of Debt and Indebtedness.” Two-hour lecture, Engl 110 Climate Fiction, or How Do We Witness Disaster, UBC
2017
“Redefining the Anthropocene in Margaret Atwood’s ‘Time Capsule Found on the Dead Planet.” Fifty-minute lecture, Engl 110 Ghosts, the Fantastic, Science, and Literary Theory, University of British Columbia
Professional Development
2025 (1 week, online)
Training Initiative to Address Human Trafficking, https://helpingtraffickedpersons.org
2025 (1 day)
Identifying and Responding to Microaggressions (U of Guelph)
2025 (1 day)
Fostering Psychological Safety (U of Guelph)
2024 – 2025
(6 months)
CIRTL Teaching Practicum (UBC)
- Lesson Planning & Guest Lecturing
- Teaching Mentorship & Classroom Observation
- Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (EDI) in the Classroom
- Becoming a CIRTL Practitioner
2025
(1 day)
Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans Certificate (TCPS 2: CORE-2022)
2024
(1-day intensive)
We All Have a Role to Play: Increasing Access to Abortion Care in Canada, Continuing Professional Development, Faculty of Medicine (UBC)
2024
(1-week intensive)
CIRTL SoTL Workshop (UBC)
- Adult Learning Theory
- EDI learning
- Reflections on Learning & Teaching
- SoLT proposals
2021
(6 weeks, online)
Amplify Your Project: “Your Friendly Neighbourhood Professor” (UBC Arts Amplifier)
Created a project about microlessons and open educational resources to help students fill in their learning gaps, especially focuses on the experiences of first-generation post-secondary students
2020
(3 months, online)
Excellence in Online Learning and Teaching Certificate (Red Deer Polytechnic)
- Design in a Learning Management System
- Online Formative and Summative Assessments
- Synchronous Tools
- Creating Media
- Universal Design for Learning in Online Education
- Instructor Presence and Classroom Climate
2020
(1 week)
Introduction to Teaching and Learning (RDP)
2018
(3 months)
Pedagogy Certificate (Department of English, UBC)
2017
(3-day intensive)
Instructional Skills Workshop Certificate (Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, UBC)
2017
(1 day)
Preventing and Addressing Bullying and Harassment Training (UBC)
2010
(6 months)
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certificate (ITTT)
Related Professional Experience
2025 – present
Freelance Editor, manuscript development, copy-editing, and proof-reading, remotely and in-person (Guelph, ON)
2023 – 2025
Researcher, SSHRC funded in-progress book project for Professor Michelle LeBaron on the global history and politics of abortion, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2024
Researcher, Broadview Press’ revised and updated edition of Canadian Literature in English for Dr. Laura Moss, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2022 – 2023
Assistant to the Managing Editor, the scholarly journal of Canadian Literature, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2021 – 2022
Marketing and Communications Coordinator | Editorial Assistant, PhD Co-op, the scholarly journal of Canadian Literature, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2020
Digital Communications Assistant, PhD Co-op, dept. of Creative Engagements, Vancouver International Film Festival (remote)
2018 – 2019
Assistant to the Academic Convenor | Program Coordinator, UBC Programming at Congress 2019 for Dr. Laura Moss, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2015 – 2016
Research Assistant, The Burney Centre for Drs. Peter Sabor and Stewart Cooke (The Letters of Dr Charles Burney: Vol. III, 1794-1800), McGill University, Montréal, QC
2015 – 2016
Research Assistant, Broadview Press’ Critical Edition of City Girl for Dr. Tabitha Sparks, McGill University, Montréal, QC
Extracurricular University Service
2025 – present
Conference Planning Committee, Women, Gender, and Social Justice Association (WGSJ) in collaboration with Sexual Studies Association (SSA) and Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA), Canada
2025 – present
Graduate Student Mentor, Critical Studies in Improvisation (IMPR) program, U of Guelph
2026
International Women’s Day Planning Committee, Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis (G-W WiC) and Community Network, Guelph, ON
2025
Advocacy Coordinator, IICSI’s Improvisation Festival, fundraising for G-W WiC, IICSI, Guelph, ON
2025
“16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” Planning Committee, Guelph Community Network, Guelph, ON
2023-2025
Events and Community Connections Committee, dept. of English Language and Literatures, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2016-2024
ACCUTE Liaison, English Graduate Students’ Caucus, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2019-2020
Curriculum Updating Committee, Red Deer Polytechnic, Red Deer, AB
2018 – 2019
Community Liaison, University of British Columbia’s Congress 2019 Programming and Musqueam Cultural Centre, Vancouver, BC
2016 – 2019
Fundraising Committee Chair, English Graduate Students’ Caucus, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2015 – 2016
ACCUTE Liaison, English Graduate Students’ Association, McGill University, Montréal, QC
Community Involvement
2025 – present
Community Partnership/Organizing and Event Planning Committee, G-W Women in Crisis, Guelph, ON
2026
Program and Event Volunteer, Upper-Grand Public School System, Guelph, ON
2025
Community Choir, Assistant Coordinator, U of Guelph, Guelph, ON
2024-2025
Community Programmer, UBC Residence Life, Vancouver, BC
2023-2024
Literacy Mentor, Vancouver Public School Board, Vancouver, BC
2019-2022
Literacy Mentor, Red Deer Public School District, Red Deer, AB
2017 – 2019
Community Programmer, UBC Residence Life, Vancouver, BC
2016 – 2018
Literacy Mentor Volunteer, Writers’ Exchange, Vancouver, BC
S. D. Engbrecht 