PhD, University of Essex
MA, University of Toronto
BA, University of Toronto
Email: dennis.lewis@uwaterloo.ca
Biography
I earned a PhD in Creative Writing and English from the University of Essex in 2016. My dissertation involved the composition of an extended poetic sequence, a discussion of some of the major works of W.H. Auden, and an imaginative literary correspondence with the poet. Through my “Letters to W.H. Auden,” I proposed intensive imaginative literary correspondence (as opposed to mere close reading and analysis) as a productive model of creative writing self-mentorship.
I completed an MA in English, with a thesis on the exotic travel narratives of the British novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin, at the University of Toronto. Prior to this, I completed a BA in English also at the University of Toronto.
While completing my MA, I wrote news stories for and served as an Editorial Assistant at the CBC National Radio News.
I left Canada in 1997, and for more than 14 years, I taught courses in English Literature, Integrated Humanities, and helped to develop writing programmes at universities in Thailand and the Middle East. I served as a Senior Writing Instructor at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE from 2002-2009, and I worked as an Instructor of English as a Foreign Language at the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar from 2009-2017. I was offered my first contract as a Sessional Instructor at the University of Waterloo in 2018.
In 2019, I founded Wise on Words, an agency offering ghost-writing and voiceover narration services.
Selected Publications
Majlis of the Others: A Reader for Writers in the Gulf. (Editor & main contributor). Harlow: Pearson Education. 2010.
“Richard Sanger's ‘Dark Woods’ and Jonathan Bennett's ‘Happinesswise.’” Poetry Reviews. Malahut Review. 2018.
“Upon Our Sense of Style: W. H. Auden’s ‘New Year Letter’ and Catastrophe.” English Studies. 2019.
“Changing the Face of Canadian Literature: A Diverse Canadian Anthology.” Fiction, Poetry, & Nonfiction Review. Malahut Review. 2020.
“The Sacred Art of Walking: Bruce Chatwin's Legacy Explored through Herzog’s Film Nomad – Pts. 1 & 2.” Wise on Words Newsletter. Substack. 2023.
Fellowships and Awards
- Ontario Arts Council Grant in 2018.
- 2nd Prize in the 2016 Troubadour International Poetry Competition.
Current Research and Work
I write Wise on Words Newsletter (a newsletter offering heterodox literary and cultural discussion) and Wise on Words&Voice (a newsletter for edtech founders and authors and creative entrepreneurs).
I am currently halfway through the revision of my dissertation – Speech, Voice and Parable: Poetic Self-Mentorship through Imaginative Literary Correspondence with W.H. Auden – for publication with an academic publisher in England.
Research and Teaching Areas
- The Contemporary Novel
- Contemporary Poetry
- Identity-Politics-Free Poetics
- Classic Literature
- Literary Podcasting