The When of English–Every Day English

For the past few months we’ve been asking a big question on the blog: “Where Can English Take You?” By this point you know the answer—EVERYWHERE!

Now we’re wondering about the other “Big Five Ws” of English too, especially “When?”

Photo Credit: yourbestdigs Flickr via Compfight cc

Inspired by one of the coolest literary blogs we know, we’ve concluded that the answer is EVERY DAY! We love the Book-a-Day Almanac by Anita Silvey, one of children’s literature’s most famous editors. In her blog she connects commemorative days with children’s books. Silvey does an amazing job of showing how books relate to everything, all the time.

We love the idea, so throughout 2017 the UFV English department will explore how red-letter days—like International Day of Happiness and World Mental Health Day—connect with both the literary and real worlds.

You’ll find out which books inspired your favorite professors, and which books they recommend for exploring oodles of issues and causes.

This series offers opportunities to include diverse voices: we invite submissions from students and staff—see the editorial schedule (below). Our focus commemorative days have exceptional potential to connect with literature, but if you don’t see the “day” you want to write about, then let us know. We’re open to adding others.

We need write-ups of 150 to 750 words that connect with your “day” in some compelling way. Here are some options for how you might go about it:

• List your favourite books/plays/poems related to the topic
• Discuss how a work of literature responds to and/or affects the topic
• Describe how a book inspired and/or informed somebody in relation to the topic

But it’s really up to you how to approach the task . . .

Contact the Write of Passage blog editor to contribute: michelle.superle@ufv.ca

2017 Every Day English Editorial Schedule