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Born and raised outside Montreal, I’m a settler scholar of French Canadian ancestry who moved to Ontario to pursue an MA in English at the University of Guelph, followed by a PhD in English at McMaster University. I have held a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta, a Leverhulme visiting fellowship at the University of Worcester (UK), and visiting appointments at several more universities across Canada. Since 2010, I have taught courses in English, contemporary studies, youth and children’s studies, and social and environmental justice on Laurier’s Brantford and Waterloo campuses.
My first novel, entitled In the Key of Dale and telling the story of a queer sixteen-year-old music prodigy who starts writing letters to his late father, was published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2022. I have also published an award-winning three-volume critical anthology, editions of the work of several early Canadian authors, book chapters and encyclopedia entries on various aspects of Canadian literature and children's literature, as well as short stories, journal articles, and reviews in a wide variety of periodicals.
Current projects include new fiction manuscripts, a book-length study of one hundred years of screen adaptations of Anne of Green Gables, and The L.M. Montgomery Library (University of Toronto Press), a book series that reprints and discusses Montgomery’s short stories, poems, and miscellaneous pieces.
- PROSE Award for Literature, Association of American Publishers, for The L.M. Montgomery Reader, Volume 1: A Life in Print; Volume 2: A Critical Heritage; Volume 3: A Legacy in Review (University of Toronto Press, 2013–15), 2016
- Awards to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP) subventions, from the Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences, for six books published by University of Toronto Press since 2010
- Marie Tremaine Fellowship, Bibliographical Society of Canada / Société bibliographique du Canada, for “A Reassessment of L.M. Montgomery’s Critical Reception,” 2013
- Leverhulme visiting fellowship, International Forum for Research in Children’s Literature, University of Worcester (UK), 2009–2010
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellowship, Department of English and Film Studies, University of Alberta, 2007–2009
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada doctoral fellowship, Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University, 2004–2006
- Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture doctoral fellowship, Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University, 2002–2005
Novel
In the Key of Dale. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022. 304 pp.
- Audiobook: Narrated by Michael Crouch, OrangeSky Audio, 2022.
- Italian translation: La musica di Dale, translated by Silvia Mercurio, Gallucci, 2023.
Critical Anthologies
The L.M. Montgomery Reader, Volume 3: A Legacy in Review. U of Toronto P, 2015. x + 453 pp. Paperback edition, 2020. De Gruyter, doi: 10.3138/9781442660861.
- “Introduction: A Legacy in Review” (pp. 3–48), “A Note on the Text” (pp. 49–50), headnotes (11,800 words) and notes (7,000 words) for twenty-four chapters, “Epilogue: Posthumous Texts, 1960–2013” (pp. 353–90).
The L.M. Montgomery Reader, Volume 2: A Critical Heritage. U of Toronto P, 2014. xii + 451 pp. Paperback edition, 2020. De Gruyter, doi: 10.3138/9781442668607.
- “Introduction: A Critical Heritage” (pp. 3–49), “A Note on the Text” (p. 50), headnotes (2,850 words) and additional notes (1,300 words) for twenty chapters.
The L.M. Montgomery Reader, Volume 1: A Life in Print. U of Toronto P, 2013. xiv + 450 pp. Paperback edition, 2020. De Gruyter, doi: 10.3138/9781442668560.
- “Introduction: A Life in Print” (pp. 3–28), “A Note on the Text” (pp. 29–30), headnotes (15,000 words) and notes (19,500 words) for eighty-one chapters.
Collections of Essays
Textual Transformations in Children’s Literature: Adaptations, Translations, Reconsiderations. Routledge, 2013. xvi + 223 pp. Children’s Literature and Culture. Paperback edition, 2015. Taylor & Francis Online, doi: 10.4324/9780203098479.
- “Introduction: Reconsidering Textual Transformations in Children’s Literature” (pp. 1–6).
Anne’s World: A New Century of Anne of Green Gables. Edited jointly with Irene Gammel. U of Toronto P, 2010. x + 263 pp. De Gruyter, doi: 10.3138/9781442690233.
Critical Editions
Twice upon a Time: Selected Stories, 1898–1939, by L.M. Montgomery. U of Toronto P, 2022. The L.M. Montgomery Library. xx + 332 pp. De Gruyter, doi: 10.3138/9781487544140.
