Modern Literature & Culture Research Centre & Gallery

MLC Top 10 Stories of 2025

A quilt with a pattern on it

10.

Looking for Anne of Green Gables (2025) Published

We released a revised edition of Looking for Anne of Green Gables with Sutherland House Books and welcomed a full house, including Kate Macdonald Butler, granddaughter of L.M. Montgomery, to celebrate Montgomery’s enduring literary legacy.

9.

2026 Hemingway in Toronto Conference

We are preparing to host the 2026 Hemingway Society Conference in Toronto (July 20-25), co-hosted with the International Hemingway Society. Over 180 scholars and guests from around the world will gather for panels, readings, and discussions on gender, the letter project, AI, fashion, and more.

Irene Gammel looking at books with three young women
A person writing on a paper

8.

Books and Biscotti

In collaboration with the Association of Italian Canadian Authors, we hosted readings and conversations on immigration, identity, and generational change — bringing literature into dialogue with lived experience and cultural memory.

7.

Pandemic Stories Digital Database

As part of the SSHRC-funded Telling COVID-19 Stories project, we launched the Pandemic Stories Digital Database, documenting creative responses to COVID-19 through personal narratives, poetry, and other expressive forms.

A person holding a book and a rifle
A statue of a dragon on a street

6.

Student Publishing in Action

Students gained hands-on experience in publishing through journals and public-facing projects. One example is “Rouge: The Poetics of Adrian De Leon’s Sub/Urban Toronto,” published in the American Review of Canadian Studies, exploring Toronto’s subway poetry.

5.

Fashion, Modernity, Storytelling

MLC supported guest speakers such as Deirdre Kelly in experiential courses like Fashion, Modernity, Storytelling, showing how sartorial choices function as narrative, cultural expression, and social critique.

A close up of a quilt
Photos of new MLC team members

4.

Research and Study Internship (RSI) Program

We launched the RSI Program, offering 29 students hands-on experience in research, writing, and publishing while linking classroom learning with mentorship and professional development.

3.

Welcoming New Researchers and Staff

We welcomed Ella Altena (Coordinator); MITACS fellows Yvonne Cheung and Louisa Law; Eishvinder Gill, Enya Jovicik, and Lina Tupak-Karim; and Research Associates Dr. Jimmy Tran and Dr. Sibo Chen — strengthening our collaborative and interdisciplinary research culture.

A person in a blue coat standing in front of a large projector screen
A person wearing a mask and gloves

2.

2024-2025 Impact Report

We are proud of our achievements. Our 2024-2025 MLC Impact Report demonstrates the power of literature and culture to engage audiences, reflect lived experience, and foster dialogue across communities.

1.

Looking Ahead: 20 Years of the LC

In 2026, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the MLC Research Centre. Two decades of mentorship, scholarship, and public engagement mark a continuing commitment to curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. We invite you to stay involved — sign up for MLC newsletter updates to follow what comes next.

 

Recent News

MLC Top 10 Stories of 2025

MLC Top 10 Stories of 2025

Irene Gammel, Director, is pleased to present the top accomplishments of the MLC Research Centre in 2025.

Ella Altena joins as MLC Research Coordinator

Ella Altena joins as MLC Research Coordinator

Ella will be working as the MLC Research Coordinator and shares her knowledge of digital anthropology and online identity formation.

Dr. Jimmy Tran joins MLC

Dr. Jimmy Tran joins MLC

At the MLC, Tran consults on fashion and archival studies–related research.

Eishvinder Gill joins MLC

Eishvinder Gill joins MLC

Eishvinder’s research interests include fashion design, design psychology, and the emotional affect of objects and garments.

The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

MLC Themes

The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

Amid the unprecedented social change of World War I, women renegotiated their identities by dramatically changing the way they engaged with the arts. But how did they do so? And how did everyday citizens engage with the war?
Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

MLC Themes

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, considered by many to be the mother of Dada, was a daringly innovative poet and an early creator of junk sculpture. “The Baroness” was best known for her sexually charged, often controversial performances.
Modernism in the World

MLC Themes

Modernism in the World

Recent research has departed from the Euro-centric and national view of Modernism to include approaches and methods studying Modernism across national boundaries and across different art forms to include fashion, dance, performance, technology, and visual culture.
Lucy Maud Montgomery

MLC Themes

Lucy Maud Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery is perhaps Canada's most important literary export. She was prolific writer of over 500 short stories and poems, and twenty novels, including the beloved Anne of Green Gables.
Canadian Modernism

MLC Themes

Canadian Modernism

The works of numerous Canadian authors who lived during the modernist era may well constitute the most central and experimental articulation of Canadian modernism in prose, allowing authors to stage cross-cultural, controversial, and even conflicted identities.
Modernist Biography and Life Writing

MLC Themes

Modernist Biography and Life Writing

Life writing, including autobiographical accounts, diaries, letters and testimonials written or told by women and men whose political, literary or philosophical purposes are central to their lives, has become a standard tool for communication and the dissemination of information.