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I hold a PhD and MA in Folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland, a Bachelor of Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University, and a Bachelor of Art History from Queen’s University. I have published three books of creative nonfiction, drawing on my scholarly work and my background in journalism, including the essay collection, Ordinary Wonder Tales, a finalist for the 2023 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, and I selected and edited the Best Canadian Essays 2025 anthology. I am a five-time National Magazine Award nominee for my journalistic work, and I have won gold and silver.
In 2018, I was the Edna Staebler Laurier Writer in Residence, and I returned to Laurier’s Brantford campus to teach creative nonfiction in 2020. Prior to joining the Faculty of English at Laurier’s Waterloo campus, I taught creative writing and science communication at the University of Waterloo.
I am an avid reader and supporter of new writing, and I’ve served on numerous national and regional literary juries and serve as a nonfiction editor for The New Quarterly.
Winner, Gold Medal for Essays, National Magazine Awards 2023.
Shortlisted, Hilary Weston Writers Trust Prize for NonFiction, 2023.
Now Magaine, CBC, Quill & Quire Best Book of the Year, 2020.
Finalist for British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, 2016.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Doctoral Scholarship, 2009-2012.
Best Canadian Essays 2025, Editor. Windsor: Biblioasis, 2024.
Ordinary Wonder Tales. Windsor: Biblioasis, 2022.
The Age of Creativity: Art, Memory, my Father, and Me. Toronto: House of Anansi, 2020.
Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family, and the Mystery of our Hidden Genes. Toronto: HarperCollins, 2015.
“Introduction,” Great Expectations: Twenty-five true stories about childbirth. Edited by Dede Crane and Lisa Moore. Toronto: House of Anansi, 2018.
“Portrait of the Artist as Father,” The First Man in My Life: Daughters Write about Their Fathers. Edited by Sandra Martin. Toronto: Penguin, 2007.
- EN271: The Creative Process
- EN309Z: Topics in Creative Writing: Writing Folklore
Contact Info:
Office location: DAWB 3-118
Office hours: Tuesdays: 1-3pm, or by appointment
Languages spoken: English
Personal website: www.emilyurquhart.ca