- Preface (pp. xi–xvi), “A Note on the Text” (pp. xvii–xix), twenty-five headnotes (4,050 words), afterword (pp. 261–90), notes (pp. 291–318).
- Audiobook: Narrated by Barbara Barnes and William Hope, U of Toronto P, 2023.
A World of Songs: Selected Poems, 1894–1921, by L.M. Montgomery. U of Toronto P, 2019. The L.M. Montgomery Library. xx + 140 pp. De Gruyter, doi: 10.3138/9781487531522.
- Preface (pp. xv–xix), afterword (pp. 105–20), notes (pp. 121–28).
A Name for Herself: Selected Writings, 1891–1917, by L.M. Montgomery. U of Toronto P, 2018. The L.M. Montgomery Library. xxvi + 454 pp. De Gruyter, doi: 10.3138/9781487519308.
- Preface (pp. xv–xxiv), “A Note on the Text” (pp. xxv–xxvi), twenty-three headnotes (5,900 words), afterword (pp. 313–40), notes (pp. 341–420).
Trade Editions
Rilla of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery. Edited jointly with Andrea McKenzie. Viking Canada, 2010. xxvi + 390 pp. Paperback edition by Penguin Canada, 2011.
- Introduction (pp. ix–xix), “A Note on the Text” (p. xx), “The Origins of the First World War” (pp. xxi–xxiii), headnote for “Canadian Women’s Poetry of the First World War” (p. 351), glossary (pp. 354–87), “Further Reading” (pp. 388–89), all jointly with Andrea McKenzie.
The Blythes Are Quoted, by L.M. Montgomery. Viking Canada, 2009. xvi + 527 pp. Paperback edition by Penguin Canada, 2010. Penguin Modern Classics Edition, 2018. xx + 521 pp.
- 2009/2010 editions: Afterword (pp. 511–20), “A Note on the Text” (pp. 521–22).
- 2018 edition: Introduction (pp. ix–xvii), “A Note on the Text” (pp. 517–18), “Suggestions for Further Reading” (pp. 519–20).
- Turkish translation: Alfa Ekspres, forthcoming.
- Italian translation: Racconti dall’isola: Prima della guerra [Stories from the Island: Before the War] and Racconti dall’isola: Dopo la guerra [Stories from the Island: After the War], translated by Angela Ricci, Gallucci Editore, 2021.
- Brazilian Portuguese translation: Os Contos dos Blythes [The Tales of the Blythes] (2 vols.) and Os Poemas dos Blythes [The Poems of the Blythes], translated by Thalita Uba, Ciranda Cultural, 2020. Also, in one volume, as O grande livro dos Blythes: Contos e poemas de Anne of Green Gables [The Big Book of the Blythes: Tales and Poems of Anne of Green Gables], translated by Thalita Uba and Patricia N. Rasmussen, Ciranda Cultural, 2022.
- Japanese translation: An no Omoide no Hibi [Anne’s Days of Remembrance] (2 vols.), translated by Mie Muraoka, Shinchosha, 2012.
- Polish translation: Ania z Wyspy Księcia Edwarda [Anne of Prince Edward Island], translated by Paweł Ciemniewski, Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2011.
- Finnish translation: Annan jäähyväiset [Anne’s Farewell], translated by Marja Helanen-Ahtola, Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö, 2010.
Edited Book Series
Early Canadian Literature. Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2014–.
- Argimou: A Legend of the Micmac, by S. Douglass S. Huyghue, afterword by Gwendolyn Davies (2017). viii + 256 pp. “Series Editor’s Preface” (pp. vii–viii). De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781771122658.
- In Due Season, by Christine van der Mark, afterword by Carole Gerson and Janice Dowson (2016). x + 356 pp. “Series Editor’s Preface” (pp. vii–ix). De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781771120722.
- The Flying Years, by Frederick Niven, afterword by Alison Calder (2015). x + 336 pp. “Series Editor’s Preface” (pp. vii–ix). De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781771120753.
- The Forest of Bourg-Marie, by S. Frances Harrison, afterword by Cynthia Sugars (2015). x + 258 pp. “Series Editor’s Preface” (pp. vii–ix). De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781771120302.
