MLC Annual Impact Report 2024 - 2025

Leadership Message

Last summer, during my Obama Fellowship in Germany, I met with colleagues at the universities of Mainz, Germersheim, and Frankfurt. The conversations were frank—about budget cuts, the aftershocks of COVID-19, and the rise of populism. What stood out most, though, was a shared conviction: literary and cultural scholarship matters now more than ever. It offers ways to think critically and creatively, and to remain attentive to lived experience.

That conviction has shaped my work, both during the fellowship and at the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre (MLC), where life writing is central to our mission. Our long-term SSHRC project, “Telling COVID-19 Stories,” uses ethical AI to examine how people narrate upheaval—not just as crisis, but as a series of creative and daily recalibrations. Life writing stretches language to meet new realities.

My team’s collaborations have included Threads of History, a proof-of-concept exhibition of 20 rare World War II quilts at Toronto City Hall, revealing how textiles become witnesses piecing together overlooked histories of the war.

We have also launched a new partnership with the International Hemingway Society, culminating in a successful bid to host the International Hemingway Conference in Toronto in 2026, bringing over 250 registered visitors to revisit the author and the city’s literary past.

Research at the Centre has flourished with 23 papers—11 peer-reviewed—and two academic books now accepted for publication.

We launched a new internship program and trained 62 students, our highest number of HQP yet–some featured on this cover. Their reflections speak about outcomes but also about the value of being part of an intellectually lively community.

In courses like “How to Be a Woman During the Trump Era,” and “Canadian Literatures,” students were able to engage directly with 29 MLC-supported local and global guest speakers to explore personal and political narratives across North America. Topics ranged from the #MeToo movement to layered questions of injustice, refusal, and repair. The conversations were pointed, civil, and necessary.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading this annual report, which highlights the many ways the MLC actively forges strong research partnerships and deeper thinking about memory—literary and cultural, anchored in personal stories. In a climate of rising populism, that work is more important than ever.

We are deeply grateful to our partners, donors, and sponsors including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Offices of the Dean of Arts, the Provost and Vice President Academic, Vice President Research and Innovation, and Toronto Metropolitan University.

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Major Sponsors and Strategic Partners

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Major Sponsors and Strategic Partners