Her Own Thinker: Canadian Women Writers as Essayists explores the thinking, ideas, and insights that Canadian women fiction writers have chosen to express in essay form rather than in fiction form. It looks at this substantial body of writing with a primary focus on collections of essays, and on those published since the 1960s. In all, it considers over 40 collections, offering an overview and appreciation of this generally overlooked work and its contributions to cultural and intellectual thinking in Canada.

Christl Verduyn is the author, editor, or co-editor of over a dozen volumes in the areas of Canadian and Québécois literatures, women’s writing and criticism, “multicultural” and life writing, and Canadian Studies. Before joining the faculty at Mount Allison University, where she is now Professor Emerita of English and Canadian Studies, Dr. Verduyn taught at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she chaired the Canadian Studies Program, and at Trent University, where she was Chair of Women’s Studies (1987-90) and Chair of Canadian Studies (1993-99). A past editor of the Journal of Canadian Studies, recipient of the Governor General’s International Award for Canadian Studies and of the Order of Canada (CM), she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) and a 3M National Teaching Fellow.

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