- The Seats of the Mighty, by Gilbert Parker, afterword by Andrea Cabajsky (2015). viii + 400 pp. “A Note on the Text” (pp. vii–viii). De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781771120456.
- The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation, by George Copway, afterword by Shelley Hulan (2014). x + 208 pp. “Series Editor’s Preface” (pp. vii–x). De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781554589777.
- Painted Fires, by Nellie L. McClung, afterword by Cecily Devereux (2014). x + 324 pp. “Series Editor’s Preface” (pp. vii–x). De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781554589937.
- The Foreigner: A Tale of Saskatchewan, by Ralph Connor, afterword by Daniel Coleman (2014). x + 302 pp. “Series Editor’s Preface” (pp. vii–x). De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781554589456.
Short Stories
“Condolence.” The New Quarterly, no. 166, spring 2023, pp. 96–102, tnq.ca/story/condolence/.
“When It’s Over.” Plenitude Magazine, 8 Oct. 2022, plenitudemagazine.ca/when-its-over/.
“Drive.” The Antigonish Review, no. 210, summer 2022, pp. 66–71.
Selected Book Chapters
“Editing in Canada: The Case of L.M. Montgomery.” Jointly with Irene Gammel. Editing as Cultural Practice in Canada, edited by Dean Irvine and Smaro Kamboureli, Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2016, pp. 75–91. TransCanada. De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781771120937-007.
“Nationalism, Nostalgia, and Intergenerational Girlhood: Textual and Ideological Extensions to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House.” Children and Cultural Memory in Texts of Childhood, edited by Heather Snell and Lorna Hutchison, Routledge, 2014, pp. 47–65. Children’s Literature and Culture. Paperback edition, 2021. Taylor & Francis Online, doi: 10.4324/9780203761830.
“Our Home on Native Land: Adapting and Readapting Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie.” Textual Transformations in Children’s Literature: Adaptations, Translations, Reconsiderations, edited by Benjamin Lefebvre, Routledge, 2013, pp. 175–96. Children’s Literature and Culture. Paperback edition, 2015. Taylor & Francis Online, doi: 10.4324/9780203098479.
“Archival Adventures with L.M. Montgomery; or, ‘As Long as the Leaves Hold Together.’” Jointly with Vanessa Brown. Basements and Attics, Closets and Cyberspace: Explorations in Canadian Women’s Archives, edited by Linda M. Morra and Jessica Schagerl, Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2012, pp. 233–48. Life Writing. Paperback edition, 2018. De Gruyter, doi: 10.51644/9781554586509-017.
“‘A Small World After All’: L.M. Montgomery’s Imagined Avonlea as Virtual Landscape.” The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments, edited by Joel Weiss, Jason Nolan, Jeremy Hunsinger, and Peter Trifonas, Springer, 2006, pp. 1121–40. Springer International Handbooks of Education 14. Springer Link, doi: 10.1007/978-1-4020-3803-7_44.
Selected Journal Articles
“In Search of Someday: Trauma and Repetition in Joy Kogawa’s Fiction.” Journal of Canadian Studies / Revue d’études canadiennes, vol. 44, no. 3, fall 2010, pp. 154–73. UTP Journals, doi: 10.3138/jcs.44.3.154.
“‘The Same as Bein’ Canadian’: John Marlyn’s Eye among the Blind.” Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne, vol. 34, no. 1, 2009, pp. 22–40, journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/12378/13245.
“Agency, Belonging, Citizenship: The ABCs of Nation-Building in Contemporary Canadian Texts for Adolescents.” Canadian Literature, no. 198, autumn 2008, pp. 91–101, ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/canlit/article/view/192917.
“Adolescence through the Looking-Glass: Ideology and the Represented Child in Degrassi: The Next Generation.” Canadian Children’s Literature / Littérature canadienne pour la jeunesse, vol. 33, no. 1, spring 2007, pp. 82–106, ccl-lcj.ca/index.php/ccl-lcj/article/view/4871.
« L’abandon du Grand Récit : réflexion sur la révision de l’identité québécoise dans le dernier tome du roman Les Filles de Caleb ». Francophonie, diversité, écriture(s) : les enjeux, les défis, les possibles, numéro spécial de Voix plurielles, sous la direction de Maroussia Ahmed et Madeleine Jeay, vol. 3, no. 1, mai 2006, doi: 10.26522/vp.v3i1.522.
“Pigsties and Sunsets: L.M. Montgomery, A Tangled Web, and a Modernism of Her Own.” English Studies in Canada, vol. 31, no. 4, December 2005, pp. 123–46. Project Muse, doi: 10.1353/esc.2007.0049.
“From Bad Boy to Dead Boy: Homophobia, Adolescent Problem Fiction, and Male Bodies That Matter.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 3, fall 2005, pp. 288–313. Project Muse, doi: 10.1353/chq.2006.0008.
“Stand by Your Man: Adapting L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables.” Literatures, Cinemas, Cultures, special issue of Essays on Canadian Writing, edited by Peter Dickinson, no. 76, spring 2002, pp. 149–69.
“Walter’s Closet.” Canadian Children’s Literature / Littérature canadienne pour la jeunesse, no. 94, summer 1999, pp. 7–20, ccl-lcj.ca/index.php/ccl-lcj/article/view/4574.
Selected Shorter Publications
“Benjamin Lefebvre’s Writing Space.” The New Quarterly, 29 June 2023, tnq.ca/benjamin-lefebvres-writing-space/.
Introduction; “Suggestions for Further Reading”; “A Note on the Text.” Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery, Penguin Books, 2017, pp. xvii–xxx, xxxi–xxxiii, xxxv–xxxvi. Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition.
Introduction to A Tangled Web, by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Dundurn Press, 2009, pp. 9–18. Voyageur Classics: Books That Explore Canada.
“The Plaid Shirts in My Closet.” English Studies in Canada, vol. 35, no. 2–3, June–September 2009, pp. 14–17. Readers’ Forum: Academic Fashion. Project Muse, doi: 10.1353/esc.2009.a404816.
“L.M. Montgomery and Her Publishers.” Historical Perspectives on Canadian Publishing, McMaster University/Queen’s University/University of Toronto Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library, 2009, digitalcollections.mcmaster.ca/hpcanpub/case-study/lm-montgomery-and-her-publishers.
“Cooney, Caroline”; “Hardy Boys Series”; “Korman, Gordon”; “Mazer, Harry”; “Mazer, Norma Fox”; “Nancy Drew”; “Stratemeyer Syndicate.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, edited by Jack Zipes, Oxford UP, 2006, vol. 1, p. 343; vol. 2, p. 201; vol. 2, p. 381; vol. 3, p. 48; vol. 3, pp. 48–49; vol. 3, p. 134; vol. 4, pp. 53–54.
Reviews
Thirty review articles and reviews in Canadian Children’s Literature / Littérature canadienne pour la jeunesse, Canadian Literature, Children’s Literature, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, Essays on Canadian Writing, Globe and Mail, International Research in Children’s Literature, Journal of Mennonite Studies, Quill and Quire, University of Toronto Quarterly, and Women’s Writing.
Online Resource
L.M. Montgomery Online. 2007–, lmmonline.org.
At Laurier:
- CT400Q/CT411I: Cinderella Stories: Fairy Tales and Contemporary Culture
- EN112: Literature and Love
- EN119: Reading Fiction
- EN201: Children’s Literature
- EN267: Contemporary Canadian Fiction
- EN285: Tween Literature and Culture
- EN286: Young Adult Literature
- EN324: Gender and Sexuality in Canadian Literature
- EN371: Creative Writing: Short Story
- SOJE485: The Politics of Cultural Production
- YC/SOJE326: Children, Toys and Media
Elsewhere:
- Adolescent Literary and Media Texts
- Canadian Children’s Literature and Cultures
- Children’s Classics in the 21st Century (graduate certificate course)
- Children’s Literature
- Fairy Tales and Culture
- Fairy Tales, Myth and Poetry
- Fiction for Children
- Laughter and Tears: Comedy and Tragedy
- Literature across Borders
- Literature and Identity: Personal, Categorical, National
- Studies in Children’s Literature
Contact Info:
Office location: DAWB 2-129
Office hours: Wednesdays, 2:30–3:30 PM (fall 2024)
Languages spoken: English, French
Pronouns: he/him
Personal website: benjaminlefebvre.com
ORCID: 0000-0003-2605-0316